With rumours that the House might rise today, there was the very real possibility that this very well could be the last QP of 2013. Without Harper or Mulcair in the House, it was likely to be another fairly perfunctory day full of Paul Calandra’s classic lines of obfuscation. When things did get started, Megan Leslie decried the failure of an NDP motion at Ethics Committee to look into the once-missing Benjamin Perrin emails, and wondered who in the PMO ordered that it be shut down. John Baird, the designated back-up PM du jour, assured her that PCO took responsibility for the mistake, and the committee was in camera so he didn’t know what happened. Leslie tried again twice to no effect, and Nycole Turmel took over in French to ask if those emails proved there was “no legal agreement” around the Duffy repayment. Baird assured her that the RCMP were looking into things. Justin Trudeau was up for the Liberals, and asked about the funding gap for First Nations education. Bernard Valcourt responded by saying that they ended a comprehensive education regime, which required legislation, and that he remained committed to fixing the system that has failed those children, with funds to flow once the framework was in place. Trudeau moved onto the topic of the replacement of the Champlain Bridge, to which Denis Lebel accused the Liberals of 13 years of inaction on the bridge, but they were committed to a replacement ahead of the original schedule. For his last question, with some rhetorical flourish, Trudeau asked if anyone in the government was embarrassed by the conduct on the ClusterDuff file. Baird responded with a bit of a quip before reverting to the talking point that one person had taken responsibility and only two people were under investigation.

For round two, Jack Harris and Élaine Michaud asked about the latest Snowden revelations around CSE doing the work of the NSA abroad (Nicholson: CSE’s oversight has said that they haven’t broken the rules), Ève Péclet returned to the Ethics committee motion (Calandra: The chair went into camera when the NDP chair lost control and NDP members were busy calling points of order on themselves), Lysane Blachette-Lamothe wanted to know what was in the Perrin emails (Calandra: Look at how busy all of our ministers are), Chris Charlton and Charlie Angus carried on wondering about the cover-up of those Perrin emails (Calandra: The committee is still considering this motion), before Angus drew in accusations against Senator Patterson’s residence (Calandra: He is eligible to sit there as he was the former premier of the NWT). Judy Foote wondered again about the ClusterDuff cover-up (Calandra: Let’s elect the RCMP do their job), Dominic LeBlanc wondered about the PM’s knowledge of Gerstein’s role (Calandra: Gerstein made it clear that he would not repay Duffy’s expenses), and Ralph Goodale own indeed about all of those named by police in the ITO had been interviewed by the RCMP twice (Calandra: I’m sure the RCMP will find their answers). Roméo Saganash and Jean Crowder returned to the question of First Nations education (Valcourt: We are working with First Nations to correct a system that lets most students down on reserves), Peter Julian asked about the Northern Gateway pipeline and if the government would respect local opposition (Oliver: We will wait for independent scientific advice), and Murray Rankin wondered about the “witch hunt” against Canadian charities (Findlay: We need to ensure the integrity of the system, and CRA does this without political direction).

Round three saw questions on expanding CPP, “profiling” the unemployed around EI fraud, more questions around First Nations education, the minister blaming the injured because soldiers are afraid to ask for help because they fear of being kicked out, museum plans for the Canada 150 celebrations, retired public servants being afraid that their benefits will be cut, the loss of funding for an LGBT theatre festival, CBC/Radio-Canada pay negotiations, and whether the government would consider designating a national Nelson Mandela day.

Overall, it was fairly quiet, but somewhat shambolic. I have serious doubts that questions about committee business that were not directed to the appropriate committee chair were really matters of government business, despite the veneer of “who in the PMO ordered this” questions. What was even more ridiculous was Paul Calandra answering Liberal questions by alleging that they didn’t recognize our claim on the North Pole and indeed the fact that Santa Claus is Canadian. No, seriously. Santa Claus as a serious response in QP. Time to send them all home.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Jonathan Genest-Jourdain for a grey pinstriped suit with a white shirt and cream tie, and to Lisa Raitt for a brown and blue mottled dress with a black sweater. Style citations to out to Alice Wong for a red turtleneck with a blue and white mottled jacket, and to Bal Gosal for a lemon yellow shirt and tie with a grey suit. While it wasn’t the hated yellow and black, I think Gosal needs to admit that he just can’t wear yellow.