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In a chamber humming today with tension and anger over issues involving the torture of Afghan prisons and charges of anti-Semitism, Jim Flaherty, the Finance Minister, cracked a joke.

“I have not had many questions on the economy and it has been so lonely over here,” he said as he answered a lob ball from one of his own about how wonderfully the Canadian economy is performing.

He was trying to lighten the mood and do a little bragging at the same time.

This was Question Period Thursday – a wild and wooly 45 minutes in which at least half of the time was dominated by questions concerning the explosive testimony of senior Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin, who said yesterday that the torture of Afghan prisoners was routine and senior Canadian officials did not want to hear about it.

Opposition parties were alleging a cover-up by the government, accusing it of failing to act quickly on the revelations.

A smaller portion of the daily session was given over to issues around the conflict in the Middle East, a battle that has erupted on Parliament Hill because of a controversial Tory pamphlet. More on that later.

But first, Liberal Foreign Affairs critic Bob Rae demanded a public inquiry into the issues around the transfer of Afghan detainees. Mr. Rae led off the questions in Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff’s absence.

He was echoing the NDP, who had asked for a similar inquiry earlier in the day.

“The revelations of mistreatment, harsh treatment and even torture, and the revelation with respect to a cover-up, would the minister not agree with me and with others that there should indeed be a full public inquiry,” Mr. Rae demanded.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay, however, was unrelenting in his defence of the Canadian soldiers’ handling of the detainees. He also called into question the credibility of Mr. Colvin and his testimony.

“It has been stated here a number of times that there has not been a single, solitary proven allegation of abuse involving a transferred Taliban prisoner by Canadian Forces,” he said. “Second, with respect to the evidence yesterday, what we know is that when the evidence is put to the test, it simply does not stand up.”

Mr. MacKay said that to suggest “every single Taliban prisoner was tortured is not credible.” He also questioned why anyone would believe anything a member of the Taliban has to say, accusing NDP Leader Jack Layton of “taking at face value evidence that comes in most circumstances in this particular context from the Taliban himself.”

But under questioning from Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale as to why the government finally did make changes to the transfer procedures if Mr. Colvin’s allegations were not credible, Mr. MacKay admitted that the government acted to make changes because of concerns expressed by “Colvin and others.”

In addition to the detainee story, there was also the controversy over a free-mail Tory leaflet, which has been sent out to ridings with large Jewish populations. It attacks the Liberals’ support of Israel.

Liberal MP and human-rights expert Irwin Cotler severely criticized the Conservatives yesterday for playing wedge politics.

But today the Tories were not backing off.

In a statement before Question Period began, Manitoba Tory Candice Hoeppner (she is the MP who brought in the private member’s bill to scrap the long-gun registry) accused Mr. Ignatieff of accusing Israel of war crimes in 2006 “when rockets were raining down on Israel.”

And Ontario Conservative MP Lois Brown repeated the same accusation in Question Period, asking junior Foreign Affairs minister Peter Kent to outline what the Harper government is doing to support Israel.

After Question Period, Irwin Cotler challenged the Tory suggestions and allegations in their pamphlet, urging the government to apologize and to stop mailing it out.

(Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)