With all of the leaders in the House, it promised to be an exciting QP, but first, there were many Members’ Statements touching on the topic of Bell Let’s Talk Day. Thomas Mulcair began by asking about keeping the veterans service centres open, to which Stephen Harper assured him that they increased the number of centres — the over 600 Service Canada centres across the country. Mulcair brought up the eight recent military suicides to drive home the point, and Harper insisted that the centres being closed were hardly being used. Mulcair hit back by saying that Harper’s commitment to Bell Let’s Talk Day was cutting mental health services for veterans, before asking about his “affordability” proposals. Harper was not amused, and amid cries of “Shame,” pointed out the support they were giving to mental illness which was one of the reasons why he appointed Denise Batters to the Senate, given her advocacy work. Mulcair tried to ask about Senator Mac Harb’s alleged mortgage fraud, but the Speaker rightfully pointed out that it was not a question related to government business and shut it down. For his last question, Mulcair demanded that Harper ask the Government of Brunei to order their former diplomat to cooperate with the RCMP about Harb’s mortgage — because he apparently doesn’t recognise diplomatic immunity. Harper assured him that he had confidence in the RCMP to do their jobs. Justin Trudeau brought up a First Nations youth training centre in Whitehorse that is funded by the Labour Market Agreement that the government proposes to cut in favour of the Canada Job Grant. Harper insisted that youth unemployment was lower now than the average under the whole of the last Liberal government. Trudeau brought up a similar centre in Sudbury, but Harper said that they were making provincial transfers that benefitted these trainees. Trudeau closed by up the PM’s previous statements about provincial responsibility in this area, to which Harper responded that they recognised that job creation was the responsibility of the federal government.

Round two, and Mulcair was a back up of to ask about what Nigel Wright wrote to him back in May about assisting Mike Duffy (Harper: I had no knowledge of this, and let’s let the RCMP do their jobs), and when he pressed about the media lines prepared around Duffy’s repayment, Harper continued to plead ignorance. Ève Péclet asked about Wright and Harper’s plausible deniability (Calandra: This PM expects the highest ethical standards), Chris Charlton wondered if any other lobbyists would be appointed to the Security and Intelligence Review Committee (Calandra: Strahl was an honourable individuals), before she asked again about Shelly Glover’s questionable fundraiser (Glover: I didn’t solicit funds and none were accepted), and Charlie Angus asked a rambling non-question about the government’s ethical standards (Calandra: We passed the Accountability Act). Chrsytia Freeland asked about extending the existing Labour Market Agreements with the provinces if there is no agreement on the Canada Job Grant (Kenney: We want to ensure that people have a job at the end of training), David McGuinty asked about the Canada Post changes (Raitt: There were one billion fewer pieces of mail in 2012 than in 2006), and Scott Brison asked about youth unemployment (Flaherty: Look at our job creation record). Olivia Chow and Huong Mai wanted to know the timeline for phasing out DOT-111 rail tanker cars (Raitt: We are studying the matter and will have a report by the end of January and published tougher rules), and Peggy Nash demanded that the NDP’s affordability “solutions” in the next budget (Flaherty: It’s not my habit to include NDP solutions in my budgets).

Round three saw more questions on Canada Post, the incidents of porcine epidemic diarrhoea, the closures of the veterans affairs centres, the “export of jobs” via Keystone XL, rail coordination for grain shipments, cuts to rural passenger rail, and a rail bridge in Quebec City.

Overall, it was a much more lively day than yesterday, which isn’t all that surprising. After his ruling this morning on what kinds of questions would be allowed, and cautions against future abuses of “hybrid questions” that are little more than thinly veiled statements, it was good to see the Speaker being a little more active today in shutting down blatantly illegitimate questions. More and consistent policing would certainly help make for a better QP.

Sartorially speaking, snaps to out to Greg Rickford for a tailored black suit with a white shirt and pocket square and a blue patterned tie, and to Annick Papillon for a grey jacket and skirt with a black top. Style citations to out to Charmaine Borg for a purple turtleneck, high-waisted pleated cream skirt and a somewhat overdone necklace, and to François Choquette for a black suit with a glowingly bright blue shirt and striped tie. Dishonourable mentions go out to Olivia Chow for her gold-yellow jacket with a black dress, and to Patricia Davidson for a lemon yellow top with a black jacket and trousers.