Just before question period, newly elected Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux took his seat in the House of Commons. That means that Julian Fantino can’t be that far behind.
Michael Ignatieff started off question period wondering about Canadian sovereignty – after all, we sold out to the Americans on softwood lumber, our environmental policy, F-35 fighter jets – what’s next, given these “secret perimeter negotiations?” Well, first the Conservatives sent up Mark Warawa to talk about the Copenhagen Accord (oops), followed by Vic Toews to denounce “media speculation and hearsay.” Ujjal Dosanjh followed up by asking about the $4 million spent on getting new cigarette warnings developed only to be shelved. Leona Aglukkaq insisted they could learn no lessons from the Liberals on getting Canadians to stop smoking, which had Carolyn Bennett shouting that under the Liberals, smoking rates fell 12 percent, where they’ve stalled under the Conservatives. Gilles Duceppe and Gérard Asselin asked about GHGs and other climate change topics, and Jack Layton asked after the auditor general’s scathing report on the office of the public sector integrity commissioner, while still getting in a question on the cigarette warnings.
Round two kicked off with Joe Volpe and Jean-Claude D’Amours returning to the topic of the AG’s report, while Dominic LeBlanc asked about the cost of the F-35 fighters. Maille Faille returned to the AG report, Yves Lessard asked about the expiration of the EI pilot project of working fewer hours to qualify for benefits, and Gerry Byrne and Mike Savaged teamed up to hammer the government on those GIS changes that the minister promised were cancelled, and yet there are documents that say otherwise. Finley insisted they were cancelled.
From there, questions on the selection of a new CRTC vice-chair, the copyright bill, youth-program spending, those awful unelected, unaccountable senators killing bills, assistance for those affected by the unusual tides at the lower St Lawrence, an agreement with the Bay James Cree, and the government allowing development in protected areas of the North.
Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Kirsty Duncan for her well-tailored plum jacket, and also to Megan Leslie for a fantastic green, gold and black patterned dress with a black jacket and grey knee-high boots. Style citations go out to Cheryl Gallant for a sparkly top under a blue jacket, Lisa Raitt for this shredded scarf… thing that looked like a cut-up T-shirt over her otherwise fine charcoal top, and a reminder to James Moore that he needs to visit his tailor, as his suit looks entirely like a sack.
After the NDP went on the offensive, calling the special committee reviewing those Afghan documents “a charade,” we are given assurances that we will see cleared detainee documents “soon.”
Thanks to the Toronto Star, 14 Toronto police officers involved in G20 abuses have now been identified, and their names have been sent to the Special Investigations Unit.
A UBC professor told the polygamy trial in BC that polygamy is harmful to society.
Sadly, some sign makers on Parliament Hill can’t spell.
And here’s Mike Holmes’s visit to Parliament Hill, including Scott Brison’s office in the Confederation Building.
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