After a Family Day off, the bulk of MPs were back on the Hill, ready for the daily inquest of the nation. Rona Ambrose led off, raising the sentencing of Douglas Garland in Alberta thanks to their consecutive sentencing laws the previous government implemented, and wanted a guarantee that they would not touch them as part of their sentencing reviews. Justin Trudeau assured her that they were reviewing the system broadly, and that he had confidence in the justice minister. Ambrose wanted clarity on that answer, but Trudeau repeated his statement. Ambrose worried that the government planned to nickel-and-dime Canadians to get any bits of cash they could out of them, but Trudeau reminded her that that her party voted against their middle-class tax cut. Ambrose listed off the usual disingenuous examples of raised taxes, but Trudeau reminded her that the previous government was more interested in tax breaks for the wealthy as opposed to help for those who needed it. Ambrose repeated the question in French, and Trudeau repeated his own answer in the other official language. With Thomas Mulcair off in Sweden, Hélène Laverdière led off for the NDP, demanding the suspension of the safe third country agreement, to which Trudeau reminded her that while they accept refugees, they can only do so if Canadians have confidence in the system, which was why they were trying to strike a balance. Jenny Kwan wanted more support for border communities and those refugees, but Trudeau repeated his answer. Kwan raised Brian Mulroney’s serenade and demanded Trudeau to denounce Trump, while Trudeau reminded her that Canadians expect him to have a strong working relationship with the American administration given the economic ties. Laverdière said the government was putting their head in the sand on the issue, but Trudeau’s answer didn’t change.

Round two, and Denis Lebel worried about the deficit (Morneau: We are investing in growing the economy), Pierre Poilievre said carbon taxes would hurt the poorest (Wilkinson: We are taking action to protect the planet while creating sustainable jobs), and Gérard Deltell returned to fretting about tax measures (Morneau: We are growing the economy). Anne Quach and Niki Ashton worried about the transparency of the PM’s youth council (Schiefke: It’s great that these youth can meet up with the PM). Tony Clement, Candice Bergen and Ted Falk worried about enforcing the border against illegal migrants (Goodall: CBSA and the RCMP are on the case, and if they want more resources, we will listen to their advice; we thank the people in those border communities for their generosity). Pierre Dusseault and Nathan Cullen worried that there have not been any convictions for tax evasion (Lebouthillier: We have a hotline, and we examine all of these tips).

Apparently the government only backed down on taxing benefits thanks to a Conservative motion.
That's a…generous interpretation. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 21, 2017

Liberal benches heckling Clement about hanging up on CBC this morning. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 21, 2017

Goodale thanks the people of Emerson and on the Quebec border for their generosity with migrants. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) February 21, 2017

Round three saw questions on the Phoenix pay system, softwood lumber, extending the military training mission in Ukraine, First Nations transparency, victims’ support funds, texting and driving, and Quebec aerodromes.

Overall, it was not a very exciting day, and most of the questions got pretty repetitive, but we did get an indication from the PM that there isn’t going to be any move to suspend the safe third country agreement, and that they’re waiting for more word from the ground before they start deploying more resources (but also didn’t make any explicit promise to do so). There was also no word that they were coordinating with the Americans on trying to stem the flow of asylum claimants from that end, so take that for what you will. Meanwhile, the disingenuous “raising taxes” questions continue unabated, and probably will continue until the budget date at least (at which point they get to creatively interpret what it says). Oh boy.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Kim Rudd for a black dress with a gold grid pattern and a black jacket, and to Pablo Rodriguez for a dark grey three-piece suit with a white shirt and a deep red tie. Style citations go out to Stéphane Lauzon for a grey-brown suit with a bright red shirt and a light grey striped tie, and to Kelly Block for a cream blouse with frills and black slacks.