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For years Liberal politicians hammered their Tory rivals for evading direct questions. In the House of Commons this week the shoe is on the other foot, and the new team is taking a beating.

In the Commons Tuesday, Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose led with an unspectacular question about the expansion of Toronto’s island airport, then shifted to attacking the government’s planned withdrawal of the Canadian military from combat in Iraq and Syria. Her colleagues followed with queries about TransCanada Pipelines Corp.’s controversial Energy East oil pipeline.

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New Democrat leader Thomas Mulcair weighed in with questions about the Human Rights tribunal finding that the government of Canada has discriminated against aboriginal children by underfunding welfare services on reserves.

The opposition sallies were competent, but a far cry from the days when Mulcair held forth as prosecutor-in-chief. The Conservatives are trying hard to be nice these days. Mulcair’s time at centre stage, as leader of the third party, is much reduced. In theory, this bright crop of Liberal ministers – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was absent from question period Tuesday — should have been able to send the Tories and Dippers packing. Instead, on file after file, they appeared evasive. Their goal seems to be to avoid getting pinned to a direct answer on any issue, at all costs.