In the statements leading up to the final Question Period of the sitting, NDP MPs from Quebec lamented that they wanted to be able to show up to St. Jean Baptiste ceremonies in their ridings, but those mean Conservatives were going to make them stay to fight the back-to-work legislation instead of giving the debate a day off. Layton’s first three questions were about the postal strike, in which he blamed Harper personally for the lock-out and comparing it to prorogation – to which Harper shrugged and said that the opposition caused the last election (not that he minds, I’m sure). Hélène Lavendière and Jack Harris asked about the Afghan detainee documents, accusing the government of a cover-up and demanding a public inquiry, to which John Baird claimed the recent document release answered all questions. Bob Rae asked first about a specific issue in the back-to-work legislation (Harper: We’re ensuring postal service resumption), and then turned to the topic of the insanity of Harper’s Senate reform bill (Harper: You’re making false statements).
Round two kicked off with Romeo Saganash, Nathan Cullen, François Lapointe and Pat Martin all asking about the government’s decision to block the Rotterdam Conventions regarding asbestos (Christian Paradis: Crysotile can be used safely! Really!), Peggy Nash asked about household debt and EI in the face of the ongoing jobs crisis (Jim Flaherty: Look at our job creation record!), Jean Crowder asked about cuts at HRSDC (Diane Finley: We’re helping families with our child care benefit!), and Manon Perreault asked about the UN convention on the rights of the disabled (Finley: Look at our registered disability savings plan!). Marc Garneau asked about tobacco versus asbestos, and brought up the heretofore unspoken issue that people in the developing world can’t afford the proper equipment and training to use crysotile safely (Paradis: Crysotile can be used safely!), Judy Foote asked about a value-for-money audit of the G8 Legacy Fund (Baird: the Auditor General made helpful observations). Alexandre Boulerice and Charlie Angus each took another run at Tony Clement, only for Baird to yet again rebuff them.
Round three saw questions on the deportation of refugees, Libyan students in Canada, cuts to immigrant settlement organisations, the Afghan documents and our failure to protect prisoners, natural disasters in Western Canada, the rail service review, rescue centre closures, and a new Detroit-Windsor border crossing.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to James Bezan for his charcoal suit with a lovely pink shirt and light blue tie (and matching pocket square), and to Rona Ambrose for her nicely tailored off-white jacket and skirt with a beige top. Style citations go out to Jonathan Tremblay for his black suit with a bright green shirt and a striped black and green tie, and to Lois Brown for her blinding salmon jacket and skirt, with a red scarf that was so huge it appeared to be swallowing her head.
And that wraps up the final QP of the spring session. Three weeks of dull QP, consisting largely of robotic recitations of scripted questions to be answered with scripted talking points (and you can tell how far along cabinet ministers and parliamentary secretaries are coming along with their ability to perform when their recitations start sounding more free-flowing). Let’s hope that when the House returns, there gets to be more flowing debate, that the questions get more dynamic, and that when the government doesn’t answer, they hold their feet to the fire over it. But I realise I’m probably dreaming.
Programming notes: I’m going to try to hit Senate Question Period next week, for as long as the Senate sits, just for a change of pace.