Tory Throne Speech Vows To Cut Crime And Taxes, But Will It Force An Election?

Listening to the Throne Speech can be like watching a fuse burn on a firecracker. The first part is boring as you wait for the bang. But the explosion that follows is usually worth it. And so it was that the Tories brought down the long awaited preview of their agenda for the country on Tuesday night.

And while there’s no so-called ‘poison pill’ that will definitely trigger an instant election, there are a number of contentious issues that might make the Liberals think twice about pulling the plug on Stephen Harper’s precarious minority government.

Among them:

Afghanistan. The Conservatives are proposing allowing a vote on whether our troops should stay in the country beyond 2009, noting the objectives won’t be reached by then. “This will not be completed by February 2009,” the speech avers. “But our government believes this objective should be achievable by 2011.” A two-year extension is bound to anger the opposition, especially the NDP. More than 70 soldiers have died fighting the Taliban since Canada first arrived in 2002.
 
Money for cities. While taxpayers will get another one per cent cut in the GST, there’s no direct share for cities, an omission sure to raise David Miller’s ire and mayors of municipalities across the country. The Tories are, however, promising a fiscal update about infrastructure that might give places like Toronto some hope.

The Environment. Any commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, which the Liberals and leader Stephane Dion so publicly supported, is being completely abandoned as unattainable. “It is now widely understood that, because of inaction on greenhouse gases over the last decade, Canada’s emissions cannot be brought to the level required under the Kyoto Protocol within the compliance period which begins … just 77 days from now,” the speech contends. But there is a renewed commitment to clearing up our polluted waterways, and there are some provisions to fight climate change.

The Senate. Future  appointees may become disappointees. The Tories feel the Senate isn’t serving Canada well and are proposing term limits and some form of consultations on who can be named to the upper chamber – which has often been used for patronage appointments by the government in power.  In this case, it’s another swipe at the Grits – the Senate is stacked mostly by members of that party and may be largely responsible for tying up bills Harper wants passed.

But it’s the crime changes that will probably get the most attention from voters. The “Tackling Violent Crime” bill includes measures on impaired driving, age of sexual consent, stricter bail conditions, and mandatory prison terms for gun crimes, all items that Harper vowed he would add to his law and order agenda. There will also be another alteration many voters have been demanding – a toughening up of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which deals with young offenders.

Harper has declared every amendment in the speech – including the crime provisions –  a matter of confidence. Failure to pass any of them would trigger an election, which polls show the majority of voters don’t want. The Liberals aren’t anxious to head to the ballot box either – the party is in disarray after losing several key by-elections in Quebec last month.

“There are a few things …. that may be contentious for the Liberals but it’s certainly not an election triggering throne speech,” feels Rudyard Griffiths of the Dominion Institute. “I will say that right now. It’s very unlikely that, you know, this was designed in such a way as to generate the reaction, the response that Harper and his team would have wanted from Dion in terms of pushing the country into an election.”

Throne Speech Highlights

• A fall economic update will outline plans to cut taxes across the board, including a further one-percentage-point cut to the GST.

• A Tackling Violent Crime bill will include measures on impaired driving, age of sexual consent, stricter bail conditions, and mandatory prison terms for gun crimes.

• Canada cannot meet its commitments to cut greenhouse gases under the Kyoto protocol, but will “help lead the effort” to address climate-change worldwide.

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• There will be a parliamentary vote on the military mission in Afghanistan beyond February 2009. Canada should accelerate Afghan army and police training — a job it says should be done by 2011.

• Legislation is coming to limit federal spending power for new shared-cost programs in areas of exclusive provincial jurisdiction.

• The government will build a “world-class” Arctic research station to study environmental science and resource development, and to map the Arctic seabed in an effort to bolster Canada’s claim to the Arctic.

Click here to read the entire speech , or visit the Federal Government’s Speech from the Throne minisite .