With Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s admission that he smoked crack cocaine crowding out the news cycle, and the upcoming votes on suspensions in the Senate keeping the anticipation there, it was likely that a bombshell of epic proportions could be dropped in the Commons and it wouldn’t make the news. It didn’t happen, but it quite possibly could have. Thomas Mulcair led off QP with a bit of a soliloquy, and brought up the meme of week about how he “couldn’t care less” instead of showing contrition. Harper got up and waxed as poetically as is possible for him, talking about the honour of public service and that he wanted sanction for those senators who broke the rules. Mulcair brought up that these were Harper’s appointments, but Harper continued to insist that they wanted rule-breaking senators to face the consequences. Mulcair turned to the letter the RCMP wrote to Duffy’s lawyer that was asking for documents, to which Harper asserted that the letter was to Duffy’s lawyer and that they have been cooperating with the RCMP. Mulcair wanted all documents related to the ClusterDuff affair tabled in the House, but Harper assured him that he had no role in the affair. Justin Trudeau was up for the Liberals, and asked if Senator Gerstein mentioned Wright’s scheme to repay Duffy between February and May. Harper asserted that he had no idea, and Trudeau pounced, wondering why Gerstein still had his position if he was involved. Harper asserted that the actions in question were those of Wright and Duffy, and then reached for the cudgel of the Liberal senators supposedly “blocking” the sanctions.

Mulcair returned for round two, and Mulcair was back up, wondering about the instructions for Wight to “take care of it” (Harper: I told Duffy to repay it), about the meeting with the three of them around the repayment order (Harper: I told him to repay inappropriate expenses), the inconsistency between Gerstein and Wright’s versions of affairs (Harper: What about your party making repayments for you), did he know of the original plan between Gerstein and Wright when it was allegedly for $30,000 (Harper: I’ve been clear that I expected Duffy to repay his expenses), wondering why none of the other people in the conspiracy had been fired (Harper: Wright responsibility and Duffy hasn’t actually repaid from his own funds), and why did you stop saying Wright used a “personal cheque” and changed to “own resources” (Harper: He used his own resources). Ralph Goodale wondered what Duffy’s legal fees were really for and would he table an itemised invoice (Calandra: We provide legal assistance to our members in good standing), whether he’s asked anyone in the PMO coached Duffy to lie (Calandra: You keep trying to protect Duffy), and wanted an assurance that no evidence around the issue was moved or destroyed (Calandra: We’re cooperating with authorities). Megan Leslie and François Choquette asked about the Environment Commissioner’s report on species at risk (Aglukkaq: We have made an emergency order about the sage grouse and posted most protection orders over the past three years), and Guy Caron and Murray Rankin asked about pension plan reform (Sorensen: Now is not the time to increase costs on small businesses).

Round three saw questions on the Military Ombudsman’s report around military housing, the assistance programme for veterans’ funerals, injured veterans facing delays for assistance, the use of food banks, a Dominican plan to remove citizenship from anyone born in Haiti and the efforts of groups to oppose it, the pressures facing credit unions after the budget, and Economic Action Plan™ ad spending.

Overall, it was a slow start, with Mulcair soliloquising in the leader’s round, though he moved to the more prosecutorial questions throughout round two. Harper was a bit more lyrical himself than usual, but little came of any of it. For his part, Trudeau trap might have worked, if he hadn’t decided to throw the demand for the PM to testify under oath into the same questions but kept it for his third and final question, but he decided to ask the same in French then, and it lost all of its impact.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe for a fitted black and subtle floral jacket with black trousers, and to Jonathan Tremblay for a chocolate suit with a pink shirt and a pink and black striped tie. Style citations go out to Jean Rousseau for his woodland ensemble of a brown striped suit and tie with a moss green shirt, and to Françoise Boivin for a creamsicle-orange boxy microfiber jacket with a white shirt and black trousers.