With a Team Canada hockey game going on, the members were distracted as QP got underway, and there were a great many empty seats dotting the chamber. Even more, only Justin Trudeau and Elizabeth May were the only leaders present. Megan Leslie led off for the NDP, and wondered if income splitting was to be abandoned. Jim Flaherty rose to assure her that they were committed to tax relief for families, and that the opposition voted against income splitting for seniors. Leslie pressed, and Flaherty hit back about how only the Conservatives lowered taxes. Leslie turned to the elections bill and wondered why the government was reluctant to allow cross-country consultations. Pierre Poilievre insisted that he consulted outside of Ottawa and heard their complaints. David Christopherson shouted the same question again in English, to which Poilievre insisted that the opposition simply needed to submit a list of witnesses to the committee, and they would be bring them in. Trudeau returned to the issue of income splitting, and how Kenney rebuked his own caucus members by saying they always keep their promises. With that established, Trudeau wondered what happened to the patient wait time guarantee. After some hesitation, Rona Ambrose rose to assure him that billions had been invested in the problem. Trudeau then wondered about the promise to lower the price of diesel fuel, to which Flaherty dodged by insisted that they lowered all kinds of taxes. For his final question, Trudeau wondered about the promised oil and gas regulations, but Leona Aglukkaq skated and tried to accuse the Liberals of letting the infrastructure in national parks lapse.

Peggy Nash rose for round two, and demanded that the finance minister listen to premiers (Flaherty: Yay the budget), the lack of mention of climate change in the budget (Aglukkaq: You can’t tax your way out of greenhouse gasses), Guy Caron asked about the ultimatum on the Canada Job Grant (Kenney: We need to increase investment on the part of the private sector), Sylvain Chicoine asked about the changes to veterans benefits (Albas: These changes are only supplemental additional benefits), Peter Stoffer asked about lowering the means test for the Last Post Fund (Fantino: Veterans families can avail themselves of new funds from the fund), and Chris Charlton and Alexandrine Latendresse returned to the issue of consultations on the elections bill (Poilievre: We’re setting aside special interests to get a debate on the substance of the bill). Scott Brison returned once again to income splitting and the analyses against it (Flaherty: Once the budget is balanced, we’re committed to greater tax relief for families), and Joyce Murray decried the botched procurement plans (Bezan: This money is there when the Armed Forces need it). Olivia Chow and Huong Mai wondered why the government never fined MMA despite their terrible safety record (Raitt: These investigations continue and if there are violations, there will be prosecution to its full extent), and Robert Chisholm decried the lack of protection for passenger rail in the budget (Raitt: There is more than one rail route, and no decisions have been made).

Round three saw questions on the loss of the tax credit for job creation, the situation of youth unemployment with the Canada Job Grant, cuts to EI benefits, whether book and music funds would be renewed, co-op housing, the grain shipping backlog, whether the changes to the immigration programmes disproportionately affected the Chinese, the lack of new funds for the Canadian Space Agency, and Ontario’s equalisation.

Overall, it was a medium-energy day, without too much punchiness. I will give props to Trudeau for his use of previous government promises that they “always keep” and obviously haven’t, and it was amusing to watch the various ministers skate and dodge around the issues, obviously unprepared to answer those questions. In other words, it broke the tedium that can easily set into QP.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Maxime Bernier for a dark grey three-piece suit with a lavender shirt angst ripped tie, and to Annick Papillon for a metallic grey jacket and skirt with a black top. Style citations go out to Isabelle Morin for a blue and white bolero-cut sweater with tasseled edging along with a black top and grey trousers, and to Laurie Hawn for a grey suit with a light cranberry shirt and red speckled tie.