With Harper jetting off to the Francophonie Summit, and Justin Trudeau elsewhere, Thomas Mulcair was the only major leader in the House, where he led off by asking about junk food advertising targeting children — his latest policy proposal. Rona Ambrose responded that the government is concerned about child obesity, and they are investing in research and programmes on the ground. Mulcair insisted that his idea has proven effective in Quebec, to which Ambrose insisted that the real issue is getting children off the couch, no matter how healthy they eat. Mulcair moved onto thalidomide victims and his party’s motion on support for them. Ambrose noted that the government would support the motion. Mulcair then moved on to the issue of domestic violence and the need to find concrete solutions. Kellie Leitch started off going on about workplace safety and somehow weaving in violence against women, but confusingly. Mulcair asked if she would sit down with unions and employers about the issue of domestic violence, to which Leitch responded about meetings on mental health in the workplace. Marc Garneau led off for the Liberals, returning to the theme of the week about veterans, to which Parm Gill noted there were some concerns, but the government did offer support. Frank Valeriote picked it up, and Gill assured him that the minister works hard to consult veterans across the country. Joyce Murray recalled her question on a tragic veterans case that she raised yesterday, asking for an answer. Rob Nicholson noted how much they’ve increased the budget for veterans and to help those in need.

Round two, and Sylvain Chicoine and Irene Mathyssen asked about the veterans affairs mental health strategy (Gill: We’re working on their behalf), Hoang Mai and Mike Sullivan asked about the Transportation Safety Board’s latest report on rail safety (Watson: Safety is a top priority, each recommendation is being reviewed carefully), Peggy Nash and Alexandre Boulerice asked about Canada Post’s large profits after they made all of those cuts (Watson: That’s a generous reading of the facts), and Pierre Dionne Labelle asked about the poor translation on the @canada Twitter account (Baird: That’s a ridiculous question, and we are promoting Canadian values and files; Blaney: We gave Quebec a seat on the Francophonie and support Michaëlle Jean becoming the head). Chrystia Freeland asked about eliminating tariffs for Ukraine to help their economy (Fast: Ukraine is a priority market), and Scott Brison asked a pair of questions about the warnings about income inequality as a pretext for demanding the cancellation of income splitting (Kenney: The New York Times showed that our middle class outstripped the Americans’). Closing the round, Niki Ashton and Mylène Freeman asked about workplaces suffering from domestic violence (Leitch: I have spoken to the CLC and FedCo about this issue), while Megan Leslie brought up rates of sexual violence against women (Leitch: Our government is combatting criminals and supporting victims).

Round three saw questions on rumours of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner’s report about the RCMP, allegations of interfering in CBC programming, gridlock in the GTA, urban infrastructure deficits, shipments of prohibited whale meats through Canadian territory, the backlog of documents at Library and Archives, the federal inventory of “derelict vessels,” rail safety, and housing cooperative subsidies.

Overall, it was kind of a bizarre day, where Thomas Mulcair seemed far more concerned with his own proposals than in doing his job of holding the government to account. It’s not the first time, but he should be reminded that as Leader of the Opposition, he has a job to do, and there seem to be far more pressing issues going on that his latest policy plank. The many questions on domestic violence as it relates to workplaces elicited some rather disjointed responses from Kellie Leitch, which made the exchanges really hard to follow. As well, a reminder to government backbenchers — if you want to know what the Prime Minister announced earlier in the week, perhaps you should Google it. Your job in Question Period is to hold the government to account, not act as a mouthpiece.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Kellie Leitch for a charcoal dress with a black pinstriped jacket, and to Scott Brison for a tailored grey suit with a light blue shirt and grey tie. Style citations go out to Randall Garrison for a brown suit with a taupe shirt shirt and a brown and grey striped tie, and to Joyce Bateman for an overly busy grey patterned black jacket over a black top.