It was important to get it right. The tone has been set.

And we’re not so sure Canadians are impressed.

On Monday MPs were back in Ottawa for their first sitting in the House of Commons since Christmas break.

We wrote in this space on Monday that “what happens in the next few months will frame the debate leading into the October election.”

The two big topics? The economy and terror.

Then shortly before question period got underway, the country learned that Canadian Forces had engaged in two more firefights with the Islamic State.

That’s in addition to the exchange of gunfire we learned about in last week’s briefing.

So this gave opposition leader Tom Mulcair material as he came storming out of the gates, arguing that the government had misled Canadians and put soldiers in harm’s way.

Trudeau managed to dodge talking about terror at first. Typical. But then he did address it, echoing Mulcair’s criticisms of the Conservatives.

Mulcair is certainly right that things have changed from what we expected. Call it “mission creep.” Call it what you want.

The government had firmly stated in October that Canadian Forces were going to Iraq in an advisory and non-combat role.

But that was mid-October. Then we had two terror attacks in one week. There have since been various calls to attack Canada – including one issued by the supposed caliph just the other day.

In other words, the situation is now different. It hit us at home. The Islamic State has Canada in its crosshairs.

The opposition parties should by all means hold the government to account. But the public will drop them in a heartbeat if they go too far and lose perspective.

After all, recent polling tells us Canadians want the Islamic State threat beaten back.

An Ipsos Reid poll conducted in mid-December found that 73% of Canadians either strongly or somewhat agree that “everything possible” needs to be done to contain the Islamic State, including sending Canadian ground troops.

It was even that high in Quebec. And only 7% of Canadians strongly disagree with going after ISIS.

In other words: paging the opposition! Time to pay attention to what Canadians actually think!