The Coalition is dead. The dream of so many progressive voters died yesterday morning when Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said that despite its many problems, he would support the budget on the provision that they adopt an amendment to provide the House regular reports on its implementation – reports that would be voted upon as confidence measures.

“I’m not in a coalition with Mr. Harper,” Ignatieff said at his press conference. “He’s on probation.”

It was a move that, in many respects, was unexpected. Instead of the usual demands for more spending, or the humiliation of abstaining in order to avoid the fourth snap election in five years, Ignatieff charted a different course – one of holding the government to account. The way an opposition party is supposed to. The Conservatives later agreed to the demand.

Not that Jack Layton was happy. He was downright surly, complaining that there was a new coalition in the House – one between Harper and Ignatieff. Gilles Duceppe wasn’t happy either, saying that these reports were just a smokescreen to avoid actually voting down the government for another year (who wants an election in summer or over the holidays?), and that Ignatieff had done the unforgivable sin of putting Canada’s national interests ahead of Quebec’s.

With all of this having taken place, you’d think that Question Period would have been back to its legendary raucousness. But instead, it was actually one of the most quiet and civil Question Periods that I’ve personally witnessed since I started paying attention to them. In fact, there were actually times when the House was quiet and attentive during question and answers, and heckling and catcalls were at a minimum.

That doesn’t mean that there weren’t a few fashion faux pas in the House. The most egregious was Marlene Jennings’ dusky rose jacket overtop a blue-grey turtleneck. Not her most flattering look. As well, Diane Finley is back to wearing those eighties dress shirts with the high collar and pleated fronts. Really? Can you maybe, oh, burn those? Pretty please? Also, Josée Verner needs to cut back on the tanning. Girl is starting to look a bit orange.

Snaps went to Ruby Dhalla for the most eye-catching ensemble, with the black-patterned cream jacket, and Ralph Goodale’s brilliant purple tie. Also, Rona Ambrose was more tailored and less drowning-in-shawl yesterday, which was a vast improvement, and Lisa Raitt proved that she does have a waistline by going jacketless, but she chose to wear some knitted shawl, which wasn’t as bad as her usual boxy jackets, but she needs to get out of that mindset.

After Question Period, I ended up scrumming with Scott Brison, as he talked about the plan for government asset sales, which remains in the budget, and is just as problematic now as it was when it was in the fall economic update. He’s asked Jim Flaherty for a list of assets, and hasn’t been given one. He asked the Department of Finance for a list – they told him that there wasn’t one.

“To sell assets during a tough buyer’s market is bad economics,” Brison said. “To book asset sales for the next fiscal year when they don’t even have a list of assets they want to sell yet is ludicrous, and it’s the same accounting practices used by the Harris and Eves governments in Ontario. Minister Flaherty, in an interview earlier this fall, told a reporter that he disagreed with that approach. He thought it was wishful thinking and bad accounting to book assets sales before you have a plan and a list to execute the plan, so he’s actually pursuing the same kind of bad accounting practices here in Ottawa that he condemned while he was in Queen’s Park.”

“Minister Flaherty tells us that government’s not good at business. He’s proving that he’s right.”

When Brison was Public Works Minister in the Martin government, they had been considering selling some non-strategic office space during a seller’s market, but he also points to a plan in place at the time.

“We also focused our efforts – we were going to use the revenues to green Government of Canada office spaces. We were actually using it as part of an overall greening of government approach. We have a five billion dollar deferred-maintenance deficit in Government of Canada buildings, and we were going to use external capital to help green those buildings, so it actually had an element of lowering our carbon footprint as a government, greening government operations, and reducing our energy costs as well. There’s no such vision in the Conservative plan.”

(PS - It looks like Iceland is getting a lesbian Prime Minister. Way to go Iceland! If your country wasn't in an economic meltdown, it might be more reason to celebrate).

Hey everyone - did you miss Question Period as much as I did? Because it's back today, baby! I'm on my way up to the Hill now, and I'll give you the play-by-play as it happens.

How will Michael Ignatieff face-off against Stephen Harper? What will the new Liberal front bench look like - and how will they peform? Will any finance critics be present, or will they be in the buget lock-up? Will Lisa Raitt still be wearing jackets that are far too boxy? Check back soon to the answer to these, and so many more questions.

13.43 - Arrived a few minutes early, and got up to the gallery without getting lost this time. A few MPs are filtering in. Helena Geurgis' outfit looks far too conservative and demure compared to her usual style.

13.48 - Just been kicked out of the gallery until the MPs and everyone formally arrive. This is what you get for showing up early.

13.52 - Found a new seating plan while waiting. The Liberal front bench honestly doesn't make a lot of sense to me. McCallum and Brison, their two economic heavy hitters, are in the second row, while others who aren't currently in the shadow cabinet, like Hedy Fry, remain in the front row. Odd.

13.55 - LeBlanc, the justice critic, is third row centre? This seating plan really doesn't make any sense to me.

14.03 - In the Gallery now, listening to Members' Statements. Rona Ambrose looks like she's drowning in her sweater/shawl monstrosity.

14.06 - Justin Trudeau has a sexy new haircut. The benches are filling up now. It's just a few minutes from showtime.

14.10 - A Conservative MP, who I only know as Mr Allen from Tobique-Mactaquac, gets up to talk about bullying. Nice to know someone is paying attention to it. (Update: He's Mike Allen, from New Brunswick).

14.13 - Olivia Chow is up talking about investing in child care in the year of the Ox. Because it was the Chinese New Year on the weekend.

14.15 - Stéphane Dion, sitting at the very end of the front bench, looks a little forlorn. Not that you can blame him.

14.17 - Question Period begins with an ovation for Ignatieff, whose first queston is in French. Harper begins his response by congratulating Ignatieff on the leadership, and gives a stock answer on the economy. Oh, and I don't think he should be wearing yellow. It makes him look a bit sallow.

14.21 - Marlene Jennings is up next, returning to the question of deficits. Ted Menzies, Flaherty's Parliamentary Secretary stands up to answer, and says it's too important an issue to play partisan politics. Really? Who knew?
 
14.23 - Duceppe is up to ask about equalisation. Guess what? Quebec doesn't like that it's being capped.

14.27 - Layton is up, with his orange tie, asking about why they should trust Harper on the budget. Harper reads a quote from an NDP MP about waiting to see the budget before voting on it.

14.30 - Harper and Layton are trading barbs about unconstitutional ways to reform or abolish the Senate.

14.32 - Bob Rae and Lawrence Cannon volley on the question of Omar Khadr and Guantanamo Bay. Cannon gives the stock answer of Khadr "facing serious charges."

14.34 - Geoff Regan asks about the spill at Chalk River. Lisa Raitt responds, saying there's been no adverse effects - and her jacket is belted, for a change, which eliminates her usual problem of boxiness. Not that she's really answered the whole question.

14.38 - The Bloc's Carole Lavallée asks about arts funding. James Moore says they're delivering on the arts, though Lavallée retorts that the government doesn't realize the importance of Quebec exporting their arts and culture.

14.41 - Hedy Fry, who is wearing an outfit that looks like it's made of crushed velvet, asks about the forestry sector. Lisa Raitt responds, and while her delivery is improving, she still doesn't provide a lot of substance.

14.43 - Martha Hall Findlay asks for the real job loss forecasts. A Conservative backbencher heckles to "wait for the budget."

14.45 - And Ignatieff is out.

14.47 - Mulcair, also with an orange tie, asks about the budget "leaks." I'm actually surprised he's in the House and not the budget lock-up.

14.49 - I think Stockwell Day has a tablet PC at his desk. That's pretty high-tech for someone who believes that Man used to walk with the dinosaurs.

14.51 - David McGuinty asks about the Ottawa transit strike - or a "crisis" as he calls it. Rona Ambrose says she's heard from Ottawa residents and that they're "working closely with both sides." Really? That's news. Mauril Belanger follows up, but Ambrose, still drowning in her shawl, repeats her previous answer.

14.54 - Libby Davies asks why we should trust the Conservatives. John Baird answers with a laundry list of "accomplishments" with his usual bombast and bluster.

14.57 - Diane Finley, whose updated look is still a few years behind, gives stock answer to a suck-up question from her back bench.

14.58 - Gerry Ritz gives us schtick when Wayne Easter asks about the listeria inquiry. But he has a reputation as a funny man to maintain now.

15.03 - James Rajotte is wearing a lovely lavendar tie as he asks the government's final suck-up question of the day.

15.04 - And that's the end of this session's first Question Period. It was pretty exciting and none too raucous for a change. Now I'm off before budget stuff begins. I think I've had enough of sitting in the House for one day.

It was a bitter minus thirty-two below with the wind chill, and thus, much of the usual pomp and pageantry of this Speech From the Throne was absent. No honour guard to inspect. No band. No red carpet.

As the Usher of the Black Rod met Her Excellency and her husband at the main entrance of the Centre Block, there immediately became the sense that this was almost like a day for the B-team to be present. While Harper met her at the top of the stairs, he was accompanied by Government Leader in the Senate Marjorie LeBreton, the Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, and the Commissioner of the RCMP. And once inside the Senate, only six of the nine Supreme Court Justices were present, and Mr. Justice Ian Binnie was sitting in for Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin.

Her Excellency looked fantastic, as usual. She wore a nice tailored jacket and knee-length skirt, both in a deep blue that suited her well. But as she sat in her throne in the Red Chamber, she did something that I had never seen her do before. She donned a pair of thick-armed glasses, and in a sense, it transformed her.

Gone was the cheery, Oprah-like figure that Her Excellency has often been compared to. Instead, there sat a woman with a look of deadly seriousness on her face, and the glasses added to a sense that this was serious business. And that’s what the look on her face said – she wasn’t taking any nonsense.

The speech itself lasted just over seven minutes, but it was still full of some choice nonsense.

“Your predecessors, too, were summoned to this chamber at times of great crisis: as Canada struggled to claim her independence,” Jean read out.

Huh? We struggled for independence in this country? I always thought that the fact that we asked politely for it was something that set us apart in the world. And, err, that particular Chamber wasn’t around when Canada became a country. Remember the Great Fire that claimed our Parliament buildings back in 1916. Don’t the government speechwriters ever check their facts?

“The global credit crunch has dragged the world economy into a crisis whose pull we cannot escape.”

Kind of like the Death Star’s tractor beam, I guess.

“The global economy has weakened since Canadians voted in the last general election. In fact, it has weakened further since Parliament met last month.”

Sure. But this is also a likely excuse for the government to claim that their poor fiscal numbers aren’t really their fault, but the fault of the global economic collapse. Contrast this to the analysis of the Parliamentary Budget Officer, who said that we were headed for deficit already thanks to this government’s ill-advised tax cuts.

“Our Government approached the dialogue in a spirit of open and non-partisan cooperation.”

Really? Since when?

“Acting on the constructive thoughts and suggestions that have been received, our Government will tomorrow present Canada’s economic stimulus plan.”

Apparently, the only suggestions they would consider were those that came in writing. Or at least, that’s what Conservative MP Ted Menzies maintained on Sunday’s edition of CTV’s Question Period. When the NDP disputed his claim that the opposition party hadn’t brought forward suggestions, he said that they didn’t present them in writing. He also claimed that Jim Flaherty was too busy to meet with the Liberals, despite the fact that they kept sending dates for meetings.

“These actions will be targeted, they will inject immediate stimulus while promoting long-term growth and they will avoid a return to permanent deficits.”

That’s not what John McCallum says, should the rumours of a broad-based permanent middle-class tax cut is indeed in the budget. He says that would create a “structural deficit,” and I’m inclined to trust his economic credentials a little more than Stephen Harper’s at this point (given that he used to be a chief economist for the Royal Bank while Stephen Harper has never actually worked as an economist despite his degree in the field).

And that was the Speech. The Bloc says that they can’t support it because it refers to the previous Speech, which they couldn’t support.

The NDP won’t support it because they don’t trust Harper, especially since they’re now doing things they don’t believe in.

And the Liberals are playing it cautiously. Ignatieff points to several phrases that were verbatim ones he’s been saying over the holidays, but said that the government acts like it has a split personality, and he’s not sure which personality will be presenting the budget. Scott Brison elaborated further, evoking Jekyll and Hyde, saying that this speech was a Jekyll speech in contrast to the Hyde of the Fall Economic Update. Who knows which one will presenting the budget?

The budget comes down at four o’clock today. Ignatieff says that he’ll announce his decision to support or defeat the budget on Wednesday morning.

This is where the fun starts.