The days on the calendar running down, but crankiness among members ramping up, all of the leaders were present in the Commons, which was a little unexpected. Thomas Mulcair led off, asking about Quebec Supreme Court justice appointments and the possible attempt to use a backdoor to put Justice Mainville on the bench. Stephen Harper insisted that this was nothing to do with the Supreme Court, but about putting a good judge on the “supreme court” of Quebec. Mulcair pressed about whether the intent was to elevate Justice Mainville to the SCC, to which Harper reminded him that there was no current vacancy, nor a process to select a new one once a vacancy does become available. Mulcair then accused Harper of starting a war with the Supreme Court, but Harper mocked him for trying to launch into another conspiracy theory. Mulcair moved topics, and demanded that the Northern Gateway pipeline be turned town, to which Harper said that the NDP were against all resource development while they underwent environmental assessments and went through a rigorous assessment process. Mulcair listed the opposition to the pipeline, but Harper dismissed their opposition as ideological. Justin Trudeau carried on that line of questioning and pointed out the impacts a spill would have on that coastline, to which Harper accused the Liberals of holding a “deep hostility” toward the energy sector (really? Given their it boosterism for Keystone XL?) and insisted that they had a rigorous process.

Round two, and Megan Leslie and Nathan Cullen carried on with demands to deny Northern Gateway (Rickford: We are closely examining the report and we will made a decision shortly), Linda Duncan, Jean Crowder and Jonathan Genest-Jourdain mentioned the lawsuit by four First Nations for unsafe drinking water (Valcourt: Our government is taking action, and you voted against funds for this), Élaine Michaud asked about getting an open competition for fighter jet replacements (Finley: No decision has been made yet), before she and Jack Harris asked about the Senate committee report on ballistic missile defence (Nicholson: We will review the recommendations carefully). Sean Casey and Stéphane Dion asked for the departmental device about moving Justice Mainville to the Quebec Court of Appeal (MacKay: This is about the Quebec Court of Appeal), and Judy Sgro asked about cuts to the Canadian Tourism Commission (Bernier: We just had a successful tourism conference in Vancouver). Charlie Angus and Charmaine Borg concern trolled about the Supreme Court ruling last Friday and wanted the “cyberbullying” bill split (MacKay: They upheld our view about voluntary disclosures don’t make it impossible for legal authorities to get data), and Françoise Boivin returned to the issue of Supreme Court appointments (MacKay: This is about the appeal court of Quebec).

Round three saw questions on Syrian refugees, wait times for the Social Security Tribunal, the expert recommendation for more infrastructure investment, the Quebec pyrrhotite court ruling, asbestos, the regulation of reprocessing single-use medical devices, the “abandonment” of the Francophonie, a copyright treaty regarding materials for the visually impaired, and oil shipments to China.

Overall, it was a noisier day and MPs were scrappier, but there weren’t any outbursts, chants, or acrimonious personal exchanges. Small mercies. That said, Peter MacKay’s assertion that the Supreme Court upheld the government’s position on voluntary disclosures in Bill C-13 defied belief. That he would so blatantly twist the meaning of that decision was gobsmacking, but sadly, not unexpected under the current government.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michelle Rempel for a black and white patterned dress with three-quarter sleeves, and to Bernard Trottier for a black suit with a crisp white shirt and a lavender tie. Style citations go out to Jean Rousseau for a charcoal suit with a solid blue shirt and a white tie with red lipstick kiss patterns across it, and while and while I try not to give citations two days in a row, Linda Duncan‘s pale greenish yellow dress with a floral tableau printed linen shirt needed it. Dishonourable mention goes out to Gail Shea for a lemon yellow top with a black lace-like short-sleeved over-shirt.