Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet on Wednesday evening warned the House of Commons to expect his party to slow or rewrite objectionable Liberal bills in committees.“We have a certain weight,” said Blanchet, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “In committees we may come up against disagreements. There are 22 of us.”“We will do our utmost to work alongside others in this place because Québeckers are watching us and we are here to represent them and make their voices heard.”“We are going to use what Québeckers have given us, which is the balance of power in committees. Here we have a certain weight given the breakdown of parties in parliament.”“When Liberals disagree with Conservatives, which is often the case, Québec will be able to weigh in and make a difference. We will need to negotiate.”.Conservative and Bloc MPs often voted together on budget bills and ethics matters in the 44th Parliament.New Democrats were “usually the cavalry that came to the rescue” of the Liberal government, Blanchet earlier told reporters. New Democrats in failing to elect the minimum 12 MPs to achieve recognized party status in the Commons are disqualified from committee assignments.Blanchet on Wednesday evening called Prime Minister Mark Carney “our new grand master,” “our banker Prime Minister,” and accused Liberals of stoking voters’ fears over a tariff war in the April 28 election.“We have no economic update, we have no budget, but we need to believe we haven’t been played,” he said.“During the Throne Speech there was not a single word about the tariff crisis and nothing about the trade crisis. What happened to the crisis? We all seemed to know there was a crisis. It was very useful for the Liberals, let me say that. Are we saying the crisis is over?”“Apparently now is not the time to talk about climate change, immigration, values, the French language. Apparently now is not the time to talk about pensioners. It’s not the right time to talk about anything, apparently, because we are in a crisis.”“Canadians voted for a banker prime minister so he could negotiate with the United States. I know more about our economy than the new grand master.”The Commons has yet to convene any of its 28 standing committees. Three senior committees by tradition are chaired by Official Opposition members: ethics, government operations and public accounts.
