St. Albert’s member of Parliament found himself “generally disappointed” over last Wednesday’s throne speech.
“It lacked an overall vision,” said Brent Rathgeber, MP for Edmonton-St. Albert.
On Oct. 16, Gov. Gen. David Johnston delivered the throne speech in the Canadian Senate. The speech comes after Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament, starting a new session. The throne speech, though read by the governor general, sets out the governing party’s agenda for the coming legislative session.
“I think I was generally disappointed,” Rathgeber said. “It’s not historically meant to be a brash political statement.”
This throne speech was a political statement, Rathgeber contends, and instead of presenting a vision, gave Canadians a “grocery list” of items that will be popular.
“It was really just a shopping list of sort of boutique consumer protections,” Rathgeber said. Items like unbundling cable packages, regulating roaming fees and making killing a police service animal a criminal act will be popular he said, but the speech didn’t have an overarching theme.
Rathgeber did not go back to Ottawa for the throne speech, since as an MP he is not allowed in the Senate and usually ends up watching it on television. He noted guests at the speech – like the mayor of Lac-Megantic, which was struck by a devastating train disaster earlier this year, or the handler of the Edmonton police dog that was killed – are there as part of a political ploy.
“The necessary implication is that they’re going to be interviewed, they’re going to scrum and they’re going to help the government sell its throne speech, and I think that’s unfortunate. The throne speech should have a higher moral purpose than that and it should be the government outlining to the Senate and the House and the public what it intends to do,” he said.
While Rathgeber thinks many of the items set out in the throne speech are good things – for example, it promises a Victims’ Bill of Rights – he thinks the governing Conservatives missed a chance to reset the conversation, especially the continuing senate scandal.
“I thought it missed an opportunity for a government that’s embroiled in scandal to really reassure Canadians that it does have a vision,” Rathgeber said.
While Canadian consumers will likely enjoy some of the initiatives laid out in the throne speech, it’s not distracting those who call into Rathgeber’s office, still concerned over the senate scandal.
“I think it was an attempt to kick-start the 2015 election but I think it will be unsuccessful,” Rathgeber said. “People still seem less interested in unbundling their cable packages … than they are in the senate scandal.”
It would have been nice to see some notes about transparency, senate reform or other electoral reforms, he said.
“The words transparency and open government I do not believe are anywhere in there and that’s disappointing given the government’s current issues,” he said.
