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question period

Prime Minister Stephen Harper responds during Question Period in the House of Commons on Sept. 20, 2010.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Ralph Goodale, the veteran Liberal MP who is now deputy leader of his party, emerged from the daily Question Period on Monday to say what was lacking was substantive answers from the government on important question.

But also missing was the continuous and disruptive heckling that had been expected with the return of the fall session of Parliament.

Not that it was absent in its entirety. Laurie Hawn, who is the parliamentary secretary to Defence Minister Peter MacKay, took issue with Liberal criticism of the government's untendered purchase of F-35 fighter jets.

The Conservatives could not sit quiet when Mr. Goodale gave credit to former prime minister Jean Chrétien for the fact that Canada has weathered the economic storm better than most other developed countries.

And the Liberals were quite boisterous when Industry Minister Tony Clement accused them of wanting to throw people in jail for refusing to complete the long-form census. Marcel Proulx, the new Liberal Whip, had to motion to his caucus to keep the noise down.

But, overall, it was a relatively sedate Question Period that marked the House's return from a three-month summer break.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff opened the session by saying the government is out of step with the concerns of ordinary Canadians. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, he said, is going to have to explain some wasteful expenditures

"A billion on a G8-G20 photo opportunity, $10-billion to $13-billion on prisons when crime is actually declining. He's going to have to explain these priorities to Canadians," Mr. Ignatieff said. "He's going to have to explain why it is that it makes sense to give corporations a $6-billion tax cut when we're in a $54-billion deficit."

Mr. Harper replied that all of those policies are easily defended.

"I have no difficulty explaining that this government's priority when it comes to crime is having criminals in prison, not out on the street," the Prime Minister said. "I have no difficult explaining to Canadians that when we send out men and women into dangerous military situations we're prepared to give them the equipment they need. And, Mr. Speaker, I have no difficulty explaining to Canadians that when we're in the middle of a recession, we don't talk about hiking taxes on business or anybody else."

Which prompted Mr. Ignatieff to remind the House that the Conservatives "are talking about jacking up payroll taxes."

That exchange was followed by a question from Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe, who wanted to know about the long-gun registry. With a vote on the issue coming Wednesday, Mr. Duceppe accused the Conservatives of persisting with an anti-registry campaign to appease their base in the West.

NDP Leader Jack Layton opened with a similar query, pleading with the Conservative government to work with his party to change the registry so that it works for both rural and urban Canadians.

That gave Mr. Harper and open door to take a shot at NDP MP Peter Stoffer and others on the opposition benches who have opposed the registry but now say they will vote to keep it.

"I think on this side of the House, members of Parliament can be very proud of the fact that they have gone out in elections and in their ridings and said and done exactly the same thing ... they're prepared to do here," he said. "And Mr. Speaker I would urge the Leader of the NDP and the members of the NDP to implement the same level of integrity."

There were subsequent questions on a variety of issues ranging from the census to pension reform to employment insurance.

But the award for best response of the day goes to Infrastructure Minister Chuck Strahl, who was asked by Liberal MP John McCallum about the cost of "exactly 8,587 giant signs" to boast about the money spent as part of the economic stimulus plan.

"It is true there are a lot of signs out there Mr. Speaker," Mr. Strahl replied, "and they are not just signs that you will just find hanging on a wall or hanging on a signpost, Mr. Speaker, they are signs of recovery, signs of hope, signs of opportunity."

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