Despite the fact that the Auditor General delivered his fall report earlier this morning, as did the Correctional Investigator, it was unlikely either of those would be mentioned anytime before round three. All three leaders were in the Chamber, and there were ClusterDuff questions to be asked. Thomas Mulcair surprised me by bringing up the report chapter on rail safety first thing, to which Harper insisted that the report showed that the system was working overall. Mulcair brought up the chapter on food safety, but Harper again insisted that it wasn’t an accurate reflection, and then read an outside quote about how great things were. Mulcair demanded that the government listen and act on the AG’s recommendations rather than just saying that they agreed. Harper insisted that they always act on the AG’s recommendations. And then it was back to the ClusterDuff — was anyone else being sanctioned for their activities? Harper said he wasn’t going to interfere with the RCMP investigation, and when Mulcair insisted that others be fired, Harper returned to his line about throwing mud and losing ground. Justin Trudeau asked why Senator Gerstein was in caucus and chief fundraiser if was involved in the Wright affairs. Harper insisted that only two people were under investigation. Trudeau brought up Gerstein’s attempt to influence the Deloitte audit, but Harper ignored that and spoke about an improperly reported gift between Wright and Duffy. Trudeau retorted with a dig about Harper losing 40 percent of his vote share last night before wondering why Harper still trusted Gerstein — but Harper shrugged it off and said that the public doesn’t agree with the Liberals when they protect senators.

Round two and Mulcair was back on his feet! asking if Harper knew of the original plan to repay Duffy’s expenses from party funds (Harper: I insisted that he repay with his own funds), did he know of the nine separate attempts by Duffy to get his legal fees repaid (Harper: non-answer), was he aware of the attempt to subvert the Deloitte audit (Harper: Deloitte stands by the findings of its audit), did his office send out a “senior source” to assure the media that Duffy was still qualified as a PEI senator (Harper: many senators and MPs have more than one residence, but Duffy claimed inappropriate expenses), did his office know that there was an agreement for Duffy to start claiming expenses if the rules were changed (Harper: Those kinds of expenses are inappropriate under any circumstance), and was he aware that his office coordinated media lines for members of the Internal Economy Committee (Harper: House and Senate committees come to their own positions). Judy Foote wondered why Carolyn Stewart-Olsen was still in caucus is she was trying to get Duffy’s audit stopped and then whitewashed (Calandra: Only Duffy and Wright are under investigation), while Dominic LeBlanc brought up Senator Tkachuk’s conveniently spotty memory and his continued presence in caucus (Calandra: Remember when Ralph Goodale and Scott Brison were questioned in a different RCMP investigation). Jack Harris and Élaine Michaud asked about the insufficient budgets for shipbuilding (Finley: The procurement strategy uses third party experts to manage these processes), and Romeo Saganash and Jean Crowder asked about the AG report chapter on emergency management on First Nations reserves (Valcourt: We agreed to undertake a new approach to ensure protection for First Nations in the event of emergencies).

Round three saw questions on the AG report chapters on food safety, rail safety, online service delivery (Clement: A single portal will be online in December), border controls, and other questions on child poverty, the Champlain Bridge, and plans for a national securities regulator.

Overall, it was nice to get away from the ClusterDuff questions for even a few minutes off the top, but by tomorrow the AG report will be old news. The dearth of Paul Calandra responses was also a welcome change, as was the disappearance of the Liberal “Fraud Squad” talking point. It wasn’t the best QP on record, but it was a far sight better than the gong show that we saw yesterday.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to James Bezan for a chocolate suit with a pink shirt and a light blue tie and pocket square, and to Rona Ambrose for a fitted black dress and jacket. Style citations go out to Susan Truppe for a black jacket with gold patterning along the lapels and florals along the sleeves and body, and to Jonathan Tremblay for a greyish brown jacket with a burnt orange shirt and black and gold tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Bal Gosal for a black suit with a pale yellow shirt and black and yellow tie.