Today's Speech From the Throne

There’s no doubt the last few weeks in Canadian politics have been fairly boring and uneventful, especially relative to the recent coalition fiasco. But things sure look like they’ll be picking up again, fast.

Today’s Speech From the Throne paved the way for what is sure to be an exciting week in Canadian politics. Although today’s speech was only 4 pages long compared to the controversial November 19th speech 16 pages in length, it was jam-packed and heavily focused on our sagging economy. The exact details of the stimulus plan will be announced tomorrow, but according to today’s speech, massive efforts will take place to boost the economy through deficit spending.

Here’s what we do know about the stimulus plan to be announced tomorrow thanks to leaks from the Conservatives:

• The stimulus plan will plunge Canada into a $64 billion deficit over the next 2 years
• $2 billion will be set aside for social housing
• $1.5 billion for job retraining
• At least $7 billion on infrastructure projects
• Billions to aid struggling farmers

In response to today’s Speech From the Throne, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said he would review tomorrow’s budget and make an announcement Wednesday morning as to whether they will keep the government in power. Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe said he was disappointed with the speech as it did not focus on other issues facing Canada such as the environment, but also stated he would review tomorrow’s budget before making a decision.

And of course, Jack Layton and the NDP reiterated their harsh criticism towards the Conservatives, vowing to vote against the budget as he believes a coalition would better serve Canadians.

Tomorrow’s budget will be one of the most significant Canadian politics has seen in a long time. Be sure to check in tomorrow for full coverage of the day’s events.

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Tags: Budget, coalition, harper, speech from the throne, stimulus plan, throne speech

This entry was posted on Monday, January 26th, 2009 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Federal Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.