Thursday December 5, 2019 ~ NATIONAL
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
The Throne Speech to set in motion the 43rd Parliament of Canada was delivered today in the Senate by Governor General Julie Payette. Composed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to launch his Liberal minority government, the contents contained virtually no surprises.
Delivery of the speech began at 2:40 pm Eastern (11:40 am Pacific) and was livestreamed as well as televised.
The script stuck to the progressive agenda that was heard loud and clear during the election campaign in September and October. Winning less than the required 170 seats to form a majority, Trudeau and the Liberals are pretty much forced into a scenario of moving along one step at a time by gaining support from appropriate opposition parties which will likely support each piece of legislation that suits their own political goals.
The speech was more detailed with regard to progress made during the 2015-2019 Liberal majority government in the area of serving and improving conditions for indigenous peoples. “The government promised a new relationship with indigenous people and there has been progress over the past four years,” said Payette as she delivered the speech. The details on that included elimination of 87 long-time drinking water advisories, equity in funding for K-12 education, improving scenarios for the use of indigenous languages, and fulfilling on carrying out an inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
The government will take steps to better address gender based violence in Canada, with a national action plan, it was stated.
For strengthening health care the government says it will work with provinces and health professionals and experts in industry and academics for better delivery of primary care. There was a statement of intention for achieving mental health standards in the workplace. The Throne Speech also included a commitment to making it easier to get help around opioid use and substance abuse, saying there has been “widespread harm” and that more will be done
The long-awaited movement forward on committing to the coverage or reduction of of drug costs in Canada was delivered: “Pharmacare is the key missing piece of universal health care,” it was stated in the speech. There will be “steps to institute national Pharmacare”. It was stated that “when people fall sick they suffer twice” both with the illness itself and the financial hardship due to cost of medication.
The speech included a reminder that more than $10 billion has been committed to helping veterans, and that the Liberal minority government “will build on that” including improving mental health care supports and that “every homeless veteran has a place to call home”.
On the economic component, the speech mentioned about improving conditions for Canadian commerce, fostering and supporting ingenuity and enterprise, and building partnership with like minded companies. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) will be embraced in the economy and job market going forward. Infrastructure projects will be supported as effectively as possible.
A very specific promise was made that cell phone bills would be reduced by 25 percent, which distinctly addresses one of the NDP campaign planks about cell phones — considered pretty much essential for most Canadians to stay connected in the modern world — being at too high a cost for Canadians.
It was a speech ‘for everyone’ in that all the opposition parties will find some aspect that they can get behind. This approach will not only very likely improve a few things for Canadians who are struggling economically in the many ways covered in the speech (cost of living for families, housing, support with the cost of post-secondary graduate debt, steps toward Pharmacare) but will also help produce some longevity for the minority government that will need support from another party on every piece of legislation.
The new Speaker of the House is northern Ontario Liberal MP Anthony Rota (Nipissing-Timiskaming), elected today ahead of the 28-minute Throne Speech. The Conservatives played the first whack of partisan politics by reportedly throwing their vote to Rota who served under the previous speaker Geoff Regan who still wanted the job. All MPs voted for the Speaker, casting preferential ballots to select a speaker from five candidates (indicating first, second and subsequent choices).
The speech did not back away on levying a price on pollution (i.e. the carbon tax). Afterward, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said that tomorrow (first full day in the House of Commons) he will propose an amendment to the Throne Speech. Scheer said there were “things Trudeau didn’t hear” that Canadians were saying. He specified that “billions of dollars have been invested in other countries” by the oil sector industry, as a way of saying that Trudeau was not supporting Alberta or the west on resource development. However, the pipeline that the Liberal government purchased for $4.7 billion is the pipeline that will allow the prairie oil producers to get their product to market. Construction of the pipeline has been moving along, pending completion of a few aspects with indigenous applications in court.