With both Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau off in Southern Ontario for events, Thomas Mulcair was the only major leader in the Commons. He led off by asking about the coming demolition of the Mirabel airport — likely because he has Quebec seats to shore up, and Lisa Raitt responded first by reminding him that she’s a she and not a he, and that it’s the Montreal Airport Authority that is the responsible authority. Mulcair shot back that he was referring to the Minister of Infrastructure, before he angrily wondered when the government when the government would listen to indigenous women about missing and murdered indigenous women. Kellie Leitch responded that families were thanking her for the Action Plan™ being tabled. Mulcair then switched to the bus-train collision in Ottawa a year ago, and asked about a train derailment in Slave Lake. Raitt was back up, and said they were working on rail safety. Chris Charlton was up next and bemoaned the declaration of bankruptcy by US Steel in Hamilton, which Mike Lake gave a somewhat shrugging response, and when Charlton demanded that the government protect the pensions of the affected retired workers, Kevin Sorensen touted all the ways they have cut taxes. Ralph Goodale was up for the Liberals, asking about job losses in the last month and suggested changing the EI tax credit to one where employers get a credit for a net job created. Sorensen insisted that the Liberals were making up policy on the fly, and made random potshots at the Liberal record on EI. Goodale’s final question was about the latest report on income splitting and how it would affect provincial budgets. Sorensen responded that Harper said that income splitting was a good policy. Well if Harper says so…

Round two, and Nathan Cullen gave a denunciation of the Liberal and EI plans (Sorensen: Our measure is creating jobs) and he and Guy Caron denounced income splitting (Sorensen: Harper said it was good policy!), Randall Garrison and Rosane Doré Lefebvre asked about the Government Operations Centre surveillance peaceful rallies (James: They monitor any event that may be a risk to public safety), Hoang Mai asked about the PBO report on tolls on the Champlain Bridge (Lebel: The tender process is following its course), Ève Péclet asked a confusing question about government advertising (Clement: We have a responsibility to communicate with Canadians about issues), and Dan Harris asked about government spending on ministerial satellite offices (Trottier: All Canadians should have more access to ministerial offices). Emmanuel Dubourg asked about the Transport Canada study on the Champlain Bridge (Lebel: Yay tender process), Judy Sgro asked about the job losses in Hamilton because of the steel plant bankruptcy (Lake: Our job creation plan is the same as it always was), and Stéphane Dion asked something about official languages cuts in certain regions (Alexander: We are encouraging Francophone immigration). Paul Dewar and Hélène Laverdière asked about two Russian banks being removed from the sanction list (Baird: Further investigation shows that they are sufficiently divorced from the Putin regime), and Elaine Michaud and Jack Harris asked about the vacant mental health jobs in the military (Nicholson: We have record numbers of mental health jobs).

Apparently Justin Trudeau is the prime minister who is being held to account. Or that's what that backbench question would indicate. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) September 18, 2014

Round three saw questions on temporary foreign workers, more mental health services in the military, veterans being refused compensation for mental health benefits, monitoring the new respiratory outbreak amidst budget cuts at the Public Health Agency, family reunification quotas, a family being deported to Cameroon, and warrantless requests for data still being made despite the Supreme Court ruling.

Overall, it was the return of Angry Tom today, who shouted questions and glowered in his seat. That the leaders’ round was dominated by local issues and not national ones, and was all over the map, was a curious strategy indeed. That’s not exactly “showing mastery” over QP. Also, leaving the question about warrantless access to subscriber data to the very end was also a very strange tactic, seeing as most people are tuned out by then and it’s one of the more important national topics.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Megan Leslie for a grey short-sleeved dress, and to Matthew Dubé for a navy suit with a crisp white shirt and a light blue tie. Style citations go out to François Choquette for a black suit with a fluorescent blue shirt and a grey striped tie, and to Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet for a somewhat bizarrely constructed burnt pumpkin jacket with a high collar and short wide sleeves, over a black long-sleeved top.