The caucus had given him their unconditional support at a meeting the previous morning, members of NDP internal staff had already been shuffling to make way for changes, and a private congratulatory phone call with Quebec Premiere Jean Charest, old buddy from Mr. Mulcair's provincial Liberal days, had set the stage.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was away on business in the Orient, so we still have the first head-to-head showdown between the two leaders to look forward to -- but the day still gave us a taste of what is to come.

Dear Mme. St-Denis,

You have done what I thought impossible: for the first time ever I agree with the NDP's call to have a floor-crosser step down!

I've never been partial to the notion that ordinary MPs needs to provoke an unnecessary by-election to be able to evolve their political ideals and policies. Canadian democracy is ill served by the orthodox obsession with partisan affiliation. I hope for floor crossings in all directions: by MPs, party members and staff. I did it myself, I can assure you it feels a lot better to be in a party more aligned with my ideals.

I can see how a newly unexpectedly elected NDP MP could have rapidly evolving points of view and even how they might want to jump ship. But that's not what you said today.

The Press Gallery Dinner took place this past Saturday and, apparently, the new practice at this event is to give out tongue-in-cheek awards.

In the bad old days the Governor General and political party leaders made speeches that were intended to be funny although they didn't always succeed.

At a Dinner in the 1980s, Ed Schreyer, then Governor General, was working his way through a plodding effort at comic rhetoric when someone started a call of "en français," which was followed by a round of bun throwing. The GG was not amused.

Michaëlle Jean, as GG, pulled off a speech that was actually credibly funny in parts and got good reviews from those in attendance.

Why did Stephen Harper's Conservatives refuse to allow Members of Parliament from the Bloc Quebecois and Green Party to pay tribute to Canada's war dead in the House of Commons?

On Nov. 2, Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney rose in the House of Commons to mark the start of Veterans Week, leading up to Remembrance Day. The Conservative MP for Lévis-Bellechasse gave a good speech in French and English that remarked on how Canada's two founding nations were once enemies on the Plains of Abraham and later "united to fight for the common cause of peace and freedom."

Andrew Scheer has been elected House of Commons Speaker. I met him in 2004, when we were federal candidates in adjacent Regina ridings. I was the no-shot NDP candidate against then-Finance Minister Ralph Goodale and he was the long-shot Conservative candidate against veteran NDP MP Lorne Nystrom.

At the end of that summer, we were both headed east. I drove a 1986 Ford Escort to Kingston to study at Queen's University. Andrew went to Ottawa to represent the good people of Regina-Qu'Appelle.

In a historic decision regarding the battle for access to documents on Afghan detainees, Speaker of the House Peter Milliken ruled in favour of the opposition, reaffirming the notion that Parliament reigns supreme over the powers of Prime Minister and the Federal Government.

"Before us are issues that question the very foundations upon which our parliamentary system is built," Milliken asserted. "In a system of responsible government, the fundamental right of the House of Commons to hold the government to account for its actions is an indisputable privilege and, in fact, obligation."