After a two-week break, MPs were in good spirits, though the front benches were a little thin. Thomas Mulcair led off and immediately launched into prosecutorial mode around the Temporary Foreign Workers Programme. Jason Kenney responded that they had expanded the powers of inspectors and strengthened the blacklist provisions. Mulcair insisted that Kenney had known of problems for six years, but Kenney said that Mulcair was conflating a number of programmes into one whole, where those few incidents of abuse were being dealt with. Mulcair changed gears, and wondered why the Commissioner of Elections couldn’t get the power to compel testimony or produce papers like the Competition Bureau has. Poilievre insisted that they could get a court order. Mulcair didn’t press, but moved onto the topic of allowing the Chief Electoral Officer, but Poilievre carried on about Information to Obtain orders and demanded an apology for the robocall allegations. Mulcair said that the Federal Court said that calls were made — not actually asking a question. Poilievre pointed this out, and carried on demanding that apology. Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals, and demanded the Auditor General look into the Temporary Foreign Workers programme, to which Kenney assured him that the AG controls his own destiny and touted the changes they had made. Goodale carried on listing problems and repeated the call for the AG, though Kenney repeated his answer, making a dig at the previous Liberal government. Goodale said that the government needs to increase the number of pathways to citizenship, to which Kenney listed off a number of programmes that his government had implemented.

Round two, and Élaine Michaud and Jack Harris asked about the Maclean’s/L’Actualité story on rapes in the military (Nicholson: This is unacceptable behaviour and I have asked the Chief of Defence Staff to get to the bottom of it), Harris and Michaud then asked about why the public report on fighter alternatives was being kept secret (Finley: It will be produced once we’re sure that it’s not classified or commercially sensitive), Alexandrine Latendresse declared victory on elections bill changes and said the Conservatives cheated in previous elections (Poilievre: The Court recognized that we won fair and square — err…) David Christopherson demanded that Poilievre admit the bill was flawed (Poilievre: We’ve accepted some amendments to a common sense bill), and returned to the demands for the power to compel testimony (Poilievre: He already has the power). Stéphane Dion and Judy Foote brought up the senate reference ruling and asked the government to cut ties with their Senate caucus (Poilievre: Your proposal would have unelected people appoint unelected people), and Frank Valeriote shouted something about the whitewashing of the report on Senator Duffy’s expenses (Poilievre: I saw Senate Liberals everywhere I turned at your recent convention). Linda Duncan, Jinny Sims, and Sadia Groghué asked about companies violating Temporary Foreign Worker permits (Kenney: They haven’t been found to be wrong yet and if they are they will be punished; your hypocrisy when you come looking for TFW permits is a bit much to take).

Round three saw questions on expanding the CPP, the CRA’s inability to target the underground economy, transfer payments to Ontario, that fighter jet replacement report, gas prices over a holiday weekend (not that it’s actually something the government has any control over), the situation in the Central African Republic, a Permanent Resident of Canada detained in Egypt, and cuts at CBC.

Overall, it was interesting to see Mulcair try the prosecutorial tactic again, but he had little stamina for it, little follow-through on questions asked, and got carried away in snapping back at Poilievre while not actually asking a question. It betrayed a rather weak debating skill, and allowed Poilievre to just carry on without being sufficiently challenged. Meanwhile, the Liberals are becoming more egregious with their asking the same question in English and in French, which is really, really bad for debate and they need to just stop.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Kellie Leitch for a pink collared shirt with a dark grey pinstriped jacket and skirt, and to Emmanuel Dubourg for a dark grey suit with a white shirt and a maroon tie. Style citations go out to Maurice Vellacott for a black suit with a cranberry shirt and brown tie and pocket square, and to Françoise Boivin for a boxy orange microfibre jacket with a white collared shirt and black trousers.