The "sunny ways" of the new Parliament's opening Question Period resembled an excited first day of school rather than the promised magical era of postpartisanship. The new Liberal government's MPs showed themselves to be as well-trained in the art of applause-on-command as their Conservative predecessors. They responded to their front bench's delivery of canned talking points with standing ovation after standing ovation, as if the speaker had just hit a grand slam, or discovered the theory of relativity. One minister even gave a high-five to the cabinet minister behind her, after the latter succeeded in reciting her lines. And when the new Minister of Immigration, John McCallum, was asked the same questions about Syrian refugee statistics that he had been putting to his Conservative predecessor just a few weeks ago, he answered with a familiar non-answer.

Role reversals were to be expected. Quite a few Conservative MPs, including Rona Ambrose, the interim leader, chided the government for doing too little to help President Barack Obama in the struggle against Islamic State, almost as if the Tories had metamorphosed into Canada's Liberal Democrats, Keystone XL pipeline grievances having been forgotten.

One clear government statement came from Maryam Monsef, the Minister of Democratic Institutions. Asked whether Canadians would get a referendum on the government's promise to scrap Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system, she seemed to say: No. Perhaps that is because, in provinces where voters were asked whether to scrap first-past-the-post, they said: No.

Story continues below advertisement

It likely means the Trudeau government is leaning towards introducing a system known as preferential ballot – which coincidentally just happens to favour middle-of-the-road parties, i.e., the Liberals. Sunny days assured.

Bill Morneau, the Minister of Finance, who has never been an MP before, looked comfortable. He did not read from his notes, unlike the large majority of MPs who spoke in this Question Period. Then again, Mr. Morneau may have been so confident because he was not saying much that he hasn't already said, repeatedly. He graciously responded to Lisa Raitt, the Conservative finance critic, after she amiably predicted that the two of them would have "fun." They will. Will Canadians?