After what appeared to be a breakout of actual debate during the Orders of the Day relating to the NDP’s opposition day motion on climate change, no eruptions of MPs trying to catch the Speaker’s eye during Members’ Statements, and a moment of silence for workers killed on the job, it was time for QP. Tomas Mulcair started things off by reading a condemnation of Joe Oliver’s trip to Washington and his insulting of a climate scientist. James Moore, the designated back-up PM du jour, insisted that the NDP doesn’t understand economics, and that the government was fighting to create jobs. Mulcair then switched topics and read a question about the concerns the Conservative premier of New Brunswick has about the EI changes. Moore assured him that they were working with the premier as they were helping get people back to work. Yvon Godin then asked the same thing in French, turning puce with outrage as he read his script. Diane Finley responded with her stock assurances that they were helping Canadians get back to work. Bob Rae was up for the Liberals, and after making a reference to Harper’s admonition about “committing sociology,” he turned to the party’s topic of the week — youth unemployment. Moore assured him that they had created programmes to help youth and were addressing the problem. For his final question, Rae asked about the growing number of reports of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, to which Deepak Obhrai assured him that they were monitoring the situation, which they found unacceptable.

Round two started off with Peter Julian asserting that the government was ignoring climate change (Kent: We can balance protection of the environment with protection of the economy), Robert Chisholm asked about the lack of proper consultation with fishermen for the last omnibudget bill (Kamp: DFO is focused on the protection of these fisheries environments and are engaging key stakeholders), Alexandre Boulerice and Ryan Cleary asked about the allegations that Peter Penashue held up funding to replace an obsolete bridge (Poilievre: If you read below the headline, you would see there is no confirmation of this allegation), and Élaine Michaud and Jack Harris went for another round about danger pay for soldiers in Afghanistan (MacKay: When the army’s length board set a lower rate, we intervened because we support the troops unlike you). Ted Hsu, Judy Foote, and Rodger Cuzner asked another round of questions on youth unemployment (Finley: Job creation and skills training are the cornerstones of Economic Action Plan 2013™). Peggy Nash and Guy Caron asked about the Federal Court ruling on the mandate of the PBO (Saxton: The court rejected the partisan stunt of the leader of the opposition and Kevin Page), and Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet and Chris Charlton asked about privacy breaches (Saxton: We are working with the Privacy Commissioner and take steps when these breaches occur).

Round three saw yet more questions on youth unemployment, cuts to services in the budget, the eligibility threshold for veterans to the Last Post Fund, resources for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, water levels near Manitoulin, rural postal services, and the problems with the temporary foreign workers programme.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Greg Rickford for a tailored dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and an eggplant tie, and to Lynne Yelich for a black suit with a pale pink collared shirt. Style citations go out to Kerry-Lynne Findlay for a rough woven jacket that may have been made of red burlap, with a black top and trousers, and to Colin Carrie for a black suit with a pale yellow shirt and darker yellow tie.