As Quebec voters head to the polls to collectively choose not just which party will be given the opportunity to form the next provincial government — which, as Canadian Press notes, currently appears all but certain to be Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s Parti Québécois — but whether the incoming premier will manage to cross the 64-seat threshold required to secure a majority, Prime Minister Mark Carney will be back in his front-and-centre seat in the House of Commons to face his opposition adversaries this afternoon.

At the top of the docket: Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon’s 246-page pitch to further streamline the federal approval process for major projects and overhaul federal labour laws. Dubbed the Building Canada Strong Act by its ministerial sponsor, the bill has already clocked in three days of debate since it made its debut on the first day of the fall sitting, and is currently on track to go to a make-or-break second-reading vote late this week.

As Canadian Press notes, the government has also signalled its intention to introduce another potentially high-stakes bill this week, courtesy of Government Transformation Minister Joël Lightbound, who has filed the necessary paperwork to bring forward legislation related to “production, procurement and investment in relation to national defence and national security” as early as tomorrow, although it may not make it to the floor for debate until after MPs return from the upcoming Thanksgiving Week hiatus on Oct. 19.

-before that gets underway, Conservative MP Kelly Block will get her first chance to convince her House of Commons colleagues to support her backbench proposal to boost the penalties for mischief targeting “religious property.”

Outside the chamber, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne will brief the FINANCE committee on both his plan to roll out additional measures laid out in his inaugural budget, as laid out in legislation introduced in May, as well as his government’s pledge to further extend the temporary break in charging the federal fuel excise tax until next year, which, as per a motion adopted with all-party support at the start of the fall sitting, is on track to undergo a lightning-round one-day review before being sent back to the House of Commons for a final vote later this week. (3:30 p.m.)

Meanwhile, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree kicks off back-to-back committee appearances at PUBLIC SAFETY AND NATIONAL SECURITY, where, alongside senior departmental officials, as well as representatives of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Treasury Board Secretariat, he’ll field questions on Canada’s “security screening process” in the wake of the arrest of a “Canadian national and former employee of the Canadian federal government” recently arrested over alleged espionage at NATO headquarters in Belgium. (11 a.m.)

Later this afternoon, he’ll join Justice Minister Sean Fraser for a one-hour session with JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS members as they review legislation to establish the Financial Crimes Agency. (3:30 p.m.)

ON AND AROUND THE HILL

College of Family Physicians of Canada president Sarah Cook hits the West Block press theatre to urge the federal government to “treat family medicine as core infrastructure for a resilient, self-reliant Canada by directing existing and promised health investments toward cutting red tape,” as well as “launching a new-practice fund, training the next generation of physicians at home and building a secure, made-in-Canada digital health system,” according to the advisory. (8:30 a.m.)

Pallium Canada CEO Jeff Moat will promote the release of a new “evidence brief” that examines the “economic case for investing in palliative care workforce,” which “can improve care, reduce avoidable hospital use and strengthen health-system capacity,” and make the case for their call for the government to “invest $300 million over five years to develop and implement a National Palliative Care Training Standard for Long-Term Care.” (10 a.m.)

OUTSIDE THE PRECINCT

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty and Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand will “celebrate the opening of Canadian North’s new cargo facility” during a morning event at the Ottawa International Airport with senior airline representatives, “northern partners” and Defence Minister David McGuinty. (9:30 a.m.)

Alty is also slated to team up with Health Minister Marjorie Michel and her Northwest Territories counterpart, Lucy Kuptana, for what the advisory is framing as an “important health care announcement” at a downtown Ottawa hotel. (12:30 p.m.)

Rounding out the roster, Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald joins Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson, as well as his own newly assigned parliamentary secretary Daniel Gobeil at the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum to promote new “investments” in “stronger, more resilient and affordable food distribution systems” that, according to the notice, “will help lower food costs and provide more options for consumers.” (9:30 a.m.)

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