As the House of Commons powers up for the first time since the United States and Israel launched the first of what has become an ongoing wave of military strikes on Iran, Prime Minister Mark Carney and his front bench team can expect to face a flurry of pointed questions — and criticism — over what his critics contend has been a wholly inconsistent rolling response to both the initial wave of attacks and counterattacks in the region and the possibility that Canada could be drawn into the expanding conflict.

Last week, Conservative MP Michael Chong posted what he called a “summary of the Carney government’s utterly incoherent position on Iran over the past few days: ‘We support the U.S. acting with airstrikes. But we also regret having to support the U.S. acting with airstrikes. And we also call for a ceasefire of the airstrikes. We call on all parties, including the U.S., to uphold international law. We believe the airstrikes are inconsistent with international law, but we support the U.S. acting with airstrikes. Also, we are not ruling out military participation with the U.S.’”

He also confirmed that his party is “calling for a parliamentary debate before any sort of Canadian military deployment in the ongoing war in Iran,” citing Carney’s comments that, in his view, suggested “such a deployment is possible,” as per his X post.

For his part, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre sent an open letter to Carney to urge him to “immediately introduce and pass an Emergency Energy Supply Plan that responds to the growing global energy crisis sparked by the Middle East war,” which would “unblock our oil and gas to fuel our friends abroad and power our paycheques at home,” he argued.

Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet, on the other hand, was quick to question Carney’s initial expression of support for the joint mission, and has also highlighted the confusion in his subsequent remarks.

“Canada first supports Israel’s and the United States’ attacks, then denounces them as not in conformity with international law before the prime minister says that he … does not know international law,” Blanchet noted last week, as per the translation provided by X.

“That doesn’t seem very serious, but the subject, the stakes, and human lives are. International and multilateral institutions, which extremists denounce without hesitation, are the safeguards for a certain desire for peace and diplomacy in resolving crises, and there is a framework that has already allowed and still allows for military interventions. Canada should have adhered to it from the start, even if Iran were a clear enemy of the free world.”

Interim New Democrat leader Don Davies has served notice that his party intends to file a formal request for the speaker to schedule an emergency debate on “Canada’s response to the military conflict in Iran” when the sitting resumes tomorrow.

As for the prime minister, he’s been — somewhat understandably — off the radar since touching down on Canadian soil following the nine-day tri-continental trade mission that took him to India, Australia and Japan, but was nevertheless able to reach out to Governor General Mary Simon to ask her to draw up the writs for three potentially pivotal byelections, which, as iPolitics reports, will take place on Apr. 13, 2026.

At the top of the minority Liberal government’s legislative to-do list this week: A motion that, if adopted, would effectively force an end to a prolonged standoff at the JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS committee over Justice Minister Sean Fraser’s proposal to expand the current hate crimes laws by imposing a hard deadline for the committee to wrap up clause-by-clause review of the bill at its next scheduled meeting.

“The move comes after (Fraser) said last month that the government was open to amendments to C-9 but was running out of patience,” iPolitics reported last week.

“In a statement, a spokesperson for the minister said the motion was needed to pass an important bill that sought to strengthen protections for religious communities,” and noted that it “was also necessary to allow the committee to turn its attention to another piece of government legislation … aimed at tackling intimate partner violence and restoring minimum mandatory sentences for people convicted of child pornography offences and other crimes.”

“The Bloc has signalled that it would back the Liberals in passing C-9 if the government agreed to include an amendment that would remove the religious exemption for the crime of inciting hate,” iPolitics notes.

“But ever since the Liberals agreed to support the amendment, the Conservatives have effectively filibustered the bill at committee by refusing to stop debate and moving multiple points of order.”

Debate on the motion could get started as early as tomorrow afternoon, although as is standard in a minority scenario, the Liberals would need the backing of at least four opposition members — not just to enforce the deadline on the committee, but very possibly to get it to a vote at all, as the the Conservatives could simply move the filibuster from the committee to the floor of the House of Commons.

Before that gets underway, New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan will get her final chance to convince a critical mass of her cross-aisle colleagues to support her backbench bid to “close loopholes in Canada’s arms export laws” that, she contends, “allow Canadian-made weapons and components to end up in the hands of governments accused of war crimes and human rights abuses.”

Kwan is currently scheduled to wind down the opening round of debate on the bill tomorrow morning, which would put the bill on track for a make-or-break second-reading vote on Wednesday afternoon, at which point MPs will decide whether to send it to committee for further study.

Also on the radar: As flagged by iPolitics’ own Barbara Patrocinio, the government has yet to signal whether the Liberals are prepared to accept a Senate-proposed rewrite of a contentious provision to exempt federal political parties from all provincial and territorial privacy laws.

The proposed waiver— which was and is supported by all major parties — was included in the omnibus affordability package brought forward by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne last spring.

After a lengthy debate, the Upper House chose to leave the exemption intact, but added a sunset clause that “would automatically repeal the exemption three years after it becomes law unless Parliament enacts a stronger national privacy framework for parties,” iPolitics notes.

“Speaking after an unrelated announcement in Toronto, (Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon) said the amendment was still under consideration. ‘We’re still analyzing the Senate’s amendment, and we’ll have an answer on that soon,’ he told iPolitics, adding: ‘As a general rule, the Canada Elections Act, especially when amended unanimously in the House of Commons, is something that generally receives deference.’

As per standard parliamentary protocols, the House of Commons must decide whether to accept or reject the Senate amendment before the bill can continue its journey to the legislative finish line.

Outside the chamber:

• Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar joins representatives of the Montreal Institute for Global Security and China Strategic Risks Institute for the launch of a “special report” that “will offer a detailed analysis
  of how China’s expanding activities in the Arctic represent a growing strategic challenge for Canada,” according to the advisory. (Monday a.m.)
• Senior officials with the National Council of Canadian Muslims and Oxfam, as well as “Palestinian community members,” will provide an update on what the advisory frames as the “growing crisis of illegal settlement expansion in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” (Monday p.m.)

On the committee circuit: One-time CBC News host Travis Dhanraj is promising to “name names (and) present facts about what went on” at the public broadcaster during what will likely be a highly-charged back-and-forth with CANADIAN HERITAGE members as they kick off a self-initiated investigation into the “state of the journalism and media sectors.”

Also on the witness list: HonestReporting Canada executive director Mike Fegelman, as well as representatives of the Association des radiodiffuseurs communautaires du Québec, Freshet News, Friends of Canadian Media and New Media Canada. (Tuesday a.m.)

Over at ACCESS TO INFORMATION, PRIVACY AND ETHICS, MPs will launch the mandatory five-year review of the federal lobbying regime with a two-hour question-and-answer session with Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger. (Monday p.m.)

PROCEDURE AND HOUSE AFFAIRS members explore the “current state of civic resilience in Canada” with Democratic Engagement Exchange director John Beebe, Resilient Societies founder Maiwand Rahyab and MASS LPB principal Peter MacLeod. (Tuesday a.m.)

Representatives of the Canadian Cattle Association, Canadian Pork Council, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters and Les Éleveurs de volailles du Québec, along with Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce director Paola Saad, offer their respective and shared perspectives on Canada’s relationship with the South American trading bloc known as MERCOSUR during back-to-back presentations at INTERNATIONAL TRADE. (Tuesday a.m.)

HEALTH members host a panel discussion with representatives of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association, Canadian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Exporters Alliance, Innovative Medicine Canada and Apotex, as well as Université de Montréal biochemistry professor Michel Bouvier, as they examine “Canada’s pharmaceutical sovereignty.” (Tuesday p.m.)

GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND ESTIMATES members have blocked off at least two meetings to examine the “comprehensive expenditure review” currently underway, including — although not limited to — “budget cuts affecting public service managers,” with officials from the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, Union of Veterans’ Affairs Employees, Public Service Alliance of Canada and Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada expected to testify this week. (Tuesday p.m./Thursday a.m.)

On the Senate side, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne will field questions on his 641-page plan to roll out measures included in his inaugural budget last fall during a one-hour appearance at NATIONAL FINANCE. (Tuesday a.m.)

Finally, as flagged by iPolitics earlier this month, the SPECIAL JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE EXERCISE OF POWERS UNDER THE BUILDING CANADA ACT, which, as Aya Dufour explains, “oversees the process of granting regulatory exemptions to projects deemed to be in the national interest,” will gather for the first time to select its joint chairs. (Tuesday p.m.)

Also hitting the hustings:

• Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu joins Orléans-area Liberal MP Marie-France Lalonde on a morning visit to OakWood Headquarters, which bills itself as “Ottawa’s premier full-service design and build firm,” to share the details of a “significant investment” that, as per the advisory, will “strengthen workforce development across (a) key economic sector.” (Monday a.m.)
• Secretary of State (Labour) John Zerucelli heads across the river to Gatineau to team up with Quebec employment minister Pascale Déry, as well as local Liberal MP Greg Fergus and his provincial counterpart, Suzanne Tremblay, to highlight new funding to boost “green skills training.” (Monday a.m.)
• A trio of Team Carney front benchers — Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, Defence Minister David McGuinty and Secretary of State (Defence Procurement) Stephen Fuhr —will gather at an unnamed location somewhere in Ottawa to unveil what the advisory describes as “new investments to strengthen defence industrial capacity.” (Monday p.m.)
• Meanwhile, MacKinnon — who, in addition to serving as House leader, is also the cabinet lead on transportation — starts his week at the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, where, alongside Ontario transport minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, Toronto Port Authority CEO Roelof-Jan Steenstra and Nieuport Aviation president Jennifer Quinn, he’ll “mark the opening” of a new “preclearance facility.” (Monday a.m.)
• Rounding out the rotation, Joly will mingle with local supporters at Montreal’s Hôtel Le Germain, with all proceeds from the $1,000 ticket price earmarked for her local riding association in Ahuntsic — Cartierville, Que., while Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc headlines a $500-per ticket reception for the Federal Liberal Association of Sherbrooke. (Thursday p.m.)