Looking back at the first five days of the fall Parliamentary sitting
Parliament reconvened in Ottawa last week, with Pierre Poilievre assuming the role of leader of the Opposition and many of the same debates resuming from the spring, including the cost of living, immigration, and bail reform.
On Monday, September 15, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Poilievre faced off for the first time during question period. While Poilievre has over 20 years of experience in the House, Carney’s first experience debating in the chamber was during the few brief weeks of sitting following the April 2025 federal election. Poilievre was absent after losing his seat in Carleton to a Liberal, Bruce Fanjoy. After Damien Kurek, a former Conservative MP, stepped aside to allow an August by-election in his Central Alberta riding, Poilievre returned to the House of Commons as the member for Battle River–Crowfoot.
Carney underlined the government’s accomplishments thus far, including “the largest tax cut for 22 million Canadians,” cutting the GST for first-time homebuyers, and their plan to construct thousands of affordable homes. Conservatives focused on the high cost of living, critiquing the Liberals for increases in inflation and grocery prices. The Bloc Québécois criticized Carney’s reaction to tariffs and pushed for a better US-Canada trade deal, while the NDP, who lost official party status after only winning seven seats in April, have raised concerns about unemployment.
Several bills proposed in the spring are still under debate, including Bill C-3, which would change citizenship rules, and Bill C-2, also known as the Strong Borders Act, which aims to improve Canada’s asylum and immigration system through numerous amendments, including granting police and public officials access to personal data in certain circumstances, changing the process for achieving refugee status, and targeting cross-border money laundering and drug trafficking. The NDP has critiqued the bill for “expanding government surveillance,” while Conservatives have argued that it does not do enough to prevent violent crime. Though Liberals have announced their intention to reform Canada’s bail system, Conservatives introduced a motion Thursday for their own “Three-Strikes-And-You’re-Out” law that would prevent repeat offenders from receiving bail.
On Tuesday, September 16, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said that the Liberals plan to table their new budget on November 4. The budget was postponed from the spring since the sitting then lasted only a few weeks. Since the Liberals are a minority government, they need other parties’ support for the bill to pass. While Conservatives have not ruled out their support, Poilievre has criticized the plan, saying, “Mark Carney is more expensive than Justin Trudeau. His deficit is even bigger than Justin Trudeau.”
Amid these debates, the Cabinet was shaken up mid-week when multiple Trudeau-era ministers announced their decisions to move on to diplomatic positions. Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister whose resignation in December 2024 mounted pressure on Trudeau to resign, announced her resignation on Tuesday from her current post as minister of transport and internal trade and her plan to serve as a special envoy to Ukraine. On Thursday, Carney announced former justice minister David Lametti’s assignment as ambassador to the United Nations. Lametti’s time in cabinet ended in 2024, and he has since served as the prime minister’s principal secretary.
On Thursday, September 18, the prime minister and Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic Leblanc, who represents Beauséjour, travelled to Mexico to meet with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. In a joint press conference later that evening, the two leaders announced their plan to strengthen the relationship between Mexico and Canada. On Friday, Leblanc announced that the federal government would seek public consultations from all levels of Canada’s public and private sectors on the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement (CUSMA) before it goes under review in 2026. Leblanc highlighted cross-border tensions, saying “you’ll see, over the coming weeks, activities and opportunities for Canadians, and for those that are affected by the recent turbulence in the trading relationship, to offer us views on how we should approach the review conversations with the United States and with Mexico.”
Minister of Justice Sean Fraser introduced a new bill on Friday that would amend Canada’s criminal code to closely target hate crimes. The legislation would “make it a crime to intentionally promote hatred against identifiable groups in public using certain hate or terrorism-related symbols like swastikas,” according to CBC.
While Parliament’s first week was a busy one, the outcome of the rest of the session remains to be seen; whether these bills pass, or these diplomatic moves assist Canada during a moment of international crisis, the rest of the fall sitting promises to be even more eventful.