Parliament’s opening debate sees sparks fly between Liberals, Conservatives

OTTAWA – The promised new era of civility in Parliament is sounding a lot like a rehash of the federal election campaign.

Rona Ambrose, the Conservatives' interim leader, has offered a scathing critique of the new Liberal government's throne speech, which was a recap of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's election promises.

She says the Liberal plan is a recipe for big, intrusive government that thinks it knows best how to spend Canadians' money.

But Treasury Board president Scott Brison questions how Ambrose can make such an accusation when, by his measure, she was part of a Conservative government that was one of the biggest and most wasteful in history.

Brison says the Tories added $150 billion to the national debt.

The exchange prompted Ambrose to observe that Trudeau's promise to bring his sunny ways to Parliament lasted about 25 minutes.