It was the last day we were going to see all of the party leaders in the Chamber this week, so the hope was for a repeat of yesterday’s performance, but the chest-thumping over Iraq during Members’ Statements didn’t raise any hopes. Thomas Mulcair led off by asking about Ebola precautions being taken in Canada. Stephen Harper assured him that there were no cases in Canada, and that the Public Health Agency has been seized with the matter and is ready in the event that a case does reach here. Mulcair changed topics and asked how many soldiers were on the ground in Iraq, to which Harper said that it was 26 as of today, with a maximum of 69 authorised. Mulcair groused about how many times he had to ask for that figure, to which Harper said that the number was fluctuated, but there was a maximum number. Mulcair asked if there were Canadian troops on the ground in Syria, to which Harper said no, and after that, Mulcair launched into a length diatribe about an open-ended mission with no end in sight, to which Harper insisted that there were no American troops in Iraq when this situation began, and it was a serious situation. Justin Trudeau declared that Harper had not yet made the case for a combat mission, and asked how many troops were supposed to be on the ground at the end of the 30-day mission on Saturday. Harper pretended not to hear what the question was, and instead gave a speech about the gravity of the threat that ISIS poses. Trudeau tried again in French and got much the same again. Trudeau pointed out the secrecy and evasiveness, and Harper said that they were making a decision, before hitting back at the Liberal position.

Round two, and Mulcair asked if air strikes in Syria were being considered (Harper: No decision has been made and when we do there will be a debate and a vote), Mulcair wanted confirmation that large-scale ground deployment had not been ruled out (Harper: We are still deciding what is necessary), what is the budget for this (Harper: This is in the existing defence budget envelope), how much will your war in Iraq cost Canadians (Harper: You’re throwing around a lot of terms, but this is an operation with our allies and ISIS represents a serious threat), Hélène Laverdière asked about assistance for 1.8 million displaced Iraqis (Baird: We see mass atrocities there and we must work with our allies to stop these barbaric actions), Guy Caron and Libby Davies accused the government of dumping the problem of ageing seniors onto the provinces (Sorenson: We have increased healthcare transfers), and Davies and Dany Morin asked about unsafe drug imports (Adams: You dragged your feet with Vanessa’s Law, currently in the Senate). Joyce Murray asked about the budget for the current 30-day mission and if they would request additional funds from Parliament (Nicholson: The defence budget went up this year and ISIS is terrible), Marc Garneau asked which forces in Iraq we were training (Baird: We are providing support to Iraqi forces particularly around the Kurdistan region), and he asked about the deployment numbers (Baird: We said a few dozen and it’s a few dozen). Ruth Ellen Brosseau asked about compensation for Quebec cheese makers (Fast: CETA will add $12 billion to the economy; Ritz: I met with cheese producers who are excited about entering into the European market), and Don Davies asked about the investor-state dispute resolution mechanism in CETA versus talk of the American agreement (Fast: The EU has no intention of reopening negotiations) and the decision to fly the EU delegation back to Europe (Fast: Yay CETA).

Round three saw questions on a report on the effect of climate change on boreal forests, the SIRC investigation into CSIS’ activities monitoring environmentalists, growing the economy to cut the debt, income splitting, a national dementia strategy, demanding an ageing strategy, railway stations in New Brunswick, ground fish stocks, and First Nations water treatment.

Overall, it was not as good of a day as it was yesterday, and Thomas Mulcair was decidedly in a mood throughout. His questions veered into the absurd, and amidst the chest-thumping and positioning in his lengthy questions, he uttered the phrase “The Prime Minister’s war in Iraq,” which is decidedly not helpful to anyone. Justin Trudeau could have phrased his own questions a little better, especially with regards to the figures that Harper had already given Mulcair, but Joyce Murray did a good job in coming up with a question on the fly about operational budgets and requesting additional allocations from Parliament. The low point was Megan Leslie asking about forestry and Kelly Block responded by reading a script about clean energy, but I do think that she simply wasn’t paying enough attention to the question that was being asked rather than being deliberately obtuse – not that it’s an excuse.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Blake Richards for a grey suit with a lavender shirt and purple tie, and to Candice Bergen for a grey and red patterned half-sleeved dress. Style citations go out to Joy Smith for a shiny bronze boxy jacket, and to Robert Sopuck for an otherwise fine grey suit and white shirt, but with a terrible printed tie.