The Speech from the Throne, A Quick Review The Good, the Bad and the Missed Opportunity
On September 23, Governor General Julie Payette presented the Speech from the Throne, which opened the second session of the 43rd Parliament. On behalf of the government, she outlined its broad goals, priorities and legislative agenda. The focus of the speech was economic recovery in the face of COVID-19 and the measures the government intends to take that will help Canadians and the economy return to prosperity.
On October 6, due to a deal brokered between the NDP and the Liberals, the Speech from the Throne received enough votes to survive, thereby avoiding a federal election – for now.
The speech rehashed several previously announced government priorities, in addition to the measures announced to help protect Canadians from COVID-19 and help them through the pandemic. In addition to the COVID-19-related measures, CAPE was pleased to see the government reaffirm its commitment to protecting the official languages and to strengthening the Official Languages Act, taking into consideration the unique reality of French.
CAPE also welcomed the government’s reaffirmation of its commitment to gender equality and to fighting anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism. CAPE was particularly pleased with the government announcing its goal to create an action plan to increase representation of Black Canadians in hiring and appointments, and leadership development within the federal public service.
The Speech from the Throne spoke of building a whole-of-federal-government approach to better collection of disaggregated data in order to better understand systemic racism. CAPE supports this initiative and has been advocating for it through various channels.
Giving the unprecedented measures the government has taken to support individuals, families and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic during these challenging times, it would also be a good time to start talking about ways the government plans to address the current deficit. However, such ideas were absent from the Speech, as the Government itself acknowledged that “this is not time for austerity”, leaving no indication whether budget cuts are being considered at this time.
Despite some positive announcements, sadly the speech missed a unique opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of federal public service employees, especially those who provided essential services and put in extra hours to roll out all the special COVID-19 programs that supported thousands of Canadian individuals and businesses. A myriad of hard-working public service employees put themselves at risk and worked around the clock to keep our country safe and stable and to help fellow Canadians.
CAPE will continue to advocate on behalf of its members to keep the government accountable for these promises.
