Speaking in French, the new Conservative leader asked if the Liberals would scrap the planned “tax increases” – referring to planned increases in the Canada Pension Plan and employment premiums – saying “Canadians just can’t pay.”
The Liberals’ response – as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in New York to attend the UN General Assembly – was Deputy Finance and Tourism Minister Randy Boissonneau.
“Throughout the session, you’ll see two competing visions: our plan as a government to support Canadians who needed it most, and then the other option, the Conservative Party’s vision and members who don’t care about Canadians,” he said.  in French.
The first opportunity for Trudeau and Poilievre to clash will likely come Thursday.
While Trudeau congratulated Pouliev when MPs gathered last week in Parliament for a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, the two have not locked horns as rivals since Pouliev narrowly won the months-long Conservative leadership race on September 10.  For years Poilievre was one of the party’s leading liberal critics in Parliament.
As question period continued, Poilievre continued that line of inquiry, highlighting the impact the rising cost of groceries, gas and housing is having on Canadians.  Asking the Liberals what they are doing to help people pay their bills, he suggested higher CPP and EI premiums “shrink paycheques”.
In response, the Liberals pointed to a pair of bills tabled on Tuesday aimed at providing financial assistance to low- to moderate-income families by boosting the GST deduction and dental and housing benefits. 
In it, Poilievre suggested that these targeted aid measures would be “evaporated by inflation”.  In a later joke, Boissonnault suggested that what “vaporized” was the savings of any Canadians who took Poilievre’s cryptocurrency investment advice.
Ahead of question period, some Conservative MPs used the time allowed to them to make similarly worded statements to set out what they say the new Conservative leader will do, claiming he will put “people first”.
Lawmakers from other parties made other predictions as they were asked throughout the day how they think Poilievre’s leadership can change the tone in the House.
“It’s clear that his priorities are very different. He’s shown a pattern since he’s been in government, since he’s been a minister, to present – where he sides with the rich CEOs, opposing the idea of ​​making them pay their share. .. voted against the minimum wage,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters Tuesday.
In making that remark, Singh was essentially echoing the message in a new attack ad the NDP released on social media against their fellow opposition party leader. 
House of Commons leader Mark Holland said he was waiting to see if Poilievre would continue the political course he followed during the Conservative leadership race.
“If you know, there’s a continuation of the circus, then, you know, we’ll have to see who’s going to buy tickets. But I don’t think that’s what people want,” he said.


PANDEMIC, GUN CONTROL ON 
The start of the fall session of Parliament came on the one-year anniversary of the 2021 federal election.
On September 20, 2021, Trudeau promised to get back to work after taking a gamble and being given a second minority government that looked a lot like the one Canadians elected in 2019. While the makeup of the House remains the same, much has changed politically. 
Vaccine mandates were one of the key issues the Liberals fought over in the last election, and on Tuesday, as MPs filed into the West Block ahead of question period, they were confronted by a small group of anti-vaccine protesters echoing messages raised on the national stage for weeks during this winter’s “Freedom Accord” protests in the capital.

	Protesters outside the West Block as the House of Commons continues.  #cdnpoli #ottnews pic.twitter.com/Ywfo0FYiuG
— Stephanie Ha (@stephanie_ha) September 20, 2022
While the rules on requiring vaccinations have largely been lifted, the House of Commons remains in a hybrid session, with questions circulating over whether it is time to make these pandemic measures a thing of the past.
On Tuesday, Holland said that as the Procedures and Parliamentary Affairs Committee begins its deliberations on what has worked and what hasn’t with the mixed virtual and in-person sitting structure, there is recognition among MPs that Canada is returning to some sense of normalcy.
“We have to take this one cautious step at a time, following the science and the evidence and doing the best we can to keep people safe,” Holland said.  “We don’t know where it’s going to go. I’m optimistic, but not clairvoyant. And you know, I don’t have the ability to see the future. I just have the ability to analyze events in real time and try to make the most appropriate decision. And that’s what we’re trying to do doing”.
Another election issue still playing out in Ottawa is the Liberals’ promise of further gun control measures.  There is an outstanding government bill that Holland says the Liberals will prioritize this fall.
Bill C-21 seeks to further limit legal access to guns in Canada and create systems to flag people who may be a danger to themselves or others.  The bill would also increase maximum sentences to 14 years from 10 for firearms-related offenses such as smuggling, make it an offense to modify a cartridge magazine beyond its legal capacity and ban certain replica firearms that look too similar with real weapons.
Since its introduction, advocates both for and against the gun bill have shared reactions to the proposed law.  Over the summer, the Liberals used regulatory work to ban the importation of restricted weapons before the bill became law.
Asked Tuesday how the minority Liberals plan to pass this bill amid conservative backlash, Holland said they plan to move quickly because while they “want to respect the fact that we want to have a rigorous debate in the House … Canadians expect action.”
One party seemingly poised to help pass this legislation is the Bloc Quebecois, which opened its first round during question period with MP Alain Therrien saying he was happy to be back in the House “because we really have to talk about guns.citing the increase in shootings in montreal. 
While Poilievre’s question period debut focused on inflation, his first remarks in the House on Tuesday focused on crime as he joined a series of statements from each party about the mass killing of James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan earlier this month.