The sitting was dominated by debate on Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, a wide-ranging criminal justice bill, and by a sharp political argument over food inflation, with the Conservatives blaming Liberal taxes and deficits for Canada having the highest food-price inflation in the G7 and the government countering with the announcement of a new "Canada groceries and essentials benefit."
The main Government Orders business was second-reading debate on Bill C-16, which would amend the Criminal Code to create a new offence of coercive control in intimate partner relationships, classify femicide as first-degree murder, restore mandatory minimum penalties for child sexual offences (with a judicial safety valve to avoid Charter challenges), criminalize non-consensual deepfake images, and address court delays under the Jordan framework. The Liberal government and the Bloc Québécois supported the bill, arguing it would protect victims and modernize the law. The Conservatives supported sending the bill to committee but criticized the safety valve, arguing it would allow judges to ignore mandatory minimums and invited constitutional litigation; Conservative member Larry Brock called the drafting "too careless" and said it would "hand the control of criminal sentencing to the courts by default." The Bloc member Rhéal Éloi Fortin pressed the government to end filibustering at the justice committee so that Bill C-16 and other crime bills could pass quickly. No vote was taken on the bill during this sitting.
Oral Questions ran for over an hour and was dominated by a single theme: food inflation. Conservative after Conservative cited Statistics Canada data showing Canada's food-price inflation at 6.2%, the highest in the G7, and demanded the government scrap the industrial carbon tax and the clean fuel standard. The government's answer was uniform: it had just announced the Canada groceries and essentials benefit, which would give a family of four up to $1,890 per year and help 12 million Canadians. The Conservatives dismissed the benefit as a "recycled Trudeau-era rebate" that would not lower prices. A secondary theme was the Prime Minister's recent remarks on the Plains of Abraham, with the Bloc accusing him of rewriting Quebec's history; the government side replied that Quebeckers wanted action on affordability, not historical debates. A brief exchange on extortion and public safety saw the government accuse the Conservatives of obstructing its bail-reform bill, Bill C-14, in committee.
In Routine Proceedings, the government tabled responses to 152 petitions and the certificate of nomination for Kelly Burke as Commissioner of Official Languages. A series of Conservative members presented petitions calling on the government to protect religious freedom and withdraw Bill C-9, which they argued could criminalize the reading of sacred texts. One petition, presented by Michael Kram, called for support for Bill C-206 on a national brain-injury strategy. Elizabeth May presented a petition asking that virtual disability-support services receive the same tax treatment as in-person services. All remaining written questions were passed as orders for return. No other procedural motions or votes occurred.