'A lot of work to do': MPs kick off fall sitting with maintained focus on affordability

Affordability was the main issue of the spring, the summer, and is now set to remain the focus this autumn as members of Parliament returned from their ridings to Ottawa to kick off the fall sitting on Monday.

Affordability was the main issue of the spring, the summer, and is now set to remain the focus this autumn as members of Parliament returned from their ridings to Ottawa to kick off the fall sitting on Monday.

On the heels of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledging a suite of new measures generated amid meetings with his freshly-rallied caucus, Government House Leader Karina Gould kicked off the 11-week stretch to the Christmas break vowing the Liberals are squarely focused on Canadians' concerns.

"There is a lot of work to do for Canadians," Gould said. "They are looking for us to work together and not to play partisan games. We are determined to do that… We will move ahead with action that will improve the lives of the people we all represent."

Gould, who was shuffled into the role in July, said the government will "imminently" introduce legislation to implement the promised elimination of the GST from new rental builds, emergency business loan extensions, and competition law reforms.

With this bill containing a few policy proposals that appear to mirror a pair of opposition-backed pitches, battle lines have clearly been drawn, with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accusing the Liberals of essentially poaching his GST pitch, despite it being an abandoned past Trudeau election commitment.

Gould challenged Poilievre—whose party has spent the summer largely atop the polls—to work with the government to pass the government's coming bill "instead of having a temper tantrum over in the corner."

She said this while standing alongside Housing Minister Sean Fraser, who just minutes prior, panned Poilievre's housing plan as "a handful of ideas that look frankly like they've been pulled off Google."