The peace and quiet from a federal political perspective was broken with a bang on October 16^th when the Throne Speech was presented to Canada. The speech was a very clever political document outlining the Conservative agenda for the upcoming fall session of parliament.

The decision to have the speech read by the Governor General in prime time was a welcomed one that gave many Canadians the opportunity to understand what the Conservative agenda for Canada is. To quote others” it is not a scary right wing agenda”

The Throne Speech pointed in a direction far different from the political shenanigans that were witnessed during the last session in the House of Commons. The actions of our federal representatives in the House and in committee, where individual pieces of legislation were debated and analyzed, was nothing short of an embarrassment for all political parties. If our children behaved in this manner they would be getting a “time out” and sitting in the corner to reflect on their bad behavior. We can only hope that this session of parliament will be more productive.

The fact that the last session of parliament got so little done was a major reason why the Conservatives laid out their desired policies in the Throne speech for all to hear. What Prime Minister Harper has said is, “here is our agenda and if you support the Throne Speech than you will have to support the legislation.”  For the opposition parties, this brings up some interesting opportunities and challenges because there is wide disagreement over many of the specific policy pieces contained in the Throne Speech.

The Conservative proposal to talk about income tax cuts will be welcome relief to the millions of overburdened taxpayer that continue to struggle to make ends meet. With the federal coffers overflowing with a $14.2 billion surplus, these proposed tax cuts reflect a responsible and accountable policy position. The fact that this surplus was applied to pay down the government debt is a good thing, but it is now time to give some of that money back to the hard working citizens of this great country. We do not need “boutique” tax cuts like athletic club memberships deductions; we need across the board tax cuts that are aimed at the middle class who bear the burden of the ever increasing size of government.

One area in the Throne Speech that will involve a great deal of dialogue will be the Conservative proposal to limit the federal government’s role in provincial jurisdictions like health care and education. Many Canadians would believe that these are areas of federal jurisdiction, because for many years the Liberals used their federal power to overrun provincial jurisdictions in order to remain in power. The Liberal party recognized that creating the false perception of looking after and taking care of Canadians was what it would take to continue being reelected.  Paul Martin’s $42 billion “fix for a generation” health care plan was one of those big government decisions that realistically was not a fix for our bloated and unsustanable health care system.

The Conservatives would like to get out of provincial jurisdictions and have the decisions about the delivery health care and education made by provincial governments.  The Provinces are much closer to the “client” – yes that is us as taxpayers – and are better suited to make these decisions. This will be an interesting battle and one that the Liberals and NDP will certainly oppose.

The National Citizens Coalition would welcome any government action that recognizes that there is only one taxpayer and that individual does not need provincial and federal duplication.  Duplication results in bloated government departments that do the same thing on a federal provincial and sometimes even municipal level. One thing is a certainty; this country is over governed.

One major disappointment in the Throne Speech was that there was no mention of health care and the significant problems that our health care system is operating on. It is a sad state of affairs when Canada’s once vaunted health care system now keeps company with  North Korea and Cuba as the only countries in the world who do not allow some form of private health care delivery as a backup to the public system. This is clearly not working in Canada as 3 million of us currently have no access to a family physician.

The National Citizens Coalition will continue to push all levels of government for more accountability; more efficient government and much needed tax relief. We also hope that there will be some honest debate on all of these issues with people from all across this great Country. If the recently completed Ontario election, with the total lack of any conversation about relevant issues, is any indication more work needs tobe done by all levels of government to actually start taking action on issues that really matter.