With caucus day, not only were the leaders all present and accounted for in the House, but so were most of the MPs, which set up for a boisterous day. Thomas Mulcair started off by asking about the grain rail bottleneck and the lack of compensation in the bill due to correct it. Stephen Harper mumbled some vague assurances that they were working with producers and would increase the volumes shipped. Mulcair moved onto the testimony of the Commissioner of Elections, who said that some investigations might be shut down because of a lack of compelled testimony. Harper insisted that the bill gives greater independence to the Commissioner, and took a dig at the NDP’s “branch offices” around the country. Mulcair took a few more digs about Conservative “election fraud” before reiterating about the ability for the Commissioner to compel testimony. Harper responded with yet another dig about branch offices. Mulcair asked the same again in French, and got the same answer in French. For his final question, Mulcair asked if Harper thought that Eve Adams should step down, to which Harper called Mulcair a hypocrite, and the Speaker duly cautioned him for unparliamentary language. Justin Trudeau was up next, and asked about the status of the electoral mission to Ukraine. Harper thanked him for his support, and said that there would be updates as they became available. Trudeau switched to a CIBC report on Canadians not saving enough and having too much debt. Harper retorted that Trudeau didn’t have an actual definition for middle class, and dismissed the question. For his final question, Trudeau asked a boilerplate question on the plight of the middle class in French, to which Harper gave a dig that Trudeau wouldn’t know if he was meeting with middle class Canadians or not.

Round two, and Megan Leslie led off by returning to the issue of compelled testimony for the Elections Commissioner (Poilievre: He already has the same powers as the police), and whether he would entertain amendments about the robocall registration provisions (Poilievre: You should bring ID when you vote), Alexandrine tried the same again in French (Poilievre: The Commissioner will be independent under the Act), and asked about the comparisons to American voter identification laws (Poilievre: You need photo ID in the States — not so here), and Craig Scott asked about the lack of consultation with the Commissioner of Elections (Poilievre: The Chief Electoral Officer can control and fire him, and we’ll give him more independence). Mark Eyking asked about the rail grain bill (Ritz: All sectors in the supply chain are working together), Francis Scarpaleggia asked about the government has done about climate change adaptation (Aglukkaq: We cut future emissions without a carbon tax), and John McKay asked about the cuts at Environment Canada (Aglukkaq: No government has done as much as we have for the environment). Jack Harris and Élaine Michaud asked about mandating digital search and rescue beacons (Raitt: We are doing a risk assessment), and Hoang Mai and asked about the GM recall (Raitt: Our top priority is the safety of Canadians; the company notifies Transport Canada).

Round three saw questions on the outsourcing of cataloging at Library and Archives, the dismissive comments RCMP officers made about a victim of abuse, the lack of any uniformed clinical psychiatrists in the Canadian Forces, the poor response rate at the Veterans Affairs hotline, the Global Peace and Security Fund, powers for the Commissioner of Elections, a deportation order, the increasing price of stamps, and the IPCC report.

Overall, it was a better and more coherent day for questioning than usual, which was heartening to see. As well, Harper was a little more feisty than usual when it comes to batting back at his opponents, which again made for a more engaging day. That the Conservatives were bending over backwards to make forced shots at Justin Trudeau for his nebulous definition of “middle class” was fairly tiresome, however, and mostly wasn’t terribly clever.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Bernarnd Trottier for a dark grey suit with a light lavender shirt and lavender and grey tie, and to Candice Bergen for a grey, black and red mottled dress. Style citations go out to Christine Moore for an orange and off-white dress that looked like an X-wing flight suit with an off-white bolero jacket and orange ballet flats, and to Jean Rousseau for a chocolate suit with a bright orange shirt and an orange and cream paisley tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Leona Aglukkaq for a black suit with a mustard top.