With Justin Trudeau off to New York, none of the other leaders decided to show up for QP today, so way to go for their insistence that all MPs should show up five days a week. Pierre Poilievre led off, demanding that the loan conditions to Bombardier to be reopened to ban the money from bonuses, to which Jean-Yves Duclos assured him that they were trying to grow the economy with key investments to the aerospace industry. Poilievre railed about the company’s family share structure, but Duclos’ answer didn’t change. Poilievre then moved onto the cancellation of tax credits, to which François-Philippe Champagne opted to answer, reminding him about their tax cuts. Gérard Deltell got up next to demand a balanced budget in the other official language, and Champagne reiterated his previous response. Deltell then worried that there was nothing in the budget for agriculture, and after a moment of confusion when Duclos stood up first, Lawrence MacAulay stood up to praise all kinds of measures in the budget. Sheila Malcolmson led off for the NDP, demanding childcare and pay equity legislation immediately. Maryam Monsef proclaimed that the budget was the most feminist budget in history, and listed off a number of commitments. Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet repeated the question in French, and Monsef listed off yet more budget commitments. Boutin-Sweet pivoted over to the changes to the Standing Orders, and Bardish Chagger deployed her “modernization” talking points, with some added self-congratulation about yesterday’s proto-PMQs. Murray Rankin demanded a special committee on modernization, and Chagger insisted she wanted to hear their views, but would not agree to a committee.

Round two, and Scott Reid and Luc Berthold kept up his questions on the Standing Order proposals (Chagger: Modernize!), James Bezan and Pierre Paul-Hus accused the defence minister of constantly misleading Canadians (Sajjan: We are doing a policy review and are looking after our Forces), and Colin Carrie asked about the health minister’s former policy adviser taking an industry job (Philpott: He was cleared by the Ethics Commissioner and he won’t be lobbying). Alexandre Boulerice and Nathan Cullen railed about senior public servants getting bonuses despite the Phoenix pay system (MacKinnon: No executive in charge of a Phoenix is getting a bonus). Marilyn Gladu asked about government appointments (Garneau: This appointment is an outstanding choice), Chris Warkentin railed about repaying the Aga Khan for the stay of a PCO technician during the PM’s vacation (Chagger: This was a personal vacation), and Mark Strahl launched a couple of insulting questions on the Standing Orders (Chagger: Modernization!) Brigitte Sansoucy asked about temporary foreign workers (Hajdu: We have strengthened the Labour Market Impact Assessments that employers must complete), and Pierre Nantel railed about the lack of electric car charging stations (Wilkinson: We are on the right track).

This "personal safe space" insult is getting super tired, guys. It's not clever. #QP

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) April 6, 2017

Round three saw questions on deferred income rules for farmers, taxes on campgrounds, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, softwood lumber, border guard collective bargaining, driving while high, the Canada 150 Fund, First Nations transparency, transportation regulatory oversight, a grey seal cull, and tax havens.

Overall, the tone was again a bit rowdy, and the sanctimony around Standing Order changes remains dialled right up, while we get the same tired protestations of “modernization!” and “twenty-first century workplace!” from Chagger, and it continues to try my patience. The apocalyptic talking points around what those changes would propose is really, really tiresome, and the constant insistence that the PM wants days off and that Fridays in the ridings would be”days off” go against their own insistence about how hard they work in their ridings, while they constantly justified Harper’s absences from the Commons because he was “too busy being Prime Minister” to attend. I get that they’re trying to sell the message, but they’re shooting themselves in the foot in the process.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Joël Lightbound for a tailored navy suit with a light blue shirt and navy bow tie, and to Julie Dzerowicz for a cream jacket with a white top. Style citations go out to Bardish Chagger for a dusky rose boxy jacket with a black patterned skirt, and to David Lametti for a dark grey suit with a burgundy shirt and a yellow-gold bow tie. Dishonourable mention goes out to Linda Lapointe for a mustard jacket with a black dress, and a special mention to Cheryl Gallant who appeared to be wearing skinned knock-off Louis Vitton luggage as a jacket.