Trying to make a big impact from the starting gate, Nycole Turmel stood up and started listing off the various social conservative evils that the Conservatives are contemplating – opening up the debates on capital punishment and abortion, and now they’re making the use of torture acceptable. Where are all their principles? It was Peter MacKay’s turn to be back-up PM today, and he assured Turmel that she was wrong. After some more back-and-forth between MacKay and Turmel about the party’s “Reform Party Wing” and the aforementioned torture issue, Jack Harris and Vic Toews picked up the torch and carried on. When it was Rae’s turn, he quipped that one shouldn’t worry about the Reform Party wing, but should beware the whole bird, but moved onto the issue of the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report on the sustainability of OAS (hint: It’s sustainable, and there’s no crisis). MacKay replied with a number of dated quotes that didn’t exactly prove his point.

In round two, Wayne Marston, Lysane Blanchette-Lamothe, Irene Mathyssen, Manon Perreault, Alain Giguère, and Carol Hughes all asked about OAS changes, and got the NDP benches to chant “Yes or no?” at the end of each question. The Speaker warned them about it, but they kept it up. Finley, for her part, tried to talk about the crisis talking points, sprinkled with the “You voted against our plans to help seniors” talking points, but effective heckles from the Liberal benches kept throwing her off. Judy Sgro and Mark Eyking and Lise St-Denis kept up the attack on the OAS question, for which Finley plaintively wailed about how awful it was to be in a country where the opposition could fear-monger like that. Seriously. Linda Duncan, Jonathan Genest-Jourdain and Charlie Angus closed off the round asking about the report on First Nations education (John Duncan: We’re reviewing the report and its recommendations).

Round three saw questions on promoting Canadian manufacturing in China (no, seriously), a group of seasonal workers who were killed in an passenger van accident and what happened to the safety investigations the last time a similar accident happened with one of those vehicles, back-up plans for the possibility of the F-35 not coming through, truth-in-advertising about airline ticket prices, the Chinese market for seal products, health insurance in Quebec, the effects of the closure of an immigration settlement centre in Quebec, and raising the issue of human rights in China.

Sartorially speaking, it was a pretty dull day, so I’m not awarding any snaps. Citations, however, go out to Françoise Boivin for her boxy creamsicle microfiber jacket, Gordon O’Connor for a tan brown jacket and beige shirt, Raymond Côté for yet another fluorescent-blue/black suit violation, and Carol Hughes for her jacket that was best described as “Persian rug on LSD.” Dishonourable mention to Sadia Groguhé for a black suit/yellow top violation.

The New Democrats are planning to spend their opposition day on Thursday debating a motion on changing the foreign investment act, in light of the Electro-Motive Diesel shutdown in London, Ontario. That said, I’m not sure that EMD is really the best case for condemning the Foreign Investment Act, considering that the whole situation was outside of the purview of the act to begin with, and most of the narratives around what happened have been proven to be false.

Here is more about the CSIS directive that allows for the use of information obtained by torture – because apparently real life is like an episode of 24, if you listen to what the rationale is.

Here is more about how the health minister rejected the call to ban trans fats in Canadian foods.

Rob Nicholson says that the bill on citizens’ arrests won’t condone vigilantism. But the language in the bill doesn’t exactly define what is “reasonable” for lengths of time and use of force, including gunplay, which makes one wonder about the law of unintended consequences.

Over at macleans.ca, Aaron Wherry talks to NDP leadership candidate Nathan Cullen.

Kady O’Malley breaks down the text of Stephen Woodworth’s motion to reopen the abortion debate, and what it will mean for the way the vote runs in the Commons.

James Moore puts the $7.5 million price tag on Diamond Jubilee celebrations into perspective.

Meet the two candidates for the Liberal nomination in the Toronto-Danforth by-election. The nomination vote is Thursday.

It appears the PMO has quietly changed the rules slightly in order to give Afghan interpreters who’ve risked their lives a second shot at resettling in Canada.

Here is another look at the Diamond Jubilee stained glass window in the Senate foyer.

And over in The Guardian, Colin Horgan looks at how Harper and company are appropriating things like hockey for their political gain.

As I continue with my roundup of queer MPs at the start of the winter sitting, I caught up with NDP MP Dany Morin after QP today.

Q: What were you up to over the break?

A: A lot of time with my constituents. I launched for 2012 a monthly town hall meeting. I have nine municipalities in my riding – one big and a lot of villages, and I wanted to make sure that every single community has its voice when I speak in the House and that I put to the front of the national scene their [issues]. I started with the municipalities of 5,000 people, and it was really interesting. I met several organizations and elected officials, so it was good.

Q: Is this one a month, rotating between the towns, or nine every month?

A: No, one in every month. In 2011 I met all of the mayors, but the general populations have different priorities than the mayors, so in 2012, I intend to meet a lot of them in all of the different parts of my big riding.

Q: What do you have planned in terms of legislative work this sitting?

A: Probably next week or the week after, I’ll table my anti-cyber-bullying bill. I made sure that I have a lot of support from people who are involved in fighting cyber-bullying, so the experts gave me the big thumbs-up. The next step is to table it in the House and then get the support of the Conservatives. I made sure when I wrote it that it’s a non-partisan bill, and I don’t expect it to be controversial. It doesn’t ask the government to spend any more money, and not that there’s anything wrong with a “cyber-bullying awareness day,” but I wanted to make sure that there’s something concrete, and I’m looking forward to discussing it, but we have to table it first.

Q: In terms of committee work, what do you have coming up?

A: I have big news: I have a second committee. I’m with Libby [Davies] on the health committee, but as of this week, I’m replacing Alexandre Boulerice on the ethics committee. So now I juggle two committees, two on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, so today was the first day and it was pretty hectic, but I love it. I think that I will be a good asset on the ethics committee, having a strong personality and not being afraid to play the bulldog – at least the francophone bulldog. I’ll let Charlie [Angus] be the English bulldog.

After a morning of gun-registry debate that devolved into Hitler references – seriously – it was time to take a break for the scintillating debate that is question period. And so, Nycole Turmel stood up to demand to know why we haven’t recalled our ambassador from Syria yet, like all of these other countries have. Jason Kenney, in his role as back-up PM du jour, assured her that Canada has condemned the Assad regime and that we’ve evacuated most of our staff from the embassy. (Not actually the same thing, but I digress . . .) Turmel then turned to the topic of OAS, to which Kenney gave the usual talking points, and Jack Harris got up to ask about news of this directive that allows CSIS to use information obtained through torture. Vic Toews said that we don’t condone or employ torture and discount evidence obtained through it . . . but we can’t ignore it if lives or property are at stake. Bob Rae, acting like any MP should in QP, stood up and followed up on that answer – what exactly did Toews mean, and would he table the wording of that directive so that we can be clear? But Kenney stood up instead and gave the blanket reassurance that Toews gave moments before. Rae then turned to the topic of OAS; he referred to Diane Finley’s answer from yesterday and surmised that she was “in her mid-50s” (she’s 54, for the record), but he was immediately subjected to actual finger wagging from the Conservative benches for daring to refer to a woman’s age. Eventually, he got to his point – that the new Conservative pension scheme is “Warning 55, Freedom 95.” Kenney reminded him that our population is aging.

Round two opened up with Irene Mathyssen giving her best recitation of outrage from behind her script, while she bemoaned the closure of Electro-Motive Diesel and wondered about the pensions of those employees laid off (Paradis: That’s Ontario’s jurisdiction); Peter Julian demanded a jobs plan (Flaherty: You voted against it); Françoise Boivin gave a bunch of erroneous facts when she asked about the presumed attempt to reopen the abortion debate (We don’t actually have legislation that guarantees a woman’s right to choose in this country, because we have no laws on abortion period; also, a prime minister cannot dictate private members’ business, and if he could, we would have much bigger problems; Nicholson, for the record, reiterated that they’re not reopening the debate). Libby Davies and Anne Minh-Thu Quach then asked about the news that the health minister killed attempts to ban trans fats (Aglukkaq: We’re working with stakeholders). Gerry Byrne asked about a questionable patronage appointment to ACOA (Valcourt: The Public Service Commission is investigating), and Marc Garneau asked about Peter MacKay’s excuse that his helicopter ride was a last-minute affair when emails show the event was planned two weeks in advance (MacKay: I used government resources for government business). Christine Moore and Matthew Kellway then asked about the news that Julian Fantino used a military helicopter to go from Ottawa to Petawawa (MacKay: Government assets for government business) and about news that the UK is delaying their own F-35 purchase (Fantino: You don’t support the men and women in uniform! Moore would later tell Fantino that she did indeed serve in the Forces).

Round three saw questions on Attawapiskat; the search-and-rescue centre closing in Quebec; the lack of search-and-rescue response times for a Labrador teen who died; funding for First Nations schools; the government’s approach to federalism (James Moore: We totally consulted with the provinces on the copyright bill!); some generic Toronto questions for the benefit of the upcoming by-election (Flaherty: “What’s not to love about Rob Ford? He’s 300 pounds of fun – self-described!”); the health minister ignoring advice, whether it’s on trans fats, sodium or energy drinks (Aglukkaq – look at all our initiatives!); federal assistance for a particular Quebec housing crisis; the deportation of a woman with a mental health disorder; and the victims-of-crime ombudsman’s report.

Sartorially speaking, snaps go out to Judy Foote for her fitted black dress and tailored jacket, and to Blake Richards for a charcoal suit with a crisp white shirt, paired with a violet tie and pocket square. Style citations go out to Sadia Groguhé for an awful white jacket with a black and gold floral pattern, and to Jasbir Sandhu for joining the fluorescent blue shirt/grey suit brigade. Dishonourable mention to Bal Gosal for his black suit and lemon-yellow shirt.

NDP MP Randall Garrison has been kept busy lately with the issue of air screening regulations and trans Canadians, but it’s just one thing on a busy agenda going forward. I caught up with Garrison after question period yesterday.

Q: What did you get up to over the break?

A: I took some personal time with my partner, came back from that right into the same-sex divorce controversy.

Q: So you kept busy, then?

A: Exactly.

Q: What’s on your plate for the winter/spring sitting?

A: We’ll eventually get to the private member’s bill on gender identity and gender expression, which has really been highlighted by the controversy this week over the ID, which I simply don’t get. If the picture matches the ID, why do we have to discuss gender at the airport gate – I don’t think that’s necessary at all. So that’ll be coming up. We’ll also be doing some work on the same-sex divorce issue, because the government said it would fix this, but I have no faith they’ll do it anytime soon. Those are really the two big things that are coming forward.

Q: In terms of committee business, is there anything that’ll keep you busy there?

A: They continue to send all kinds of things to the public safety committee. We heard this morning they may be sending lawful access to our committee. We’re still waiting for the refugee detention bill, and I can’t imagine what else. But they keep us busy there.