With Harper off to China tomorrow, today is the only day that all of the leaders would be present this week, and it was hoped that they could make it count. Thomas Mulcair led off, asking about an amendment put forward by the Conservatives at committee that would exclude those who had been convicted of elections expenses from a bill that would strip the pensions of MPs who had been convicted of a crime, and whether it was “moral.” Harper noted that the amendment had nothing to do with Del Mastro, and that the NDP opposed previous legislation to punish MPs for malfeasance. Mulcair noted that the question wasn’t answered and gave a vague accusation about voter fraud — not government business, to which Harper reminded him that the NDP has not repaid for their illegal mailings or satellite offices. Mulcair brought up Mike Duffy and Pamela Wallin, to which Harper repeated his answer. Mulcair brought up a statement Harper made up previously in Del Mastro’s defence, and Harper reminded him that Del Mastro had not been in caucus for some time. For his final question, Mulcair brought up job losses, but Harper replied by noting the million net new job figures. Justin Trudeau was up for the Liberals, and asked about the unfairness of the income splitting proposal. Harper said that he was wrong and the measures announced last week would help every family and accused the Liberals of wanting to take the measures away. While Trudeau focused on the income splitting portion only in both languages, Harper wrapped it in the larger package of tax credits.

Round two, and Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe and Andrew Cash asked about a tweet on refugee healthcare without a formal announcement (Alexander: We are disappointed by the court ruling but will have a response soon), Peggy Nash and Matthew Dubé asked about job losses and food bank usage (Kenney: Look at all of the assistance we’ve given to families), Ruth Ellen Brosseau and Niki Ashton asked about the child care spaces promised by the government in 2006 (Kenney: The child poverty rate in Canada is at its lowest point in history), and Nathan Cullen asked about job losses and income splitting (Oliver: That was such a grab bag of questions, so here’s a talking point). Chrsytia Freeland asked about the dire warnings of the Governor of the Bank of Canada, with an income splitting twist (Oliver: The majority of the measures we announced would help low-income families), and Scott Brison asked about the repeal of the child tax credit in favour of income splitting (Oliver: Same answer). Anne Quach and Glenn Thibeault asked about the self-regulation of credit card fees (Oliver: Our commitment represents a significant reduction for retailers and hopefully consumers), before Thibeault and Quach asked about cellphone contracts (Moore: Everything that we have done to inspire competition has led to a 22 percent reduction in cellphone bills).

Round three saw questions on the independence of CBC based on a Board of Directors report, a CN-owned bridge needing painting, renaming the Champlain Bridge, climate change actions in response to President Hollande’s comments, the lack of implementation of the recommendations to change the New Veterans Charter, the rise in part-time and minimum wage jobs, the Kinder Morgan pipeline review process, English-only documents released by the NEB on Energy East, and Quebec publishers being impacted by bankruptcy laws.

Overall, it wasn’t the best day on record. Mulcair’s questions were dubiously about government business — more intent on scoring points over the Del Mastro issue — while the Conservative benches started chanting “pay it back!” (it being the funds for those NDP mailings and satellite offices), which was suitably childish. As well, while Trudeau focused explicitly on the income splitting portion of the family tax measures announced last week, Harper ignored that question in favour of espousing the broader measures, ensuring a framing mechanism of the Liberals apparently hating families. Such is the state of debate.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Blake Richards for a dark grey suit with a pink shirt and a pink and red tie, and to Cathy McLeod for an indigo jacket over a black dress. Style citations go out to Anne Quach for an orange and brown seventies floral turtleneck sewn into a black sweater, and to José Nunez-Melo for an otherwise fine dark grey suit with an eggplant shirt and bright yellow silk tie.