CTV Question Period with Vassy Kapelos Podcast · CTV News

CTV QP Podcast #507: Unpacking the federal budget as two Conservative MPs leave

November 9, 2025·46 min·15 clips

Vashie Capellos opens the program by introducing the new federal budget as a moment that calls for real political courage. She describes it as a generational plan with a huge deficit and a long-delayed promise of payoff. The first question is blunt: do the numbers and the politics actually hold together? Government House Leader Steve McKinnon joins to explain the government's path through a minority Parliament. The conversation keeps circling back to the same practical problem. If the Liberals cannot line up enough votes, the budget becomes a test of discipline as much as ambition. The show then moves from fiscal politics to caucus instability. Nova Scotia MP Chris D'Entremont's departure from the Conservative caucus lands as a serious break in the party line. The episode also covers the announcement from Alberta MP Matt Jenneru that he is resigning his seat. That second departure raises the bigger question of whether the turbulence stops there. The impact on Conservative leader Pierre Palliev is put right at the center. A special edition of the Sunday Scrum is brought in to sort through the strategy inside the House. The panel weighs the pressure on Conservative leadership and the meaning of open discontent inside caucus. The discussion does not stop at partisan choreography. It asks what these moves say about the state of the party itself. The show then pivots to foreign policy and economic leverage. Michael Kavrig appears to warn against making China the core of Canada's strategy. The episode uses the dispute over Chinese electric vehicles and Canadian agricultural tariffs to show how Beijing can use pressure. Kavrig's experience gives the segment more bite. He argues for caution instead of wishful bargaining. Across the hour, the program keeps pulling political drama back to consequences. The budget has to pass. The Conservatives have to manage their split. Canada's China policy has to account for leverage, not slogans. The result is a tight Sunday briefing that moves quickly and stays rooted in the stakes.

As heard by us

A brisk Sunday politics hour that tracks the budget, Conservative defections, and China as live tests.

This Sunday Question Period splits its attention between the budget, Conservative caucus turmoil, and China policy, and that mix works best when the show lets the pressure build on its own.

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Why you'd press play

You want the budget fight, the caucus shake-up, and China policy in one Sunday hour.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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