We all knew there would some days less sunny than others and yes it took a bit of a nasty turn in the Commons this week.

At the best of times the House of Commons is like a big daycare.

The stuff you don’t see on camera is often juvenile, sometimes petulant.

Yes, the Prime Minister should have played nicer, but the frustration of trying to get things done sometimes is overwhelming.

The opposition was being obstinate, refusing the take their seats, and yes the PM acted in a manner which was undignified.

The apologies were necessary. We do expect higher standards.

Compare our elbow scuffle to what happened in South Africa’s parliament this week.

There, the august Parliamentarians wouldn’t allow the country’s president to speak. Think we have problems?

Or how about in the Kenyan Parliament in 2014 where chaos reigned over the government’s bill to fight Islamist terrorism.

We are not seeing that on banks of the Rideau.

Or all hell breaking loose in the Ukraine Parliament where the Prime Minister was first given a bouquet of roses and then was dragged from his podium by an opposition member. The Ukrainian Parliament became Friday Night at the Fights.

So by these standards, I say, in the gentle true north we are doing pretty well.

And after all the apologies we move on; really much ado about nothing. No offence intended.

More corruption allegations

We hold out high hopes for the Quebec Liberals and high hopes for their re-election in two years.

While the PQ licks its PKP wounds and buries itself in a leadership contest the Liberals should be soaring

At the half way point they seem to take two steps back for every one step forward.

Now there is this nasty business of allegations of corruption in Transport Quebec.

L’Actualité magazine reports this week cost overruns were hidden and there was favouritism in the awarding of contracts.

Back to the future in Quebec.

The opposition is claiming the government dumped Minister Robert Poeti for trying to uncover and expose the goings on in the ministry.

The premier says this all undermines public confidence.

What it does Mr Premier is stink because after Charbonneau and after all the investigation and arrests and after the promises of new ways of doing things you wonder sometimes if anything has really changed? Or are palms still being greased?

Planning? Consequences? This is Montreal.

Can the people who plan road construction really be so incompetent?

This week the city closed down half of René Levesque for months.

At the same time it decided to go ahead with once again shutting down Ste. Catherine St. until September for its street festival.

Throw in the closures on the Ville Marie to build Denis Coderre’s anniversary park and work on St. Denis and Viger and De Maisonneuve and you have got paralysis in the centre of Montreal.

Add to this cocktail the strike by city engineers on worksites.

Right now a perfect storm is gathering and you really cannot get there from here. No kidding. You can’t.