Despite it being only Thursday, there was only one major leader in the House, as Stephen Harper was in Mississauga to announce a bill, and Justin Trudeau in Fort McMurray in advance of the by-election call there. Thomas Mulcair, still present in Ottawa, led off by asking about a refugee deportation case, to which Chris Alexander seemed to imply that the woman in question was not a genuine refugee. Mulcair brought up the plight of someone thrown in jail in China for assisting the labour movement, to which Alexander gave a paean about how great their refugee reforms were. Mulcair moved onto the elections bill, demanding that it be withdrawn. Pierre Poilievre insisted that his stories about widespread voter fraud were true. Mulcair then brought up former Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s objections to the bill — something I figured would have led off QP — but Poilievre was undaunted in his praise of the bill. For his final question, Mulcair brought up the request that the families of fallen soldiers pay their own way to a national memorial service. James Bezan said that expenses would be covered, and laid blame on the Colonel who sent out the letter. Chrystia Freeland led off for the Liberals, and brought up the changes in median incomes since the Conservatives came to power. Kevin Sorensen insisted that everyone was better off since they were in power. Freeland brought up other worrying figures, but Sorensen praised the government’s job creation record. Emmanuel Dubourg asked the same again in French, and Sorensen accused Trudeau of voting against middle class families time and again.

Round two started with Alexandrine Latendresse returned to Sheila Fraser’s objections, adding to the list of other experts denouncing the bill (Poilievre: Canadians have rejected your arguments), Chris Charlton brought up the ways in which First Nations will be disadvantaged by the new rules (Poilievre: You need ID to cross the border!), Megan Leslie brought up the ways that the changes disadvantage the visually impaired (Poilievre: A CNIB blind card is a valid piece of ID), and Craig Scott wondered how Poilievre could be an expert if other ones were all “so-called” (Poilievre: I was referring to false analogies to US laws). Joyce Murray asked about the increasing number of insulting requests to fallen soldiers’ families (Bezan: The minister was clear that that it was a premature and incorrect letter), John McCallum brought up out paltry commitment to Syrian refugees (Alexander: We are going beyond our commitments to Syrians), and the various tests for spousal sponsorship of immigrants (Alexander: We’re protecting women’s rights). Guy Caron decried the wealth of the 86 richest Canadians (Sorensen: We’ve cut taxes 160 times!), Nathan Cullen asked about income splitting (Sorensen: We cut taxes), and Niki Ashton and Malcolm Allen denounced the rail grain bill (Ritz: We are giving them the tools they need).

Round three saw questions on the numbers of flight attendants on flights, published drug safety reviews, the lack of icebreaker capacity, generic OxyContin addiction, a potential confrontation around a re-opened First Nations fishery, blue fin tuna licenses, the voluntary drug shortage database, the increase in stamps, and French language obligations to federally regulated industries in Quebec.

Overall, it was really scattershot today, with the leader’s round being all over the map. It was also surprising that the big news of Sheila Fraser’s objection to the Fair Elections Act was third down in the leader’s round and not asked in English, meaning the clip wouldn’t make the evening news for most of the country. It seemed like a curious tactical choice to make for a story with such explosive potential.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Matthew Dubé for a tailored navy suit with a crisp white shirt and a pink-spotted blue tie, and to Cathy McLeod for an off-white dress with black trim with a black jacket. Style citations go out to Roxanne James for a black jacket with a busy white bamboo pattern, and to François Pilon for a dark grey windowpane patterned suit with a light blue shirt and a pinkish-striped tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Sana Hassania for a black suit with a bright yellow and grey patterned top.