Wednesdays being caucus days, its question periods tend to be the most energized of the week. And it did feel fairly
energized when Nycole Turmel, emboldened by all of the talk of Occupy camps
facing evictions brought them up in relation to the government not taking
enough action on jobs. Harper corrected her and said that the government’s top
priorities were jobs and economic growth. Peter Julian kept on about the job
losses, to which Ted Menzies assured him that the government’s plans were just
great, thanks. Bob Rae got up to ask about the looming troubles with all of
those other countries with regard to their F-35 purchases, and didn’t it make
sense that this government finally run an open competition for new fighters.
Harper assured him that the Liberals ran just such a competition – which, of
course, is not true. Rae finished off by asking about the $1 billion increase in
corrections spending over the past five years, but Harper told him that the
government has a responsibility not only to the troops (as with the F-35s), but
to keeping the streets safe. So there.
Round two kicked off with Kennedy Stewart
and Ève Péclet asking about the Keystone XL pipeline as well as ensuring that
pipelines don’t go through the BC interior (Joe Oliver: Buzz Hargrove supports
Keystone XL, why don’t you?); Jamie Nicholls asked about the Champlain Bridge
(Lebel: We’re working to keep it safe); and Jean Rousseau and Malcolm Allen
asked about supply management (Fast, then Ritz: We support it!). Roger Cuzner
asked about Service Canada delays (Finley: Yay automation, and Canadians can
click on the internet to get EI assistance!), and Geoff Regan again asked about
seniors converting their RSPs to RIFs (Menzies: You voted against tax-free savings accounts!). Christine Moore and Matthew Kellway closed off with more
questions about the possibility of the Americans cancelling their F-35
contracts (Fantino: The F-35s are awesome!).
Round three saw questions on the In &
Out plea deal; Dean Del Mastro’s behaviour with regard to CBC documents; young
offenders legislation as it pertains to Quebec; the government’s refusal to
bring along opposition MPs to climate change negotiations (Kent said this was
now inappropriate in a majority situation – to gasps of disbelief around the
House); usage-based billing; sanctions against Iran; First Nations’ drinking
water; and the plight of a certain Afghan interpreter whose immigration claim
was rejected.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe for her black-and-white patterned dress and a
tailored light-grey jacket, and to habitual good dresser Jonathan Genest-Jourdain for his tailored charcoal suit with a white shirt and a black tie with a muted
blue-and-green pattern. Style citations go out to the honourable member from
Warhammer for his grey suit with a bright teal shirt and tie, and to Isabelle Morin for her boxy white jacket with a black-and-gold floral pattern.
Dishonourable mention to Olivia Chow for a three-quarter sleeve gold jacket
with a black top and trousers (and yes, gold is really just a darker yellow
that should never be worn with black).
Why you can trust Xtra
