After an abbreviated number of members’ statements, thanks to a vote on closure regarding that prima facie breach of privilege around MP Brad Butt “mis-speaking” on voter fraud, QP got underway in a somewhat strange manner. While most everyone was present for the vote, the benches suddenly emptied and Harper, who was there for the vote was nowhere to be seen. Undaunted, Thomas Mulcair led off, mentioning his meeting with the Ukrainian ambassador and asked about news that Russia tested an intercontinental ballistic missile. Peter MacKay responded with the government’s concerns, and when Mulcair asked about the troops in Ukraine that Putin denied sending, MacKay reiterated the government’s concerns. When Mulcair asked about engagements with Putin, John Baird gave a quick statement about his efforts to date. Harper returned to the House, (as had most of those MPs who fled) and Mulcair asked again about what the government was doing about the situation, Harper told him that Canada was suspending bilateral activities with Russia. For his final question, Mulcair asked about the discussions among G7 partners, to which Harper told him that they were discussing the possibility of a meeting in a few weeks. Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals, and asked about the status of our embassy in Kyiv. Harper noted that the embassy was closed because of the violence during the protests, and that it wouldn’t be reopened until the threat of violence had passed. Goodale asked about the status of our embassy in Moscow, to which Harper assured him that our recalled ambassador had just returned and would be meeting with Baird later in the day, and that bilateral activities remained suspended. Goodale closed the round asking about the statement made by China with regards to respecting Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty, and Harper noted that this kind of activity hadn’t been seen since the Second World War (to which one of my gallery colleagues muttered “What about Georgia?”)

Round two, and Chris Charlton and Nycole Turmel asked if Poilievre really believed that voter identification cards were being used for fraud (Poilievre: Yes), and his consultations with Canadians on the bill (Poilievre: Look at all of these great measures in the bill), Ève Péclet and Charlie Angus asked about the meeting between Mike Duffy and Nigel Wright (Calandra: The PM had no idea about the plan), Angus and Alexandre Boulerice asked about the Conservatives data-mining the livestream of the Aga Khan’s speech (Calandra: Yay Aga Khan!). Emmanuel Dubourg, Carolyn Bennett and John McCallum asked about the government ads during the Oscars, offering alternate uses for those funds (Clement: We need to inform the public; Kenney: Look at the agreements we’ve made on the Canada Job Grant!). Mathieu Ravignat and Peggy Nash asked about absence of EI figures in the Estimates (Clement: There were no changes to the programme and it’s not a voteable line item), and Olivia Chow wanted support for her VIA Rail bill (Raitt: They are an arm’s length organization), and Yvon Godin want the minister to meet with mayors in the region about passenger rail cuts (Raitt: I look forward to their invitation).

Round three saw questions on grain transportation, Jim Prentice and Brad Wall’s calls for more environmental regulations, demands for a national action plan for violence against women, the lack of amendments on an agriculture bill, a soldier’s suicide, job statistics, unpaid internships, a truck dispute at the Port of Vancouver, and the reclassification of those Swiss rifles while the legislation remains deficient.

Overall, the first round exchanges on Ukraine were faint hope that we could get a QP full of meaningful exchanges, but that was dashed in the second round where ridiculous questions about the ClusterDuff affair appeared, as did some overly florid kitchen-sink questions and trolling for support for private members’ bills. You know, the kinds of things that really take away from QP. I would also note the exchange between Godin and Raitt, where Godin angrily demanded that Raitt meet with those mayors in the region, to which Raitt replied that she’d be happy to if she got invited, which she hasn’t been. Oops.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Maxime Bernie for a black three-piece suit with a pale blueberry shirt and pink-and-black striped tie, and to Rona Ambrose for a fitted grey dress with a black jacket. Style citations of out to Alice Wong for a jacket that appeared to be made of a gold and maroon tapestry with a black dress, and to Jonathan Genest-Jourdain for a grey and brown patterned suit that appeared to have come from a chesterfield, along with a white shirt and blue tie.