Those troublesome terms of reference for Justice Iacobucci were the talk of the Hill, and Bob Rae kicked off Question Period by asking after them. (Michael Ignatieff is not on the Hill this week – he’s off consulting with Canadians). John Baird was the designated spokesminister for the government and gave the usual platitudes about just how great Iacobucci is. Ujjal Dosanjh followed up, pointing out that Iacobucci is now just another lawyer hired by a government, rather than being given the mandate to conduct a full public inquiry. The Bloc’s Claude Bachand and the NDP’s Jack Harris also asked after this issue later in QP.

(Incidentally, the CBC’s Kady O’Malley takes a deeper look into Justice Iacobucci’s terms of reference and finds even more hidden Orwellian goodies inside.)

Gilles Duceppe was busy pointing out that the government used to be in favour of deregulating the banks, while Lawrence Cannon talked up how great the budget was. Jack Layton asked about job figures in the manufacturing sector, while John Baird responded by… talking up how great the budget was – and ooh, they’re “focused like a laser.” Well, then. I’m really confident now.

The Liberals’ Kirsty Duncan asked after food safety, the Bloc’s Serge Ménard asked after tough-on-crime sentences and that ignored research (Rob Nicholson changed the topic by accusing the Bloc of supporting child trafficking). Anita Neville quoted air transportation safety regulations that Helena Guergis broke during her Charlottetown meltdown, along with the number of prominent Conservatives denouncing her. John Baird reiterated that her “sincere apology” should be enough. John McCallum implored the government to tell the truth, that they are indeed raising taxes on things like air travel, income trusts and EI premiums – to which Ted Menzies claimed it was the Liberals who would raise taxes.

Roger Cuzner asked after the cuts made to internet access to those who don’t have regular access. Gary Goodyear said the Liberals tried to shut it down first, and that 80 percent of Canadians have internet at home – which isn’t the point. Considering the sheer volume of services moving online these days, this should be a warning sign about cutting off access to necessary services for these people.

Sartorial snaps go out to Martha Hall Findlay for her fitted black dress with the scoop neck and the fabric gathers. I was impressed. I also liked Lisa Raitt’s blue-collared shirt under a black leather jacket. On the style citation side, Brian Jean needs a haircut. Badly. Dear James Moore: take your jackets to a tailor. You are not wearing a sack. Thanks!

The Green Party is raising the issue of newspaper ownership in Canada, with the sale of the CanWest chain in the offing and the apparent rejection of the creditors to allow the breakup of the empire. The Greens are pointing out the demise of the local newspaper in this country and its deleterious effect on democracy – and they’re right. At least one party is recognizing this fact. (Meanwhile, it sounds like free news content online is dead for mainstream outlets. It will be interesting to see how the industry continues to evolve).

Up today – Michael Ignatieff continues his town-hall tour, this time talking Aboriginal issues in Winnipeg.

Former Supreme Court Justice Frank Iacobucci has been given his terms of reference by the government for his review of those Afghan detainee documents, and the opposition is unimpressed. Released by the government on a Saturday – a sure sign they’re looking to keep the story buried on the weekend pages – the terms don’t have any timeline, but here’s the interesting part: the position is described as Iacobucci being asked “to hold office during pleasure and to advise the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada.” In other words, he has no autonomy from the minister  to provide actual independent advice. He can be sacked if it’s the minister’s pleasure, or for saying something they don’t like. As one rather knowledgeable friend said – they’ve just hired another lawyer to vet the documents. Ah, but a lawyer whose reputation is above reproach, so the government can deflect any criticism behind said reputation. It’s sick and it’s distressing, and I think this should be the straw that breaks that camel’s back. Derek Lee should file that contempt of Parliament motion after this egregious attempt to thwart the will of the House on the back of a former Supreme Court Justice.

On the topic of our illustrious minister of justice, more evidence that he’s ignoring all kinds of taxpayer-funded research that shows that his approach to being “tough on crime” – that being mandatory minimum sentences – is ineffective and counter-productive, and results in more plea bargains like the kind that Rahim Jaffer took to the country’s great outrage last week. Not that Nicholson wants you to hear that kind of talk because it shows just how very, very wrong he is in his current agenda.

Remember the Harper government’s plan to tackle maternal and child health around the world? It seems that their own performance on tackling it in Canada isn’t all that great. As it turns out, they haven’t been properly funding some of the programs domestically, or they’re not actually spending the budgeted dollars if they are funnelling them towards those projects. And now we’re supposed to believe they’ll be the great saviours abroad?

And if you’ve been paying attention during Question Period the past few days, you’ll have heard questions being asked about the funding for the Canadian Foundation for Climate Change and Atmospheric Sciences drying up. As it turns out, the loss of that foundation will not only have global repercussions, it’ll signal a loss of science expertise in this country as these scientists find greener pastures in other countries.  But not only that, and no matter how many times Jim Prentice tells us that he’s committed to this science, it’s just more doublespeak from this government. They keep saying that the “science isn’t settled” on climate change – and yet rather than funding more science, they’ll defund it so that it will remain unsettled. Yes, I know that’s the whole point, but it’s a really underhanded thing to do – and we should be calling them out on it.

If you didn’t hear, Stephen Harper’s latest Web 2.0 attempt to bypass the national media (thus further controlling his message) was to live stream his response to the Throne Speech on YouTube. And while I doubt he got any additional viewers to watch him drape himself in the flag once again, and that hey, CPAC and ParlVu has been streaming online for years already, it’s not like this isn’t fraught with any additional challenges. Like the fact that hey, the Google arranged this with them, not the other parties, and oh look – they’re registered to lobby the PMO already. And oh, look – Kady O’Malley, a member of the national media, is on the case.

Members’ Statements yesterday was dominated by remembrances of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and a moment of silence followed the statements before Question Period began.

When the moment was over, Michael Ignatieff started off by asking for a full public inquiry on the Afghan detainee issue, and assured that recent revelations were no matter, and that he wasn’t afraid to go all the way back to 2001 if need be. Harper simply accused him of impugning the conduct of public servants in this whole affair. Dominic LeBlanc again followed up on the Iacobucci matter – why were there no terms of reference yet? He also repeated the call to take the inquiry back to 2001. Rob Nicholson claimed the opposition implied the government was responsible for document releases, when it’s all the civil service’s fault.

Gilles Duceppe asked about the 22 percent increase in the PMO’s budget for 2010 in an era of government austerity. Harper assured him that it was for PCO’s budget, not PMO’s, and that it was to help coordinate the G7 and G20 meetings (though I believe it’s actually the G8 they’re hosting and not the G7). The Bloc’s Pierre Paquette followed up by asking about ministerial responsibility, and specifically, whatever happened to it? Rona Ambrose assured him they were looking into those suspicious contracts at Public Works. Later during Question Period, Martha Hall Findlay asked a similar question about responsibility, and Ambrose did the usual government tactic of blaming the civil servants, and assuring the House that a third party was being brought in to review the situation.

Jack Layton asked why the government wasn’t standing up against foreign takeovers, and why he was trying to sell out our telecoms companies. Harper touted the acquisitions made by Canadian companies abroad, and pretty much called Layton a dirty socialist. Marlene Jennings asked about the Rahim Jaffer and Helena Guergis affairs, referring to them as “Bonnie & Clyde,” not that she got an answer.

The Bloc’s newest wunderkind Daniel Paillé asked about the Parliamentary Budget Officer’s new numbers, which showed that Flaherty’s deficit reduction plan would be a failure. Flaherty retorted that the PBO has been wrong before and that he’s wrong now. Err, except that in the reality the rest of us live in, it’s been Page who’s been right pretty much every time, and Flaherty who’s been wrong every time.

Marc Garneau inquired as to the de-funding of Canadian Foundation for Climate Change, and Jim Prentice assured him that we’re doing all kinds of work on climate change, and that they’ve extended the mandate of the Foundation an additional year. (But what about the funding?) And near the end, Denis Coderre asked about those CIDA funds for Haiti that aren’t being spent. Bev Oda said that $85 million spent was immediately, and that they assisted charities. Apparently they are now confirming contributions for the matching funds programme, which will go to recovery and reconstruction efforts.

On the sartorial front, both Hedy Fry and Paule Brunelle were rocking similar shades – Fry with a black top and skirt with park pink trimming along it and a flower at the scoop-neck. Brunelle on the other hand had a black jacket with a collared shirt beneath of that similar pink shade. Colour with black can be tricky, but I really think Brunelle pulled it off quite well. Jack Layton was going against type with a powder blue shirt and a blue tie. And the Megan Leslie outfit watch reports a grey jacket and top with pearls. Nearly there – the jacket had those puffy shoulders from bygone years, but it is still a vast improvement over some of her worse offences.

Michael Ignatieff kicked off Question Period by asking about the terms of reference for Justice Iacobucci, while he looks over those Afghan detainee documents. Harper assured him that Iacobucci would report back in due time. The Liberals’ public safety critic, Mark Holland, reminded the government that they ignored Iacobucci’s previous report, on those Arab-Canadians who were rendered to Syria by the Americans to be tortured. Rob Nicholson assured us of Justice Iacobucci’s good name.

Gilles Duceppe wanted to know about those exorbitant Profac contracts (Rona Ambrose says she's looking into it herself), and Jack Layton asked after the revelations made on CBC radio about the former government official that confirms that “everbody” knew torture was going on in Afghanistan. The Liberals continued asking about the detainee issues – and for the terms of reference for Justice Iacobucci – while both Anita Neville and Wayne Easter started asking why Helena Guergis still had a job after her big tantrum in the Charlottetown airport. According to John Baird, her “sincere apology” should be enough for the Opposition.

Sartorially speaking, Bev Oda did well with her lilac jacket over a black top and pearls, with a black patterned scarf draped over her left shoulder. Diane Ablonczy looked good in orange – unlike her previous misadventure in mustard. Leona Aglukkaq was wearing an interesting maroon jacket that was trimmed with what I believe was seal fur. I was almost keen on Bonnie Crombie’s red velvet jacket – until I saw a bow tied on the red dress beneath, and it ruined the whole effect for me. And the Megan Leslie outfit watch reports a flirtation with a retro style, with the tied scarf over the white collared shirt and three-quarter sleeves. The brownish skirt and fuchsia belt were flirting with the colour well enough, but the sparkling dark bronze shoes put me over the edge. Once again, not quite there, but valiant effort. At least there were no inappropriately coloured tights in the picture.

The budget passed yesterday – because of a bout of rather convenient “diplomatic flu” in the Liberal benches.

Her Excellency completed her visit to the Dominican Republic.

All that money raised by the government for relief in Haiti? Turns out they haven’t spent a penny. I expect this will turn up in Question Period tomorrow.

If you’re looking for a little more about Senator Nancy Ruth and her fight to restore the gender-neutral anthem, the Toronto Star has a lovely piece here.

And finally, Scott Brison has an op-ed in Embassy about energy, the environment and the economy – one of his own particular pet causes – and how we need to act if we want to avoid carbon tariffs that are no doubt on the way. It’s behind a paywall here, but if you’re on Facebook, it’s on Brison’s page here.

Outside the House of Commons, a group of Girl Guides were handing out cookies in the foyer, no doubt there to mark the 100th anniversary of the Guides in Canada. Inside, Liberal MP Glenn Pearson touched off the first of several tributes to the OPP officer who was killed in the line of duty.

And when Question Period arrived, Michael Ignatieff started off with the Afghan detainee damage control strategy documents the CBC revealed on Monday. And Harper downplayed the documents saying they helped lead to an enhanced detainee transfer agreement. Dominic LeBlanc picked up that torch, and Rob Nicholson trotted out the line about “legally available documents” and said Justice Iacobucci would take care of everything, so trust them. Gilles Duceppe wanted to talk about national securities regulators, but Layton quickly brought it back to the detainees. And so did Judy Foote and Ujjal Dosanjh. When Rob Nicholson moaned that nothing would satisfy Dosanjh, the opposition benches shouted – in near-perfect unison – “the truth!”

In the event you missed it, former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer got a $500 fine in exchange for having his cocaine possession charges dropped. This made it into Question Period when Liberal Anita Neville brought it up – how does a “tough on crime” government respond to this admittedly light sentence – to much howling from the government benches. Rob Nicholson called it an “irresponsible” question, later clarifying that it was irresponsible because it was during the appeal period. Nevertheless – Conservatives were not happy to hear about it. (Meanwhile, sensible people are looking at this as proof of why the government should drop its obsession with mandatory minimum sentences).

I’m going to hold off on handing out any sartorial snaps and cut right to the style citations instead. Diane Ablonczy? The mustard turtleneck doesn’t work for your body type aside from the fact that it’s an awful colour on you. Diane Finley? That WTF black jacket with the white trim – the too-short, too high-waisted, three-quarter-sleeve mess  - needs to have the scissors taken to it. Stockwell Day? The teal blue shirt does not go with a chocolate brown suit and tie. Jeff Watson was being a total rebel – possibly in violation of House rules, as he wore a black suit jacket over a white shirt and dark-grey v-necked sweater vest – and no tie! *gasp!* Meanwhile, the Megan Leslie outfit watch reports its optimism dashed. At first glance – a flatteringly cut mauve top under a chocolate jacket with a pink flower on the lapel – and I approved. But then she stood up, and the pleated grey skirt worried me. And then she moved away from her desk and revealed the lighter mauve tights and dark mauve shoes. The shoes were funky and cool – but those tights were a bit too samey-samey with the similar colours and were overdone. Nice effort, nothing overtly clashing – but still work to be done.

The Harper government survived its first budget votes with the NDP and Bloc sub-amendments to the budget both failing. The main vote is yet to come.

Minister of State for the Status of Women Helena Guergis isn’t standing by the plans to make the national anthem more gender neutral. And in the event you missed it, my interview with Senator Nancy Ruth – one of the plan’s prime boosters – is here.

Remember that mention in the Throne Speech on improved measures to help single-parent families? Looks like it’ll be more headache and harm than good. But there couldn’t possibly be anything ideological behind that little sneak attack now, could there?

And down the hall in the Senate, the Conservatives turned down the opportunity to control the legal and constitutional affairs committee – though they have taken over the national security and defence committee. Senator Joan Fraser continues to chair the legal committee – which is good news, because she’s quite awesome and smacks down the justice minister but good – but I am largely convinced they didn’t take over that committee for the sole purpose of keeping a Senate scapegoat in their partisan pockets.

Up today – after an emotional visit to her ancestral home in Jacmel, Haiti, Her Excellency is making a state visit to the neighbouring Dominican Republic.

And oh, look – the CBC found yet another document which shows the government focusing on its political messaging rather than dealing with the detainee issue as an issue. Guess what’ll be first up in Question Period tomorrow?