New versus same-old as the Commons returns

Globe and Mail

29-05-2025

You could tell Mark Carney was new to Parliament, because he was put off by the heckling.
He looked ready for his first day, dressed in a dark suit and tie, showing up after most of the MPs were already in their seats and Question Period was just about to start.
But he was less than even 20 seconds into his first answer when a Conservative MP yelled 'time.' And Mr. Carney paused and smiled, before carrying on. The old hands in QP have learned to keep on talking.
There was a lot of old versus new on the return of Question Period in the new session of Parliament.
There was some giddiness among new MPs. The new Parliament was an event. Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and Prince Edward Island Premier Rob Lantz waited in a crowd for the doors to the visitors' gallery to open. New ministers read wooden answers.
But the main theme was the Conservatives making the case that Mr. Carney's new Liberal government is the same as the old one, while the Liberals tried to deflect it.
The House of Commons was back.
It wasn't precisely the same dynamic, for sure.
It was a Wednesday, when former prime minister Justin Trudeau would field all the questions. Mr. Carney didn't. The NDP, no longer officially a party in the Commons, was relegated to one end-of-QP question in a time slot typically devoted to queries about fisheries.
Carney spars with opposition over tariffs, plan for fall budget in first Question Period
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who spent the last months of the last Parliament gleefully taunting Liberals with calls for an immediate carbon tax election, held a news conference outside the chamber, but no longer has a seat inside.
When the Liberal who beat him in the riding of Carleton, Bruce Fanjoy, rose to deliver a statement, his Grit colleagues stood and cheered him as a conquering hero. The Conservatives' leader in the Commons, Andrew Scheer, could only shrug.
The Conservatives were not planning to treat Mr. Carney's government to a honeymoon, but it's a new session, and apparently they don't have A material.
Mr. Scheer's first question suggested that Mr. Carney had pulled a fast one in the election campaign by talking tough about imposing retaliatory tariffs but then 'secretly' reducing them to 'effectively zero.'
Too bad the question was spurious, since the 'secret' temporary exceptions and partial reductions to some tariffs had been officially announced and reported in news stories – which apparently the Conservatives still missed – and there are still tariffs being levied.
But Mr. Carney followed Question Period tradition by more or less ignoring the question, anyway – responding with his well-worn line that his government's tariffs will have maximum impact on the United States and minimum impact on Canada.
Mr. Scheer came back with a call for Mr. Carney to repeal Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act that Conservatives dub the 'No More Pipelines Act,' and Mr. Carney responded with a assertion that 'Canada's new government is acting immediately to grow the economy,' to reduce internal trade barriers, and to approve major projects quickly.
Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus followed by waving a hand to gesture along the Liberal front bench, declaring, 'what I see in front of me are the same ministers and the same government we have had for the past 10 years.'
That was the dynamic. The Conservatives called on Mr. Carney to show he's different by repealing several of Mr. Trudeau's measures – environmental measures that touched the oil and gas sector and several crime bills. Mr. Carney and his ministers replied that theirs is a new government, with a bold, ambitious agenda.
But the question of whether the new Prime Minister leads the same-old government was a rerun from the election campaign, and it didn't have new zing. The Conservatives' newer attack, criticizing the government's decision to delay the budget till fall, isn't going to echo much beyond Ottawa.
And Mr. Carney did fine. He had some presence as a parliamentarian. He didn't look lost. He appeared to find some appreciation for the Question Period performance skills of veterans such as Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, whose energetic ad for a new tax cut roused Liberal cheers and earned Mr. Carney's applause.
But all Mr. Carney's answers were about his big, bold plans, about making Canada's economy the strongest in the G7, and building big things. He rebuffed all questions by setting higher expectations.
In future Question Periods, he will face queries about whether his government has met them.