The PM was away in Halifax, and his deputy was elsewhere, and most of the other leaders were also away. Pierre Poilievre led off in French, and he accused the prime minister of a litany of economic sins, and demanded he stop raising taxes and “inflationary” spending. Arif Virani said that they were proud of their record and that the Fall Economic Statement would be released on Monday, and praised that inflation as on target and that interest rates have come down. Poilievre mocked that the government wants to bury their record, and wondered if the deficit would remain under target. Jonathan Wilkinson praised the GST cut on purpose-built rentals, and that they are building more houses than ever before. Poilievre switched to English to repeat his first question, and Virani got back up, but this time praised how their childcare programme has seen one of the largest rates of female participation in the labour force. Poilievre lied about debt causing inflation (ignoring the pandemic and the global supply shock), and again asked about the deficit target. Virani cited current and former Bank of Canada governors about the current inflation spike being tamed and how Harper muted the recovery from the 2008 financial crisis by cutting too quickly. Poilievre then said that in the spirit of non-partisanship, they took Jagmeet Singh’s words and put them in a non-confidence motion, and wondered if the prime minister was going to let the NDP to vote for the motion. The Speaker warned that this stretched what was permissible under the administration of government, but Karina Gould got up to point out that it was the Conservatives who muzzled their members.

Alain Therrien led for the Bloc, and raised concerns about religion in schools in Quebec, and demanded the federal government stop “undermining” secularism in Quebec. Jean-Yves Duclos reminded him that education was a provincial matter. Therrien insisted that multiculturalism is what is undermining the ability to live together, and Duclos noted that there is strength in diversity before returning to the reminder that education is a provincial matter.

Jagmeet Singh rose for the NDP to give an anecdote of the plight of a retiree in relation to the demand to extend the $250 “rebate” cheque. Virani got back up to pat himself on the back for their other programmes for seniors, including dental care. Singh retorted that Virani didn’t answer the question, before repeating it he demand in French. Virani said that they always fight against poverty, and the data shows progress.

Round two, and Michael Barrett took swipes at Singh in demanding an election—and got warned by the Speaker (Gould: If you want to talk about pensions, your leader’s is worth $2 million; No one rose on a follow-up), Michelle Rempel Garner insisted that there was issue relevant for government if the question is what they promised the NDP (Gould: You know a thing or two about saying one thing and doing the opposition; Why won’t your leader get his security clearance?), and Gérard Deltell gave the same again in French (Duclos: Why can’t you speak for yourself?; Your leader only built six housing units—not really true—and that 8000 

Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay wanted support for a motion to call the Auditor General to study the replacement of CBSA’s recent IT changeover (LeBlanc: We don’t direct the Auditor General and committee can study what they want; We understand the concerns about the changeover that started in 2010, and we will ensure errors get fixed).

John Brassard took swipes at Singh (Gould: We stand up for workers which you can’t say you’ve ever done; MacKinnon: Here is a reminder of your government’s anti-union legislation), and Jacques Gourde did the same in French (MacKinnon: Same answer).

Leah Gazan railed that the housing crisis hurts people fleeing domestic violence—as though there aren’t provincial governments (Fragiskatos: We have put forward the National Housing Strategy which has a focus on hosing women facing domestic violence), and Lisa Marie Barron demanded more funding for food banks (Sudds: Hooray for the Canada Child Benefit).

Round three saw more questions on deficits (Turnbull: The only thing you are serving up for Xmas dinner is stale slogans; We are looking forward to this week’s Bank of Canada announcement; The Fall Economic Statement is coming on Monday; You are complaining if things are late while you are obstructing everything; Duclos: There are affordable housing units being built in your very riding but you let your leader pretend they don’t exist; Champagne: You know we have made record investments in industry and workers), the “loophole” in the Safe Third Country Agreement (Miller: We can’t take action without the U.S., and I hope you support our asylum reforms; Look at our actions with visas for Mexicans), someone killed in Edmonton (Virani: Our condolences, but we are working on multiple fronts to keep Canadians safe; The provinces have their own work to do with their responsibilities), someone investing in rental properties in Montreal (Martinez Ferrada: We just made an announcement about 700 more units), and Canada Council funding inequities (Noormohamed: We will work with any members who want to work on this).

Overall, we started seeing a return of the schtick the Conservatives were pulling on Friday of taking swipes at the NDP while trying to give it the fig leaf of a government question with non sequiturs like “Are you giving them a free vote” or “What deal did you make with them,” which really aren’t about the administrative responsibilities of government, but Speaker Fergus was somewhat incoherent about what he was warning about, what he was allowing, and it didn’t matter for the most part because Karina Gould kept standing up to get her own digs in about the Conservatives rather than staying seated to show that the questions were out of order. I have said this before and I will keep saying it—stay seated for those non-questions. Stop legitimising them. Your taking your own swipes is not helping matters any.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Adam Chambers for a tailored dark blue suit with a white shirt and pocket square and a light blue tie, and to Michelle Rempel Garner for a dark grey jacket with a grid pattern over a v-necked black top and slacks. Style citations go out to Stephanie Kusie for a short-sleeved dark green shirt with sparkles across it along with black slacks, and to Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe for a navy jacket over a pale blue shirt, dark grey diamond-patterned tie, and blue jeans. Dishonourable mention goes out to Jagmeet Singh for a black suit and tie with a white shirt and a mustard turban.