Because Thursday is the new Friday, none of the major leaders were in the Commons, leaving it up to Megan Leslie to lead off, asking about Turkish reports that a Canadian helped those three British teens cross into Syria. Stephen Blaney wouldn’t comment, but invited her to support Bill C-51 instead. Leslie tried again in English, and got much the same answer. Nycole Turmel then asked about the extension of the mission in Iraq, to which Jason Kenney insisted that they hadn’t made a decision, but when they do, a motion will be tabled. Turmel and Leslie then wondered when a budget would be tabled, to which Kevin Sorenson decried Liberal and NDP tax increases. John McCallum led off for the Liberals, detailing the history of racist comments by John Williamson, and demanded that he be kicked out of caucus. Pierre Poilievre stood up to say that Williamson apologised, and that Justin Trudeau should apologise for his comments about the Holocaust (which, it bears noting, he didn’t actually mention). After another go around of the same, McCallum pressed one last time, and this time Tim Uppal repeated the very same talking points.

Round two, and Rosane Doré Lefebvre and Randall Garrison asked why the Conservatives barred the Privacy Commissioner from testifying on C-51 (Blaney: Yay information sharing in C-51), Françoise Boivin asked about the RCMP criminal record database backlog not being cleared until 2018 (Blaney: We didn’t get your support), Mathieu Ravignat asked about the interference of Diane Finley and Nigel Wright in cancelling a project in his riding (Poilievre: You want to increase taxes to give grants without evaluations), Ève Péclet and Charlie Angus tried to hammer away at Diane Finley over the Ethics Commissioner’s report (Finley: I felt this was a project in the public interest). Scott Simms gave a more reasoned question about the involvement of the PMO in Finley’s wrongdoing (Finley: You guys tole $40 million!), and Marc Garneau and Judy Foote kept up the questions (Finley: This was in the public interest). Élaine Michaud and Jack Harris asked about the Military Police Complaints Commission report in the death of Cpl Langridge (Kenney: I’m still reading the report, but I will make changes in the Forces), and Irene Mathyssn and Sylvain Chicoine asked about the issue of veterans having to keep proving they lost limbs (O’Toole: We’re making changes and I’ve set up a veterans-centric task force).

Round three saw questions on rail tank cars and recent train derailments, CRA audits on charities, the delayed budget, the bill on development in the Yukon, vaccinations in the face of a measles outbreak, funding for BC Ferries, disabilities funding, and police powers.

Overall, it was a bleak day. Questions were scattershot and tepid, and while the opposition should have had Diane Finley on the ropes, most of the questions about her actions called out by the Ethics Commissioner were rambling and trying to tie in Nigel Wright and the PMO, rather than going for the jugular. It’s not surprising, given how cartoonish and amateurish most of the opposition we’ve seen has been in this parliament. This is to say nothing about how government responses, were with few exceptions, rambling and nonsensical talking points that had little relevance. There’s no excuse for any of this. Shape up, everyone.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Megan Leslie for a tailored short-sleeved black dress, and to Hoang Mai for a dark grey tailored suit and tie with a crisp white shirt. Style citations go out to Jonathan Genest-Jourdain for his brown and grey windowpane suit with a white shirt and dark blue tie, and to Rathika Sitsabaiesan for a yellow cable-knit short-sleeved sweater over a grey top and taupe slacks. Dishonourable mentions go out to Larry Miller for a black suit with a pale yellow shirt and darker yellow tie, and to Sadia Groguhé for a black suit with a yellow blouse. Special mention goes out to Gary Schellenberger for his St. Patrick’s Day tradition of his mint ice cream green jacket.