With the Senate suspension motions now passed, it was a countdown to see how quickly Harper would invoke the talking point that things were now in the hands of the RCMP, and that he couldn’t comment. When QP got started, Thomas Mulcair started by decrying the alliterative “culture of cover-up and corruption” in the PMO. Harper for up to point out that Wright too responsibility, and he then congratulated the Senate for passing the suspensions. Mulcair wanted to ensure that there was no repayment for any “eeeee-legal” expenses, but Harper repeated his answer. Mulcair asked if Jenni Byrne, who was then with the party and now in the PMO, had any part in the repayment scheme. Harper accused Mulcair of flinging mud out of desperation. Mulcair asked the same again with regards to Irving Gerstein, to which the Speaker warned him that this was straying into party business. Harper said that Mulcair was trying to widen the net of blame, and another attempt at the same question yielded no results. Justin Trudeau was up, and wondered if the PM would allow a free vote on their motion to have him go before committee and testify under oath. Harper instead hit back and accused Liberal senators of trying to defend their entitlements. Trudeau pressed again, insinuating that whipping the vote was to participate in a cover-up. Harper continued to insist that the Liberals in the Senate who wanted the embattled three to get off without sanction (which is, of course, not true).

Round two, and Mulcair was back up, trying to widen the wedge between the statements of Gerstein and Wright (Harper: The responsibilities lies with Wright), he wanted the itemised accounting of Duffy’s repaid legal fees (Harper: Parties will pay for legal fees, as you have taken advantage of in the past), did other Senators have their legal fees reimbursed for the same audit process — and got another rebuke from the Speaker (Harper: same as before), why is Senator Stewart-Olsen not under investigation for the same housing claim issues (Harper: I have no idea what you’re talking about), is former Senator Rod Zimmer also under investigation (Harper: I have no idea where you’re going with this), who in the PMO is responsible for providing briefings for Senators before they face the media (Harper: We occasionally give the assistance, but they are constitutionally independent), who holds media prep for Senators (Harper: this has nothing to do with government business), and a question on Saskatchewan moving for Senate abolition (Harper: We have proposed reforms for the Senate and you have blocked it). Geoff Regan asked if former PMO staffer Chris Woodcock was contacted by the RCMP (Calandra: Liberal senators fought for the status quo in the Senate), and he tried getting an answer three times with no luck. Libby Davies and Dany Morin asked about failed marks for the government in a report on family doctors (Adams: We have provided stable, predictable funding for the provinces going forward), and Sylvain Chicoine and Peter Stoffer asked about veterans being released from the Forces before being eligible for their pensions (Nicholson: Your party doesn’t support veterans or ill and injured soldiers).

Round three saw questions on the Federal Court striking down changes from budget 2012 as they related to certain First Nations’ social assistance, a UN report that singles out Canada as laggards in GHG reductions, Trudeau was back up and asked about soldiers being discharged before getting pensions and the closure of veterans services offices (Nicholson: the department works to ensure that soldiers have proper training to transition to civilian life), proposed tolls on the replacement for the Champlain bridge, the planned closure of two search and rescue substations, problems with contracts to a carbon capture and storage company in Saskatchewan who is under RCMP investigation, and on research funding.

Overall, Harper didn’t bring out the “under investigation, can’t comment” line, which was a surprise to me — not that the answers he gave were edifying. Mulcair really started to wander into the weeds today, and was reaching well beyond the confines of government business, and while the benches would cry “it’s about the Senate!” when the Speaker rebuked him, they don’t seem to grasp that the Senate is not a government department and is not therefore government business. And no, just because they spend taxpayer money doesn’t automatically make that government business either. The fact that retired Liberal senator Rod Zimmer was also brought up was beyond strange, and that stretches any claim that this could be government business to its breaking point.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michelle Rempel for a black dress with lace patterning and a black jacket, and to Rick Dykstra for a black suit with a light purple striped shirt and a rich purple tie. Style citations go out to Raymond Côté for a brownish grey suit with a fluorescent blue shirt and a light blue tie, and to Megan Leslie for a vintage-esque cream and floral top with maroon trousers and a black jacket.