QP: Vintage Calandra

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With the King of Jordan in town, the PM was absent for QP, which is a rarity for a Wednesday. That Justin Trudeau was also absent was unusual and disappointing. Thomas Mulcair led off, asking about the constitutional requirements for Senate appointments, and why he thought Mike Duffy could be counted as a resident of PEI. Paul Calandra insisted that the NDP were trying to make a victim of Duffy, and it was his actions that were on trial. Mulcair pressed, bringing in Senator Carolyn Stewart Olsen, but Calandra brought up the NDP satellite offices. Mulcair accused the government of a cover-up of fraudulent expenses in the Senate — not sure that it was in bounds — but Calandra repeated his response. Mulcair invited Calandra to repeat the utterances outside — which he has, repeated — before asking about the “typical family” example in the budget. Kevin Sorenson decried that the NDP seems to think that anyone making under $60,000 per year is wealthy and needs to pay more taxes. For his last question, Mulcair brought up the Auditor General’s report on First Nation’s healthcare, and Rona Ambrose rose to assure him that action was being taken. Dominic LeBlanc led for the Liberals, returning to Duffy’s constitutional eligibility, to which Calandra repeated the “making a victim” line and then attacked the NDP. In another round in English, Paul Calandra brought in Mac Harb, and Scott Brison closed the round by asking about ad spending versus the Canada Summer Jobs programme. Pierre Poilievre insisted they were creating jobs with “tax cuts, training and trade.”

Round two, and Charlie Angus and Ève Péclet wondered about the Duffy-Enbridge conversations (Calandra: These matters are before the court), Jack Harris and Élaine Michaud asked about the forthcoming report on sexual misconduct in the military (Bezan: This will be released soon), Carol Hughes asked about the report on First Nations healthcare (Ambrose: We have launched a recruitment and retention programme), Guy Caron asked about the report on tax exemptions (Sorenson: We are closing loopholes), and and Nathan Cullen gave some kitchen sink outrage (Poilievre: These are tax cuts, not giveaways). Emmanuel Dubourg asked about student summer jobs (Poilievre: Adscam!), John McKay asked about Environment Canada cuts in the light of government advertising (Aglukkaq: No government has done more for the environment than ours), and Kevin Lamoureux asked about cuts to public safety (James: We are keeping Canadians safe). Rosane Doré Lefebvre noted the lack of departmental security plans (James: Yay C-51!), Randall Garrison asked about C-51 (James: You just don’t understand), and Jasbir Sandhu and Jinny Sims asked about shootings in Surrey with RCMP cuts (James: We have passed 30 tough-on-crime bills).

Round three saw questions on assistance for Canadians in Nepal, firefighters with PTSD, banks charging for people to pay their own mortgages, the AG report on superbugs, the AG report on prison releases, a community mailbox placement, Marine Atlantic, Bill C-377, and temporary foreign workers changes impacting Quebec.

Overall, if yesterday was a good day, then today was pretty much the exact opposite. Paul Calandra was back to his old self, but if anyone was trying to outdo him for non sequitur responses it was Roxanne James. Meanwhile, Charlie Angus declared the government was acting out a farce — because apparently irony died. Way to go, MPs. Behaving like grown-ups is hard!

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Emmanuel Dubourg for a tailored black suit with a crisp white shirt and a dark blue spotted tie, and to Michelle Rempel for a half-sleeved fuchsia dress. Style citations go out to Joan Crockatt for a pink jacket with white and orange panels and orange collar, and go Julian Fantino for a purple and black suit with an off-white shirt and brown patterned tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Rona Ambrose for a white-trimmed mustard jacket with a black and white dress.