Sitting 148 — October 8, 2026

The sitting was dominated by a Conservative opposition motion asking the House to recognize that the Liberals have been in power for 11 years and that Canada is in an affordability crisis. Conservatives argued the government has no answer to grocery, housing and fuel costs; Liberals countered that the motion offered no solutions and that they have delivered measures such as the groceries and essentials benefit, the national school food program, dental care and a tax cut. The Bloc Québécois and NDP supported the motion's premise while criticizing the Conservatives for lacking proposals. A privilege question on the alleged premature disclosure of Bill C-40 was also raised.

On the opposition motion, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre opened, citing Habitat for Humanity's finding that Canadians have the least hope of home ownership among 22 countries surveyed, and arguing the Prime Minister's claim that he "just got here" avoided responsibility. Conservative members Anna Roberts, Branden Leslie, Grant Jackson, Rhonda Kirkland, Sandra Cobena, Gabriel Hardy, Cheryl Gallant, Burton Bailey and Jim Bélanger described constituents squeezed by groceries, rent, mortgage renewals and diesel costs, and cited $150 billion in identified savings. Liberal parliamentary secretary Kevin Lamoureux and MPs Leslie Church, Linda Lapointe, Anju Dhillon, Anthony Housefather, Jaime Battiste and Kody Blois defended the government's record and accused Conservatives of voting against affordability measures, including the school food program and seniors' dental care. Bloc members Mario Simard, Gabriel Ste-Marie and Patrick Bonin supported the motion but attacked the proposed $43-billion pipeline as corporate welfare and pressed for OAS indexation for ages 65 to 74 under Bill C-261. NDP member Heather McPherson supported the motion while arguing affordability requires union jobs and income security, and criticized the government over Stelco layoffs. The motion carried on a recorded vote.

On the privilege question, NDP member Don Davies supported the official opposition's claim that details of Bill C-40 appeared in media before members saw the bill, arguing premature disclosure breaches members' right to be informed first and citing a pattern of leaks.

Oral Questions centred on affordability, with Conservatives pressing the government to admit a crisis and citing food bank demand and Thanksgiving costs, while ministers pointed to the groceries and essentials benefit, the $2-billion heat pump retrofit program, child care and tax relief. A second cluster covered defence procurement and Bill C-40, with Conservatives alleging sole-source favouritism and reduced oversight and the Secretary of State for Defence Procurement defending the agency's record; other exchanges covered the foreign influence registry's low registration rate, the France crab quota, Bill C-39's environmental rollbacks, and a spy case in Belgium.