Both Harper and Mulcair were back in the House, and ready for another round. Mulcair began with giving Harper a chance to be “crystal clear” as to whether Nigel Wright resigned or was fired. Harper said that they agreed that his actions were improper which was why he was no longer working in the PMO. Mulcair pressed in French, but Harper dodged once again and repeated the answer in French. Mulcair asked how many cheques were issued to Duffy as “hush money,” which Harper called a false allegation and reminded him that parties help members with legal assistance. Mulcair wondered if a $90,000 payment was a valid legal expense, and Harper assured him that it was not a party expense, and that NDP MPs were also provided with “substantial legal assistance.” Mulcair wondered what was done by the law firm on behalf of the PM that was worth $13,000. Harper simply repeated the line about legal assistance, and further alleged that the NDP paid damages on Mulcair’s behalf in a lawsuit. With Justin Trudeau in Calgary to deliver a speech on energy, it was up to Ralph Goodale to lead off, and he asked when Harper first heard that his staff had counselled Duffy to lie. Paul Calandra got up in Harper’s stead and accused the Liberals of making victims of the three senators plus former senator Mac Harb. Goodale wondered why Harper took a weekend to decide that Wright needed to be fired after previously being called “honourable.” Calandra assured him that the PM was clear, and hey, pipelines! Goodale pressed one last time, and listed the many ethical lapses on Harper’s part. The Speaker warned him about veering into party business, but Calandra got up instead and regaled a parable about his children getting an allowance.

Round two, and Mulcair was back up to ask why Duffy’s legal fees were paid if he was in the wrong (Harper: Your party paid $100,000 in damages for your wrongdoing), what was negotiated between the party’s lawyers and Duffy’s in that month (Harper: Our position is that he needed to repay those expenses), how many people in the PMO knew of the deal with Duffy (Harper: How many people in your party know of your $100,000 payout for losing a court case), how could someone at the party approve to pay Duffy’s legal bills if he worked alone (Harper: We expected him to pay back), did the PMO offer Duffy a guarantee that if he went along with the repayment scheme that the Conservative-controlled Senate would let him off the hook (Harper: The Senate is independent and we don’t always agree with their decisions), what were those talks with LeBreton if they’re independent (Harper: Tkachuk was on that committee, not LeBreton), why is Senator Stewart-Olsen still sitting if she admitted to wrongful expenses (Harper: Those are baseless allegations, and why don’t you repay your party for your legal damages?) Joyce Murray asked why Duffy’s fees were paid but not Wallin or Brazeau’s (Calandra: You’re just trying to defend these actions because you took illegal money too), and Marc Garneau asked for the total fee for Buying Duffy’s silence (Harper: I taught my daughters their address first thing but you’re defending senators who who don’t know where they live). Megan Leslie asked why we should believe the PM when his senators are not doing what he wants (Calandra: You’re just defending those senators — which is news to everyone), did anyone in PMO advise Senator Tkachuk to coach Wallin on the audit (Calandra: Canadians want us to pass this motion to suspend then without pay), and Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe replayed a couple of previous question in French (Calandra: There you go defending Duffy again).

Round three saw repeats of questions on the ClusterDuff affair, the injured Afghan vets who are being dismissed before being eligible for pensions (Nicholson: We work on a transition plan with these injured soldiers before they are released), the closure of US Steel in Hamilton despite a promise to maintain jobs (Moore: They also manufacture the pipelines that you oppose), whether the government paid for Dean Del Mastro’s legal fees (Calandra: No), a First Nations school being closed for unsanitary conditions, and whether Harper felt any personal responsibility for appointing Duffy and Wallin.

Overall, the day marked a slide in the quality of questions — more were on party business than what happened in the PMO, and by round three, it was just random backbenchers reading the previous questions over again. It’s like there’s only so much stamina in the Commons for having a decent QP, and after about two days’ worth, it runs out of steam, which is terribly disappointing. For his part, Harper decided to hit back at Mulcair on the topic of legal fees with the accusations of his party paying for his damages from a libel finding — err, except that it was old news from 2002 when Mulcair was a Liberal MNA in Quebec. No doubt Harper was once again trying to take a fact but strip it of enough context to make it sound damaging to his opponents. We’ll see if anyone actually falls for it.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Annick Papillon for a grey jacket and skirt with a white collared shirt, and to Maxime Bernier for a grey three-piece suit with a white shirt and pocket square and a yellow and navy tie. Style citations go out to Rob Anders for a brown velvet jacket with a brown plaid shirt and plain brown tie, and to Kerry-Lynne Findlay for a black jacket with an overpowering white diamond grid pattern and a black top.