With the Rob Ford sideshow still sucking the oxygen out of the news cycle, and none of the leaders in the House, it was either going to be a quiet QP, or an utter gong show — rarely is it anything in between when the leaders are away. Megan Leslie stated off by asking a question about the relief efforts to the Philippines after the typhoon. Chrisitian Paradis stood up to laud the efforts of the DART, and that the government commitments to relief stand at nearly $40 million. Nycole Turmel was up next, and asked about the expedited immigration for those affected. Costas Menegakis reiterated some of the measures that the government was taking. Turmel and Leslie then returned to the issue of ClusterDuff timelines, but Paul Calandra responded with the usual lines about how the Prime Minister was unaware of what happened. For her final question, Leslie asked about the revelations about Michael Sona being in Aruba when he allegedly bragged about the robocall scheme — which isn’t actually government business — and Calandra didn’t really give an answer in any case. For the Liberals, Ralph Goodale returned to the topics of the staffers in the PMO involved in the ClusterDuff affair, but Paul Calandra told him to repeat the allegations outside of the Chamber. For the final question, Marc Garneau asked about a February 20th email that directed some PMO staff to assist Senator Duffy, and why were they still employed? Calandra insisted that the PM was clear that he wouldn’t have stood for these actions.

Round two started off with Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe and Françoise Boivin asking if the PMO was under RCMP investigation (Calandra: No it’s not but we’re cooperating with authorities), Charlie Angus wondered why nobody could answer a straight-forward question (Calandra: Those disgraced senators need to be held to account for their actions), Chris Charlton and Ève Péclet returned to the topic of Michael Sona (Calandra: We’ll let the courts decide), and Matthew Ravignat asked about the inadequacy of whistleblower protections (Clement: We adopted new rules after 13 years of Liberal scandals!). Carolyn Bennett asked about delays to the election reform bill (Calandra: Liberals are just trying to protect their entitlements — no, seriously), Dominic LeBlanc asked why the Conservatives were trying to encourage only those who corroborated their own version of events to testify under investigations (Calandra: When it comes to accountability, the Liberals have nothing to say). Jack Harris asked about the reports that the AG will report a shortfall in shipbuilding funds (Finley: By building these ships in Canada, we’ll create 15,000 jobs), and Annick Papillon asked an environmental assessment at the Port of Quebec (Weston: The Port can consult with the public as good corporate citizens).

Round three saw questions on the accusations of failure to act on rail safety recommendations that arose for the Burlington derailment, the possible early closure of the Champlain Bridge, possible cuts at CFB Shilo, the national shipbuilding procurement shortfalls, access to medicalised opiates being restricted, the closure of veterans services offices, vehicle emissions regulations, the provincial pushback on the Canada Jobs Grant, and a cancer patient being given a removal order.

Overall, it ended up being a fairly quiet day, and Paul Calandra kept the spotlight on him — even for questions directed to Pierre Poilievre, who sat at his desk, reading a magazine instead of answering. Also, it was the return of Michael Sona questions, which had nothing to do with government business, hence my referencing the Son’a on my Twitter Machine feed in order to point out their absurdity. Also, apparently questions about the awfulness of the leader of the third party are also government business — duly noted.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Laurin Liu for a maroon sheath dress with cream side panels and lower sleeves, along with tall boots, and to Ed Holder for a black suit with a pink shirt and tie. Style citations go out to François Choquette for a tan suit with a pale green shirt and bronze tie, and to Cheryl Gallant for a black and purple dress with a multicoloured line pattern across the front. Dishonourable mention goes out to Larry Miller for a black suit with a yellow shirt and blue and black striped tie.