1.It pays to have a monarch read the Throne Speech. The government’s idea of inviting a real king to read the speech was to impress the deranged orange autocrat to the south. This it undoubtedly did. But there were additional advantages. Even the most boring details of the speech (“My government will” reduce taxes to save two-income families $840 per year, or, “cut municipal development charges in half for multiunit dwellings” ) sound better when read by a king. And even Canadians who could not care less about the monarchy were impressed by the gravitas and the fluent French of this particular monarch. (Hopefully the PM will continue his efforts to achieve the same level of linguistic competence, since he still has a ways to go.) Perhaps most important, this has to be the most widely publicized Throne Speech in decades. All the pomp and circumstance surrounding it had the desired effect of drawing the attention of the average Canadian to its contents, something that would normally be ignored, as would the Speech itself.
2. One and done. Despite the advantages of #1, Quebecers justifiably have no interest in a British monarch. Hence the unanimous motion in the Quebec legislature to eliminate the monarchy. Having Charles was a good idea to meet an extraordinary situation, but we do not need any more royal visits for a very long time. Keep in mind Carney has 44 Quebec MPs. We are already on thin ice with a GG who is not bilingual, however pressing the extenuating circumstances…Carney was on the right track when he visited France, Britain and Nunavut during his first nine days in office. The Throne Speech reiterates his government’s emphasis on three founding groups with its multiple references to reconciliation, the monarchy and the need to forge stronger ties with France (and Europe), through trade and defence.
The corollary, of course, is the warning in the Speech that we need to extricate ourselves from such close ties with the Americans, both economically and otherwise. Of course it could be argued that even without the Trump factor, we hardly need any stronger ties with the US. After all, it was the Americans who invaded Toronto during the War of 1812, and Macdonald`s National Policy was specifically designed to neutralize the natural north-south pull. More importantly, the American political culture has grown further apart from ours ever since. Canadians typically identify themselves by their differences with their American neighbours on issues such as medicare, gun control, LGBTQ rights, same sex marriage, access to abortion, the elimination of the death penalty, support for population wide vaccinations, and so on. Now is the time to identify other cultures that are more alike, not more different, from our own, and Europe is it.
3.The business Liberals are in charge in fact, not just image. This is no surprise, given the Liberal platform, but it bears repeating. This government`s top priorities are economic, not social, progress. In fairness, this is what Canadians voted for, and the Throne Speech makes it crystal clear that this is what the government has prioritized. Indeed, the Speech claims the government`s objective is to make Canada`s economy the strongest in the G-7. From fast tracking the building of new housing and infrastructure and becoming an energy superpower, to eliminating trade barriers and focusing on training and development, this speech, as one analyst noted, is proposing nothing less than “the greatest economic transformation since the Second World War.” [i]
Put another way, the Speech makes a clear cut shift from the social policy emphasis of the Trudeau government.[ii] Social liberals can take some comfort from the fact that the Speech does commit the government to maintaining current levels of support for existing social programs, whether to provinces or individuals, and to pursuing further progress on indigenous reconciliation. Similarly the commitment to provide increased support for the CBC, rather than defund it as the Poilievre Conservatives had threatened to do, was undoubtedly a welcome measure.
On the other hand, many Conservatives will likely find some comfort in references to tighter bail provisions for repeat offenders, harsher sentences for property offences such as car thefts, and much greater emphasis on border controls and drug offences. Perhaps most significant are the number of other, economic proposals in the Throne Speech that would be familiar to anyone who had studied the Conservative election platform, albeit with some minor Liberal twists. The modest tax cut for middle income earners, the cancellation of the industrial carbon pricing plan as well as that for individuals, and the commitments to reduce regulatory burdens on various projects, increase housing affordability as well as reduce the cost of living were all measures that a Poilievre government might have mentioned in a Throne Speech, although with somewhat different emphasis and specific approaches.
4. Forget Justin Trudeau’s incremental, bilateral approach to intergovernmental relations, devised in response to the outright hostility of some hard right conservative premiers to various progressive social policies such as child care, home care and pharmacare. If Trudeau’s significant accomplishments on the social and cultural policy fronts were viewed with distrust by several premiers, who considered the feds were encroaching far too much on provincial jurisdiction, they have not seen anything yet. The question is whether they know it or not. It will soon be apparent to all of them when the prime minister briefs them next week on his plans to fast track major projects and eliminate interprovincial trade barriers by July 1. Ironically, Ontario`s Conservative premier, Doug Ford, has already expressed enthusiasm for the prime minister`s plans.
5. Parliament has been put on notice. Things will happen fast is the advance warning of the Throne Speech. Legislation will be tabled almost immediately in the expectation it will be passed before the summer recess. The government expects the opposition parties to behave themselves, proceeding in conventional fashion with their input. No obstreperous behaviour from the Conservatives, as happened all during the fall of 2024, will be expected. Unstated but crucial to this plan is the fact that the government has public opinion on its side, as countless polls have demonstrated Canadians want the parties to work together to deal with the existential Trump threat.
6. The public service has been put on notice. The government’s commitment to fiscal probity and balancing the operational budget books in three years is clearly spelled out in the Speech. With the equally clear commitment to continue funding social programs at the current level, and no intention to raise other taxes, it is hardly surprising that there are several paragraphs in the Speech devoted to the need to “cap” the size of the public service, end duplication of regulations and improve productivity through technical enhancements such as AI.
These are, of course, typical pledges of governments driven by New Public Management (NPM). The reaction of public service unions has also been predictably apprehensive. There can be little doubt that the intent of the proposals – to improve service delivery as well as cut costs – is one that few would argue with, but as always the devil is in the details. Many analysts will remember the Trudeau government’s initial enthusiasm for the British-based fad known as “deliverology”, which quietly faded from everyone’s discourse within two years.
This effort to rein in the public service is also made more complicated by the fact that all governments now are expected to do more than ever, and none more so than the Canadian federal government, both during and after the global pandemic. The Carney government’s commitment to a new program specifically for dealing with the housing problem – to be known as Build Canada Homes – only accentuates this apparently contradictory phenomenon.
7. Donald Trump has been put on notice. Although his name never once appears in the Throne Speech, the spectre of his threats is everywhere. In addition to all of the policy measures designed to make the Canadian economy both more prosperous and more independent of American influence, the repeated references to Canada’s sovereignty and northern and border security are clearly designed to send a message directly to the American president. Then, of course, there is the concluding remark of King Charles III noting the Canadian anthem refers to “the true North strong and free.” Evidently Trump was paying attention, or he would hardly have issued such a prompt — and increasingly irrelevant — rejoinder about the 51st state.
[i] https://www.pressreader.com/canada/the-globe-and-mail-bc-edition/20250528/281479282341708?srsltid=AfmBOoq67tEzaolNajeLb1QTMFFuUpsd29qt_tHuheP0-3K6ZQirz5Kz
[ii] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/economy/article-throne-speech-highlights-mark-carney-economic-approach/
