The Quebec nationalist rhetoric got cranked up by the NDP as Question Period kicked off, and Jack Layton began a round of “I love Quebec more than you do” with Harper, by demanding to know why the government wasn’t willing to suspend sitting over St. Jean Baptiste Day (which is Friday) while the government tries to ram through its back-to-work legislation on the postal strike. Harper demurred and said they were ready to pass the bill anytime. Layton then turned his attention to the Senate, and demanded a referendum on abolishing the Upper Chamber (as though a referendum were either binding or indeed constitutional), though Harper again demurred and said that his reform bill wasn’t imposing any regime on the provinces. Anne Minh-Thu Quach and Libby Davies asked about health care reforms with respect to wait time (Leona Aglukkaq: We’ve spent a billion dollars on it, and this is provincial jurisdiction). Bob Rae then gave a trio of questions on the misappropriated G8 legacy funds, and the curious lack of a paper trail, to which Harper simply dismissed as a “process failing.”
Round two kicked off with Alexandre Boulerice and Charlie Angus continuing their assault on the government over that G8 spending (Baird: You talk about decorum when you insult us? Shame!), Jack Harris and Yvon Godin asked about the soon-to-be-released Afghan detainee documents (Rob Nicholson: If you were that worried about it, you should have participated in the parliamentary process set up), and Olivia Chow, Jamie Nicholls and Hoang Mai asked about crumbling bridges in Montreal and Toronto (Denis Lebel: We’ve invested $680 million dollars!). John McCallum and Joyce Murray returned to the issue of the G8 legacy fund, calling on the Auditor General to perform a value-for-money audit on the projects (Baird selectively quoted the AG to sound like they were doing a bang-up job), and Kevin Lamoureux asked about increasing RCMP resources to for people who need criminal records checks to get jobs (Vic Toews: We’re announcing new technology that should speed things up). Philip Toone asked about an environmental assessment for the Old Harry project, Fin Donnelly asked about protecting our oceans (Ashfield: We’re showing leadership on our oceans!), and Jack Layton was back up to ask a pair of questions on Libya and how Italy is requesting a cease-fire to get humanitarian aid through (Harper: We’re in contact with our allies).
Round three saw questions on intellectual property rights as part of the Canada-EU Free Trade Agreement and how that could mean rising drug costs, the closure of rescue centres, the lack of federal leadership on the 2004 health accords with respect to home care, shale gas, a local hockey rink project, what killing the Canadian Wheat Board will mean to the port of Churchill, Manitoba, and heritage lighthouses.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Lisa Raitt for her black suit with white piping and the low-cut white top beneath, and Maxime Bernier for his impeccably tailored brownish-grey suit, with a pink shirt and a violet and blue tie. Style citations go out to Denis Blanchette for a repeat violation of a khaki suit and beige shirt with a teal tie, and Linda Duncan for what appeared to be a patterned yellow caftan over a light moss-green skirt.
Overall, it felt like the quality of QP has regressed by a week or so, as we were back to scattershot questions, trying to get more faces out as opposed to quality questions and follow-ups. Occasionally there were better questions posed on similar topics (usually coming from the Liberals, such as with the EU trade agreement – not that the “answer” changed any from the minister), but on the whole it was a pretty disappointing day.