The final sitting day of 2014, and the Senate’s Routine Proceedings carried on quickly after a number of very sad and tearful statements about topics like the attack in Peshawar and a suicide that highlighted the need for assisted suicide laws. And then it was time for Question Period.

Senator Eggleton led off, asking on behalf of an Ottawa resident who wanted to know what the government is doing to help encourage youth vote. Senator Carignan praised the Fair Elections Act, and said that it would increase voter turnout. Eggleton pointed out that the law limited the kinds of education outreach that Elections Canada could engage in, and wondered how that made things better. Carignan insisted that it was the role of parties to engage people on the basis of ideas.

Senator Nancy Ruth asked a question about the North Pole, and the claim that Denmark was raising with regard to the continental shelf, and why Canada was acting outside of international norms in the way we’re going about making a claim. Carignan insisted that the North Pole was part of our heritage and that scientific work would verify our claim. Nancy Ruth stood up again, and wondered what heritage exactly we were claiming, since she was too old to believe in Santa Claus. Carignan invited her to follow the NATO tracking of Santa on Christmas Eve as proof of his Canadian existence. Well then.

And that was it. Short but sweet, with Carignan still demonstrating how far out of his depth he really is. It was also worth noting that Senator Nancy Ruth’s question to her own leader was fairly pointed and against the government line — something that can happen in a chamber where independence is built in, rather than the way things have devolved in the Commons.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Senator Mobina Jaffer for a black and grey houndstooth jacket with a gold butterfly broach on her right shoulder with a black dress, and to Senator Grant Mitchell for a dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark blue tie. Style citations go out to Senator Nicole Eaton for an oversized bubble gum pink sweater/jacket over an otherwise lovely grey jacket and black skirt, and to Senator Percy Mockler for a chocolate brown suit with a grey shirt and a grey and yellow striped tie.