Parts of Throne Speech will have western accent instead, Board

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Parts of Throne Speech will have western accent



OTTAWA — The Harper government's Throne Speech Friday will promise action on a number of important issues for westerners, including axing the long-gun registry, eliminating the monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board and quickly passing sweeping crime legislation.


Adopting the measures will finally clear the deck of long-standing gripes of many westerners and instead allow the government to shift its attention to more pressing economic matters and long-term planning.


There will also be commitments to end the $27 million worth of per-vote subsidies for federal political parties and to move on democratic reform legislation that provides additional House of Commons seats for Alberta, B.C. and Ontario, introduces Senate term limits and pushes for senatorial elections in the provinces.


The federal Conservatives' blueprint for governing will, however, be largely dedicated to growing the Canadian economy and getting the government's fiscal house in order, which federal ministers said means some painful spending cuts.


Gov. Gen. David Johnston will read the government's Throne Speech in the Senate chamber, officially launching the 41st Parliament and a spring session that will include a federal budget on Monday.


"No surprises. We're going to take the country in the direction we advertised in our platform, which is with a relentless focus on economic growth," Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, the regional minister for southern Alberta, said during an interview Thursday.


Kenney said the government will look to eliminate its expected $29.6-billion deficit "in part through responsible spending cuts." The government is searching for about $4 billion in initial cuts and $11 billion over the next four years to balance the books.


"There will be some pain there. There will be some controversy, and some of it will be politically difficult but it needs to be done," he said.


Government House leader Peter Van Loan told reporters Thursday the Tories will move on a number of promises from the federal election campaign, including many of interest to Alberta and the western provinces.


Van Loan pledged the government, in the fall session, will finally scrap "the wasteful and ineffective" long-gun registry, a promise that had been thwarted during past minority governments but is sure to pass under a Tory majority.


"It needlessly and unfairly targets law-abiding Canadians while doing nothing to reduce crime," he said.


On the agriculture file, the government has indicated the Canadian Wheat Board's marketing monopoly for both wheat and barley will end for the 2012 crop year.


Van Loan said Thursday the government will introduce legislation to "provide choice for western Canadian farmers by eliminating the monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board."

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As promised, the Conservatives will also phase out the per-vote subsidy for political parties, a taxpayer-funded allowance introduced in 2004 that Van Loan called "a tax on voting."


The Tories are also vowing to get tough on crime, although it could take a bit longer than initially promised.


Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged during the campaign a majority Conservative government would roll 12 crime bills into at least one omnibus bill and push it through Parliament within 100 days. Van Loan said the legislation is coming, but not until the fall.


For Albertans and all westerners, passing the series of promises will finally wipe the table clean of issues that seem to be perpetually debated, said Roger Gibbins, president of the Canada West Foundation, a Calgary-based think-tank.


The longer the long-gun registry debate continues, the more it feeds into the perception that Western Canada is "a rural outpost with rifles on our gun racks," he said.


Eliminating the wheat board monopoly will ensure western grain producers are treated the same as those elsewhere in Canada, he added, while the democratic reform initiatives have been long awaited across the country.


"We've been cluttered up with a lot of very specific, a lot of small issues. And if they just clear the deck of these things, we can get down to the larger economic management issues that are more important for the country," Gibbins said.


"It's a welcome opportunity, from my perspective, to move on."


Edmonton NDP member of Parliament Linda Duncan said the government should have a broader conversation with Canadians before eliminating the per-vote subsidy and ending the wheat board monopoly, she said.


While the government maintains the Throne Speech and budget will reflect their campaign promises, Duncan has some concerns the Tories will attempt to ram through some controversial policies that deserve more debate and weren't identified on the campaign trail.


"They will pleasantly surprise me this time around if they don't pull stunts," she said.

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The throne (L) and chair in the Senate chamber in Centre Block of Parliament Hill are used by the queen and her consort, or the governor general and his or her spouse, during the opening of Parliament


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