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Justin Trudeau was sworn in as prime minister on November 4, with vows of sweeping change and country-wide renewal. But after half a year in office, how well are the opposition parties operating under a Liberal government? We rate the performance of the new government and the new parliament after their first six months.

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Being relegated from government to Official Opposition is never fun, but the Conservatives still hold nearly 100 seats and have found their feet quickly since Trudeau took office six months ago.

Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose has been a strong performer and breath of fresh air for the Tories, adopting a firm — but less combative — tone than former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Ambrose has largely focused her party’s attention on tax breaks eliminated by the Liberals, eroding federal finances, a sluggish economy, and defence/security.

The Tories have assailed the Liberals for breaking a key promise to cap deficits at $10 billion a year (the government is projecting nearly $30 billion of red ink in 2016-17), and for stepping back from their commitment to balance the books this term (the government is now forecasting deficits until at least 2020-21).