Sitting 74 — January 27, 2026

The sitting was dominated by the Conservative opposition day motion calling for a Canadian Economic Sovereignty Act, a debate that continued from the previous day. Conservative members argued that after a decade of Liberal government, Canada had become uncompetitive as a resource-producing nation, with anti-development laws still on the books and the Major Projects Office having approved no projects despite the extraordinary powers granted by Bill C-5. Liberal members countered that the motion was essentially the Conservative election platform voters had rejected, and that the government was making progress through the Canada-Alberta MOU, trade diversification, and investments in clean and conventional energy.

Question Period featured a notably personal exchange between Prime Minister Carney and Opposition Leader Poilievre, with Poilievre accusing the Prime Minister of having his staff remove price tags from grocery store shelves during a photo op to hide the cost of food. Carney dismissed the allegation and pointed to collaboration with premiers and job creation figures, noting over 140,000 net new jobs since the summer. The exchange set the tone for a day in which food inflation—at 6.2%, the highest in the G7—was the central opposition line of attack, with Conservatives repeatedly citing Statistics Canada data and food bank usage figures of 2.2 million visits per month.

The Bloc Québécois raised ongoing problems with the Cúram software system affecting old age security payments, with members noting the government had been warned about the issues by a public service union report in June. The government acknowledged that software bugs occur but maintained the modernization would ultimately improve service. Other Question Period topics included the auto sector, internal trade barriers (the IMF reported that removing them could grow GDP by 7%), extortion in the Lower Mainland, Arctic security, and the government's new international talent attraction strategy. The evening private member's hour featured Bill C-226, the National Framework for Food Price Transparency Act, with members debating whether price transparency alone could address food inflation or whether deeper structural reforms were needed.