The speech first noted some of the Liberals' key campaign promises, such as delivering a middle-class tax cut and a new child benefit. The promise to raise taxes on those earning $200,000 a year was omitted. The Liberals promised to pursue a fiscal plan that is "responsible, transparent and suited to the challenging economic times" -- and made no mention of the $10-billion deficits they had said they would run in the first two years of their government, opening the door to much larger deficits and possibly not fulfilling their promise to balance the books in time for the 2019 election.
The government will not resort to prorogation and omnibus bills to avoid scrutiny.
Most of what the Governor General David Johnston read -- from a promise to reform the electoral system and end partisan government advertising to investing in a leaner, more agile and better-equipped military, to working to get handguns and assault weapons off the street, as well as regulating and restricting marijuana, to rebuilding the relationship with indigenous people by, in part, launching an inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls -- had all been campaign commitments.
CBC poll :
Are tax cuts for the middle class a top priority for you?
Yes = 34%
No = 28%
I don't know = 38%
There were some curious omissions.
Throne speech makes no mention of...
1. Doctor-assisted dying
2. Withdrawing Canadian fighter jets
3. Repealing Bill C-51 provisions
4. Restoring door-to-door mail
5. Reversing OAS eligibility to 65
6. TPP
7. Pledge to stop bombing missions against ISIS in Iraq and to focus instead on training missions.
Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose said the Liberals' throne speech set Canada on a path to higher deficits and debt, and ignored Canadian farmers and the threat posed by the Islamic State. There was no mention of rural Canada in the speech.
There were also two areas where the speech's wording was more diluted than the Liberals' platform :
>> The federal government would work "toward putting a price on carbon" rather than simply saying it would "put a price on carbon" as promised during the election.
>> The government would work "co-operatively to implement" the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The party's election platform promised to enact all 94 recommendations. These two promises will be big challenges to keep.
While the speech was short on substance, the Liberals have -- in an unprecedented and praiseworthy move -- released all the mandate letters given to Trudeau's cabinet ministers. The letters, which are quite detailed about the ministers' priorities, are a restatement of the platform commitments.
Jason Kenney's "modest proposal" for reform : banning members from clapping in the House of Commons.
"Thoughtful debate does not need constant standing ovations," he wrote on Twitter.
Geoff Regan, the newly elected Speaker of the House of Commons, told MPs, "I will not tolerate heckling," Regan said shortly after winning the coveted post. "We don't need it. We will not tolerate unparliamentary conduct."
The remark immediately sparked some jeers and, well, heckles.
"Thoughtful debate does not need constant standing ovations," he wrote on Twitter.
Geoff Regan, the newly elected Speaker of the House of Commons, told MPs, "I will not tolerate heckling," Regan said shortly after winning the coveted post. "We don't need it. We will not tolerate unparliamentary conduct."
The remark immediately sparked some jeers and, well, heckles.
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