QP: A New Dawn

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It was the first Question Period of the 42nd parliament, and the excitement – and indeed nervousness – in the Chamber was palpable. Would it be a gong show? A serious discussion on policy matters? Would there be the same kinds of canned talking points and obfuscation that we’ve come to expect, or would the era of openness and transparency take hold and offer up substantive answers to substantive questions? And it was a bit of both.

(I did have the full, detailed recap written up, and then my WordPress iOS app swallowed it whole with a “saving error,” so apologies for not being able to provide it today).

Overall, it was a bit of a shaky start, but things got a bit more confident as it went on. Ambrose was using a mini-lectern on her desk for her questions, which is always an immediate foul in my books. Mulcair too had his script in hand, so there wasn’t a whole lot of spontaneity in the room. Trudeau had cue cards in hand for some of his responses, but was not conspicuously reading the answers in a canned fashion. While Ambrose’s tone was measured, Mulcair was already sliding into snide asides in his supplemental questions, despite promising to work with the government to achieve their shared aims. The Conservatives were also sliding into the practice the NDP perfected in the previous parliament of having Francophone MPs repeat the questions of their Anglophone counterparts, so that again questions are lost in trying to get clips in both languages. Liberal backbench questions were generally softballs, though Mauril Bélanger’s had a bit of substance to it, and was on a topic of concern that he had raised repeatedly in the spring. As for other ministerial responses, there was a range across the board, from Bill Morneau repeating variations of his same talking points, to John McCallum giving lengthy bouts of obfuscation (but off-the-cuff and not read off of sheets of paper in front of him, it should be noted), right up to Chrystia Freehand, who clearly won QP today by offering not only substantive answers without scripts, but also was able to effectively hit back at her critics. As for decorum, the only time there was much heckling was during McCallum’s obfuscation, to which Speaker Regan didn’t call for order. Make of that what you will.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Rona Ambrose for a black leather skirt with a black top and an slate grey jacket with black elbow patches, and to Blake Richards for a tailored dark grey suit with a crisp white shirt and a blue-and-white crosshatched tie. Style citations go out to Michel Picard for a tan brown jacket and patterned tie with an off-white shirt and grey slacks, and to Sylvie Boucher for a grey top with a sparkly pattern across the chest, with a black cardigan and trousers.