CTV Question Period with Vassy Kapelos Podcast · CTV News

CTV QP Podcast #508: Tensions rise as CSIS names national security threats

November 16, 2025·46 min·20 clips

Question Period opens on the federal budget and the confidence vote scheduled for tomorrow. The host lays it out plainly: if the budget passes, the show keeps moving; if it fails, Canadians are headed back to the polls. Ahead of that vote, the Parliamentary Budget Officer says the government is unlikely to stay inside its new fiscal anchor. Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer Jason Jakes is the first guest. He gets pressed on what Parliament can choose, whether the current approach can hold, and what happens if the Prime Minister and MPs go another way. Defense spending comes next. Minister of Defense David McGinty is brought in to talk through the budget's biggest line item and what it says about national priorities. The episode then turns to Conservative unrest. Pierre Polyev's refusal to reflect on his leadership style becomes the main pressure point, not a side issue. Chris D'Entremont's floor crossing and Matt Gennaro's resignation sit in the background of that tension. A Sunday Strategy Session looks at what those departures mean for the party and whether the leader's combative posture is helping him or making things worse. The panel keeps returning to affordability, which remains Polyev's central message. At the same time, it weighs the criticism that he has shown little contrition. The broadcast stays clean and brisk. The result is a dense hour that ties fiscal policy, defense, and leadership back to the same parliamentary calendar. It does not linger on personal color. It keeps coming back to consequences. The central question is whether the budget numbers hold and whether the political coalition behind them does. The episode leaves that answer open, with both the government and the opposition still under pressure.

As heard by us

A budget-vote pressure test with real parliamentary stakes.

Question Period keeps its focus on the budget-confidence vote, and the stakes are plain enough: if the motion passes, the government survives; if it fails, another election follows.

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Why you'd press play

You want the budget vote explained before the government survives or falls tomorrow.

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