Throne speech to be short, tightly focused

First and foremost, it reiterated Trudeau’s pledge to cut the tax rate for middle-income earners and provide a more generous child benefit to those who need it, all paid for by a tax hike on the wealthiest one per cent.

“The government will introduce legislation that will…legalise, regulate and restrict access to marijuana”, Canada’s Governor General David Johnston said during a speech to parliament about the Liberal party’s plans.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau provides a thumbs-up before the Speech from the Throne within the Senate Chamber on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Fri., Dec. four, 2015.

But the speech did not outline to what extent the government is willing to get involved – Trudeau has said in the past that he intends to pull fighter jets from the ISIS mission, focusing instead on training soldiers on the ground.

The government will work jointly to implement all 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which explored the dark legacy of Canada’s now-defunct residential school system.

The speech served as a stripped-down version of the party’s campaign platform. The speech also signals that new spending in these areas could mean scaling back federal plans on defence spending. Two previous Conservative administrations also made such election promises but failed to live up to them.

The government also promised to invest in public transit, green and social infrastructure.

“Canadians have told us they want a real and fair chance at success”, Trudeau said, adding “We will restore Canadians’ trust in their public institutions, including the House of Commons and the Senate, by working with greater openness and transparency”. It vowed not to abuse either executive power or government resources in promising to end the use of government ads for partisan purposes, and end interference in the work of independent parliamentary officers.

The Liberals promised to shake things up on the global front, starting with steps to strengthen ties with the United States. The Liberals said they would fund this measure by hiking taxes on those making more than $200,000 a year.

It will also launch an inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women, and will “work with First Nations so that every First Nations child receives a quality education”.

The newly elected Liberal government is heralding what it hopes will be a new era of mutual co-operation and respect with Canada’s Aboriginal Peoples.

Facilitate a more open and transparent government.

More support for veterans and their families, as well as a review of the military with an eye on “building a leaner, more agile, better-equipped military”. He also said he was “thrilled” to see that establishing a nation-to-nation relationship with First Nations, Inuit and Métis will be a priority.