Stephen Taylor

It seems that Stephen Harper is treating the 39th session of Parliament more like a multi-partite congregation than his predecessor ever did.

Today, with a conciliatory gesture, the PMO announced that there will be a Take Note debate on Afghanistan on April 10th. Both the Liberal Party and NDP have been asking to ‘discuss’ the current Canadian mission in Afghanistan.

Contrast the attitude of the current minority government with that held by Paul Martin’s. It seems that Harper is reaching out constructively (as he did with the NDP in pre-throne speech consultations) rather than manipulating Parliamentary procedure and opposition days while making unprincipled budget re-writes in order to extend the slow death of a Gomery-damned government.

Of course, we may yet see some creative Parliamentary acrobatics, yet Stephen Harper’s olive branch to those who’d like to discuss the mission is certainly showing good faith.

I’ve learned that Rob Nicholson, the Conservative House leader initiated discussions with the other House leaders on setting up the take note debate.

There will not be a vote on the Canadian mission. The debate will allow Canadians to evaluate the opinions and statements of their Parliamentarians on the issue of Afghanistan. For example, former NDP leader Alexa McDonough supports the mission adamantly. However, there is a minority yet significant number of Canadians that do not support the mission in Afghanistan. It will be interesting to see which MPs take up this position and how they do so.

The Conservative Party is certainly supportive of our men and women in uniform and the Liberal Party, even in its new opposition role, should support the mission since it was their government which sent Canadians to secure that troubled country.

From what I understand, a vote will only occur on new mission instead of ongoing deployments. This take note debate allows a discussion and the results will hopefully preserve the morale of our soldiers. Will the mere debating (or rather ‘discussion’) of the mission phase our troops?

I hope not. They should know that there are certainly many of us in Canada that support what they do.

UPDATE: BBS calls Jack Layton on his record. It’s quite shameful when you realize that Harper’s extension of the olive branch to the NDP may be more about Jack’s partisan hackery than a need to inform Canadians about the mission.

The Liberals seem to be in automatic opposition mode and conforming with Jack Layton’s earlier constructive language, the NDP appears supportive of the Throne Speech.

NDP priorities included in Throne Speech

(remember, they also claim that they wrote last year’s budget and “invented ‘free’ healthcare”)

NDP Leader Jack Layton says that while he’s encouraged that priority NDP issues like public health care, the creation of child care spaces, electoral reform, and the environment were included in today’s Speech from the Throne, indicating the Conservative government’s willingness to listen to the opposition, he’ll wait to see how committed the new government is to action.

…

If Mr. Harper is serious about making this Parliament work, we will be open to working with him. Canadians want this Parliament to be productive and the NDP’s listening, but we will not move backwards on the progressive values we were elected to represent.

Who’s questioning whether or not Harper wants this Parliament to work? What are the odds that Harper wants to orchestrate his own defeat on his first Throne Speech? Please.

Otherwise, it looks good. The NDP appears to be onside already.

With the NDP and Independent André Arthur, the Conservatives have a majority of votes needed to pass the speech.

It appears that the Conservatives have some backup in Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc as well…

C’est un discours du Trône élaboré clairement dans le but d’éviter la controverse que nous a livré aujourd’hui le premier ministre Stephen Harper. Il s’agit d’un discours sans surprise et sans aspérité, n’apportant pas davantage de précisions ou d’échéanciers sur les intentions du gouvernement conservateur quant à la mise en oeuvre de ses priorités

(It’s a Throne Speech that set out clearly in the goal of avoiding controversy that Stephen Harper delivered to us today. It is a speech without surprises and without asperity, it doesn’t bring the advantage of neither details nor timelines for the implementation of the priorities of the Conservative government.)

The throne speech hasn’t obviously hasn’t upset the Bloc.

The Liberals are in automatic opposition mode:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today laid out his Conservative government’s limited agenda for the 39th Parliament, reiterating the Conservatives’ five top priorities from the campaign and adding two new priorities: federalism and international obligations. Despite these additions, Harper’s speech ignored many key national issues and failed to present a comprehensive national vision for the future of Canada. Harper’s speech ignored many key national issues and failed to present a comprehensive national vision for the future of Canada.

One of the key Liberal talking points is that this PM is only focusing on five priorities. During the election campaign, Conservative researches sent out a press release outlining 56 items that Paul Martin had either declared his #1 priority or a priority that he deemed very, very important. Canadians elected Stephen Harper and his five point plan. The throne speech outlined it again today.

In the Liberal release today, the environmental failings of this 2 month-old government was criticized:

Reneging on Canada’s Kyoto commitments to deal with climate change and the environmental degradation to Canada’s air, land and waters;

Scott Brison is the Liberal critic on the environment. Mr. Brison opposed the Kyoto protocol.

From a variety of sources, I’ve pieced together a few themes about today’s speech from the throne which is set to occur in just under an hour.

I’ve learned that the speech will be very short, just about 30 minutes in length. The Conservative government wants to emphasize a very focused vision for Canada. This seems to contrast with what people often criticized in Paul Martin’s leadership.

The speech will be about ‘turning a new leaf’ which indicates this government’s desire to bring change.

The GG will outline the Conservative vision for Canada which will focus on ordinary ‘working Canadians’. The speech will also introduce the new government to Canadians.

Of course, the main content of the speech will focus on Harper’s five priorities:

• Bringing accountability back to Ottawa
• Helping ordinary Canadians and their families
• Tackling crime
• Providing child care choice and support
• Ensuring Canadians get the health care they have paid for

The throne speech will also have a special nod to Quebec emphasizing that the government will deliver on promises made during the election campaign in that province.

The speech will not outline a big hand-waving emphatic vision for Canada, it will instead indicate to Canadians that the governement is ready to ‘get down to business’ and start working hard for Canadians.

UPDATE: The throne speech may include an apology for the Chinese Head Tax.

UPDATE (now after the speech): David Akin has a PDF of the speech.

UPDATE: It appears that the key Liberal response to the speech is that “it was too short”. I guess that’s how throne speeches go when you cut out all the “very very importants”. Remember, Paul Martin had 56 #1 priorities.