Maclean’s video: This week in QP
Highlights in bickering
Journalists watch a T.V. as the Speaker of the House of Commons Peter Miliken tallies votes in the the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Tuesday, May 10, 2005 the Conservative party and Bloc Quebecois are pushing for a non-confidence vote. (CP Photo/Jonathan Hayward)
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The NDP cast about for something to befuddle the government benches as June wore on in the House of Commons. They cranked up the the rhetoric on a Tory prostitution bill dismissed by sex workers. They attacked the Tory economic record. They asked just how many Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada. Fair questions, all, but nothing that knocked Conservatives off their well-practiced lines. QP is no longer a single-issue affair where the NDP so thrives.
On Monday, NDP Deputy Leader Megan Leslie hardened her language on Justice Minister Peter MacKay’s sex-work bill.
But much as the NDP used stronger language on prostitution than last week, the party didn’t push the issue this week.
On Tuesday, with the shooting deaths of three Moncton Mounties fresh in the minds of parliamentarians, Tory MP Rob Clarke silenced a fractious House with a tribute to the fallen officers.
On Wednesday, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Prime Minister Stephen Harper duelled in the House of Commons. Mulcair tried to poke holes in the government’s economic record. That attempt was, um, unconvincing. The PM knew it.
Harper took every chance he had on Thursday to bask in a bad news day for the NDP. Mulcair asked how many Syrian refugees had arrived in Canada since the feds announced they’d accept those fleeing civil war. Harper spent most of his time talking about the official opposition.
Any day now, parliament will recess for the summer. Everyone could use the time away. Any day now.
The NDP cranks up criticism of sex-work bill
Rob Clarke tames the House
Harper and Mulcair argue about jobs
Syrian refugees and scoring partisan points