While the Chamber was full for François Hollande’s speech earlier this morning, it was much emptier by the time QP rolled around, the staffers acting as room meat no longer sitting at the desks to the fill the room. None of the major leaders were present for the grand exercise in accountability, leaving Peter Julian to lead off, to which he asked about Dean Del Mastro and election fraud — not government business. Paul Calandra stood up to say that the Procedure and House Affairs committee was looking into it, as they did the issue of the NDP satellite offices. When Julian asked again in French, the Speaker cautioned him that it was not about the administrative responsibility of the government, but Calandra repeated his response anyway. Julian got up and said that it was about the PM’s judgement, but Calandra kept up his own response to turn it back to the NDP, adding in the illegal union contributions. Charlie Angus tried again, got cautioned by the Speaker, asked again, and got Calandra to repeat his answers, while Angus sarcastically catcalled “Good job there, Speaker!” Ralph Goodale stood up to ask about the income splitting tax credit, and how it went agains Flaherty’s advice. Kevin Sorenson praised Flaherty as a response. Goodale noted that single parents were being punished for being single, but Sorenson just delivered praise for the programme. Emmanuel Dubourg asked again in French, to which Sorenson claimed that middle class Canadians were better off since the Conservatives came to power.

Round two, and Nycole Turmel asked about the talks with France on climate change (Aglukkaq: We want all emitters as part of the Paris agreement), Murray Rankin asked about the government undercutting climate science (Aglukkaq: Look at the funds we’re giving to projects to reduce GHGs), Nathan Cullen decried the unfairness of the income splitting tax credit (Sorenson: Money back in the pockets of families!), Mylène Freeman carried on the criticism of the tax credit (Sorenson: This monthly cheque will help parents!), and Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe and Andrew Cash asked about the Federal Court of Appeal ruling on refugee healthcare (Alexander: We will announce our reaction to the ruling shortly). Chrystia Feeland and Marc Garneau returned to the issue of the income splitting tax credit (Sorenson: You fail to understand the basics of this tax cut plan; the Liberal leader would raise taxes on families), and Garneau asked about comments Jason Kenney made encouraging people to donate to their local hospitals (Sorenson: We raised transfers to provinces where you cut them). Laurin Liu and Libby Davies asked about Health Canada publishing articles on a Croatian site rather than getting them peer-reviewed (Adams: This shares important risk analyses with open and transparent sources and we are reviewing the allegations about the publisher), and Davies and Djouaida Sellah asked about the ban on travel visas from west Africa (Alexander: We are committed to containing the Ebola outbreak, and this is a precautionary measure; Adams: There are no direct flights from the affected nations).

Round three saw questions on the Trans Pacific Partnership and concession on supply management, the links between CBC’s board and the government, the IPCC report on the urgency of taking action on climate change, the refugee healthcare decision, Canada Post home delivery cuts while they launch an ad campaign, CSE activities and the lack of parliamentary oversight, outside contracts at Shared Services Canada, small craft harbours, the proposed renaming of the Champlain Bridge as the Maurice Richard Bridge, and the disability tax credit made unequal for single-parent families.

Overall, it was not a very good day, not only with the volume of repetitive questions, but the sheer number of questions on Dean Del Mastro, which has nothing to do with the administrative responsibility of the government. While Julian and Angus tried to make it about the Prime Minister’s judgement, they continued to frame the questions about voter fraud — something which has absolutely nothing to do with the government (by which we mean cabinet), but rather has to do with the parties. The conviction of Del Mastro had to do with his actions as a candidate, not as a parliamentary secretary, which again makes this not the government’s responsibility. For people to grouse about the Speaker calling them out on it should remind themselves that how they frame the questions is actually important.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Michelle Rempel for a black lace top and black skirt with a slight sparkle to the fabric, and to Maxime Bernier for a tailored dark grey pinstripe suit with a crips white shirt and pocket square with a brown and black tie. Style citations go out to Dany Morin for a taupe suit with a pale mint green shirt and a pale green crosshatched tie, and to Marie-Claude Morin for a chunky grey poncho-like sweater with short sleeves and a thick turtleneck.