Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau takes part in the National Day of    Honour Ceremony at the Metawa Armoury in Calgary, Alta, on May    9, 2014. HANDOUT/Justin Trudeau  
    Whos the hardest working federal opposition leader, Tom    Mulcair or Justin Trudeau?  
    The two are engaged in a pre-election skirmish over that    question, offering a glimpse of the pitched battle to come    between New Democrats and Liberals next year, when each leader    will attempt to persuade voters that he is more deserving than    the other to replace Prime Minister Stephen Harper.  
    And its no frivolous question. Its the same one late NDP    leader Jack Layton raised to devastating effect during the 2011    election campaign, helping to sink the Liberals and vault his    party into official Opposition status for the first time in    history.  
    During the televised English-language debate, Layton pointed    out that then Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff had missed 70    per cent of the votes in the House of Commons, the worst record    of any MP.  
    If you want to be prime minister, youd better learn how to be    a member of Parliament first, Layton admonished Ignatieff.    You know, most Canadians, if they dont show up for work, they    dont get a promotion.  
    Voters evidently agreed. They fired Ignatieff and demoted his    party, which was relegated to a third-place rump.  
    Since Trudeau took the helm a year ago, the Liberals have    bounced back into the lead in most opinion polls while    Mulcairs NDP has sunk back to its more traditional third-place    slot. Trudeau has accomplished that feat primarily by playing    to his strength  his ability to connect with people, who more    often than not, behave in his presence like gushing adolescent    groupies meeting a rock star.  
    Thats meant plenty of travel across the country. And thats    opened him up to the same charge of being an absentee MP that    finished off Ignatieff.  
    In an apparent attempt to head off a reprise of that unhappy    experience, the Liberal party this week sent out a fundraising    email which proclaimed The Real Hard Work (doesnt always    happen in Ottawa). It came on the heels of a Quebec television    network report revealing that Trudeau has shown up just 41 per    cent of the time for question period in the Commons so far this    year, slightly ahead of Harper but well behind Mulcairs 66 per    cent.  
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NDP, Liberals jostle over Trudeaus absences from House of Commons