It was a rainy day in the Commons, and one already subject to procedural shenanigans as the NDP had already tried to adjourn the day’s activities in order to avoid the investigation happening in the Procedure and House Affairs committee around their expenses. Stephen Harper was also on his way to Europe for the remainder of the week, so yesterday was all we were going to see of him. Thomas Mulcair began by asking about the fact that the new privacy commissioner nominee gave legal advice to national security agencies — ignoring that he told the committee that he disagreed with the government positions. Tony Clement responded that the candidate had thirty years of experience, and was chosen after a rigorous process. Mulcair asked how many programmes he gave advice on and now many he approved — something that would never be answered given solicitor-client privilege. Clement repeated that he was the most qualified candidate. Mulcair insisted that the nominee wouldn’t be able to see the legislation objectively, to which Clement made a crack about Mulcair’s position going in a mail out. Mulcair changed topics, and asked about regulations on GHG emissions in the oil and gas sector, but Leona Aglukkaq responded that they took action two years ago — except those were on coal, not oil and gas. When Mulcair pressed, Aglukkaq insisted that Canada represents less than two percent of global emissions. Justin Trudeau was up for the Liberals, and reiterated the question, pointing out that our oil and gas sector is our largest source of emissions, as coal is the Americans’ largest sector. Aglukkaq simply repeated her answers, trying to imply that Trudeau did nothing about it. Trudeau asked again more pointedly, to which Aglukkaq reminded him that Michael Ignatieff said that “we didn’t get it done.”

Round two, and François Choquette and Megan Leslie asked again about the regulations (Aglukkaq: Coal regulations!), Leslie moved on to Northern Gateway (Rickford: The decision is before cabinet and we have no further comment), Charlie Angus and Alexandre Boulerice concern trolled about the process for the appointment of the new privacy commissioner (Clement: He appeared before committee and he defended himself extremely well; MacKay: We consulted with the previous privacy commissioner), and Dany Morin and Libby Davies asked about the Wait Times Alliance report (Ambrose: We work with the provinces and territories and they are making good progress). Chrystia Freeland asked about the final adoption of the CETA trade deal (Keddy: Welcome to the file), Ted Hsu asked again about those GHG regulations (Aglukkaq: two years ago!), before he asked about delays to infrastructure investments (Lebel: You’re wrong). Ryan Cleary and Yvon Godin asked about those questionable hires at ECBC (Rob Moore: The person who did the hiring was dismissed), and Guy Caron and Paul Dewar asked the unsigned CETA deal (Keddy: There are cover 1000 pages of legal text that need to be translated into several languages).

Round three saw questions on the fighter jet replacement procurement process, the review of sexual assaults in the Canadian Forces, veterans’ spouses not getting adequate support to deal with those with PTSD, flight costs for veterans going to D-Day ceremonies, expatriate voting rights, regulator changes to fisheries with regard to chemicals, a call for a national aging strategy, the Gatineau river, and health transfers for Quebec.

Overall, one couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed for Aglukkaq for the way in which she not only continually ignored the questions asked in favour of responding only about coal, but her bizarre reading-while-pointing-fingers performance. Why that should be acceptable our of a minister of the Crown is baffling. As well, the NDP sniping at the Liberals really had no place during QP, which is about holding the government to account, not the third party.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Diane Finley for a black dress with a metallic grey jacket with black trim, and to Justin Trudeau for a nicely tailored medium grey suit with a crisp white shirt and red tie. Style citations go out to Jonathan Tremblay for a linen jacket with a pink shirt, pink striped tie and black trousers, and to Diane Ablonczy for a mustard jacket with a black top.