On a rainy day, after the various caucuses met, MPs gathered in the House for our daily exercise in government accountability. Of note, it was also Stephen Harper’s 55th birthday, not that anyone expected the opposition to go easy on him because of it. Thomas Mulcair led off and sharply asked who authorized the release of that telecom data of a million Canadians. Harper said that he rejected the premise of the question and assured him that agencies follow the rules and get warrants. Mulcair pressed, but Harper reiterated that they get warrants and that there is legislation before the House to modernize investigative tools. Mulcair insisted that the legislation would exculpate the need for warrants, to which Harper once again reiterated that agencies get warrants when needed. (That might be the key, given that they don’t seem to need them if they get the data for the asking). Mulcair wondered what information the government was seeking, and which telecom companies were cooperating. Harper said that it was not the government seeking the data, but law enforcement agencies, and that there was independent oversight. Justin Trudeau was up next, and brought up the Temporary Foreign Workers intakes for areas which don’t seem to need them, to which Harper gave his usual bland assurances that they had created jobs and they were reviewing the programme. Trudeau reminded him that five years ago, Sheila Fraser warned of the low quality of Labour Market Opinions that were open to abuse, but Harper stuck to his talking points, same again when the question was asked in French, adding that Trudeau himself had asked for a permit for his riding.

Round two, Mulcair was back up and asked about the abuse of the TFW programme while inspectors were being cut (Harper: We have reformed the programme, your MPs keep asking for permits), why won’t you give the Commissioner of Elections the power to compel testimony (Harper: The provisions are the same as other agencies and you get a court order), what is the problem with voter information cards? (Harper: 39 pieces of ID!), why are you so pig-headed about the address requirement? (Harper: It’s easy to procure multiple and inaccurate voter information cards), why do you hate bringing ballot boxes onto campuses (Harper: The problem with youth voting is that they don’t know where and when to vote), Jinny Sims and Sadia Groguhé return to TFWs (Kenney: We ensured that auditors can do surprise inspections),and Andrew Cash railed against “unelected and unaccountable” port and airport authorities (Raitt: We encourage these authorities to sit down and work with their local councils). John McCallum asked about the moratoriums on TFWs in the food services industries (Kenney: You don’t know about the programme), Rodger Cuzner asked about the unbalanced reciprocal foreign youth work programmes (Alexander: You created that programme, and there are better job opportunities in Canada thanks to this government), and Ralph Goodale denounced the general incompetence over the TFW programme (Kenney: You keep asking for permits). Charlie Angus and Alexandre Boulerice returned to the use of telecom data (Moore: We got the opinion of the Privacy Commissioner on our bill — and then selectively read the praise without the concerns; You can call these agencies to committee).

Round three saw questions on enriching CPP, the attempt to create a national securities regulator, procurement mismanagement for fighter jets, the elections bill, military personnel levels, cuts to CBC, and long-term flood protection for First Nations.

Overall, while the NDP went for the clearly bigger story of the day – the million telecom records being turned over without a warrant – they didn’t necessarily do the best job of it. “Why does the government want these records” is a sloppy question to ask and implies conspiracy theory. The Liberals, meanwhile, ignored it completely in favour of hammering away on the Temporary Foreign Worker file, tying it into their middle class bailiwick as much as possible, and risked oversimplifying what is really a complex file. The government is also really playing up the “the middle class is just fine with us” lines, while the Liberals play up middle class anxieties, so it will be interesting to see which of the two competing narratives takes hold.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Blake Richards for a black suit with a purple checked shirt and purple tie, and to Michelle Rempel for a peach collared shirt with a greyish knit jacket with black accents and a black skirt. Style citations go out to Christine Moore for a black and white horizontal striped dress with yellow accents, and to Jonathan Tremblay for a too-small black suit with a dull, solid purple shirt and tie.