For the first time in weeks, Stephen Harper was in the House for QP, as were all of the other leaders. Thomas Mulcair led off by asking about the repudiation for the Nadon appointment, and wanted a commitment that they would not attempt to reappoint him. Harper said that they would comply with the letter and the spirit of the ruling, and that the NDP didn’t have any objection to appointing a justice from the Federal Court. Mulcair asked about the fundraiser who travelled on the Challenger jet with Harper. Harper assured him that it was his practice to have those flights reimbursed at the commercial rate. Mulcair pressed, and alleged that the flight was a reward for fundraising, but Harper didn’t take the bait. Mulcair changed topics and asked about the elections bill and its repudiation by experts across the board. Harper retorted that the NDP opposed the bill without reading it, but shrugged off any further criticism. Justin Trudeau returned to the empty seat on the Supreme Court, and wondered when a new justice would be appointed. Harper reminded him that all of the parties supported having a judge appointed from the Federal Court and accused Trudeau of trying to politicise the appointment. Trudeau moved onto the cut to the Building Canada Fund, to which Harper insisted that they were making record investments, before making a crack about Trudeau’s definition of the middle class.

Round two, and Nathan Cullen asked about the end of the small business hiring tax credit (Oliver: Our pragmatic approach has created jobs), about the costs associated with the court reporting service (MacKay: This is an arm’s length organisation, and this is before the courts), and creating an app to justify cuts to veterans services (Clement: Look at these other great apps that we’ve created to serve Canadians), Guy Caron asked the hiring credit question in French (Oliver: Ibid.), Caron and Murray Ranking about enriching the CPP (Sorensen: Raising payroll taxes will doom the economy), Sadia Groguhé and Jinny Sims asked about temporary workers for the sake of natural gas exporters in BC (Kenney: I get plenty of requests for temporary foreign worker permits from your MPs), and Linda Duncan asked about the lack of enforcement for abuses of the temporary foreign worker programme (Kenney: We will throw the book at those who don’t comply). David McGuinty and Kevin Lamoureux returned to the Building Canada Fund cuts (Lebel: That’s not true), and Hedy Fry decried the end of the 2004 Health Accord (Ambrose: We have increased transfers to record levels). Chris Charlton and Alexandrine Latendresse brought up the opposition to the elections bill (Poilievre: It’s a terrific bill that Canadians support), and Craig Scott brought up the loophole around phone banks in the bill (Poilievre: It’s not an omission and it is deliberate so as not to punish volunteers).

Round three saw questions on the administrative tribunal provisions in the omnibus budget bill (MacKay: They are being brought together for cost savings), rail safety provisions in the bill, the lack of clarity on regulations in the rail grain bill, cuts to agro-stability funds, a follow-up on the phone bank provisions of the elections bill, the IPCC report, the price hikes at Canada Post, credit card merchant fees, the mismanagement of the planned new Detroit-Windsor bridge, and the Champlain Bridge replacement.

Overall, it was a scattershot day as Mulcair tried to get Harper to respond to the issues of the past three weeks. Something that has been bothering me for a while is the way in which Justin Trudeau structures questions in the leader’s round. Rather than asking the very same question in French as he does in English, it would be far better if he simply asked a follow-up in the other language to keep the flow of debate. Not only is there flow, but he would be far more authentic in his conduct, rather than simply trying to create a forced media clip.

Sartorially speaking, snaps to out to Lisa Raitt for a blue and grey top with a long white jacket, and to Greg Rickford for a dark grey suit with a light blue shirt and a dark blue tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Dany Morin for a brownish grey suit with a pale cranberry shirt and dark blue tie, and to Alexandrine Latendresse for a three-quarter sleeved pink, blue and yellow floral patterned wrap top.