Speech from the Throne addresses local issues

March 03, 2010

Ottawa – Gord Brown, Member of Parliament for Leeds-Grenville, says the lengthy and wide-ranging Speech from the Throne, sets the stage to address issues that concern residents of Leeds-Grenville.

“From job creation, to lightening the regulatory load for businesses and industries, to support for families and communities, to looking ahead at tackling the deficit, the speech dealt with the concerns expressed by members of our communities,” he explains.

The speech outlines the government commitment to continue with the Economic Action Plan to its pre-planned end in March 2011.

Meanwhile it is focusing on creating jobs, training and retraining workers who have found themselves out of work and assisting the country’s youth transition to the work force.

While freezing the salaries and budgets of parliamentary and operational offices, the government will also review departmental spending to ensure value for money.

“Meanwhile we will be taking a number of steps to assist small businesses and industries in Canada,” Brown explains.

Technology will be boosted through a bolstered Science and Technology strategy and the government will strengthen laws governing intellectual property and copyright.

It will expand free trade agreements and open doors to Venture Capital while keeping taxes as low as possible. The government will work green energy technologies as well as traditional industries to enter new markets and deploy new technologies.

To further support small businesses and industry the government will continue to identify and remove unnecessary, job-killing, regulations and barriers to growth.

The speech addressed the need to support the cattle industry and pledged commitment once again to supply managed sectors.


Families and communities will benefit from a number of initiatives such as a national strategy on childhood injury protection and a plan to work with innovative charities and forward-thinking private sector companies to develop new approaches to modern day social challenges.

“We will continue working to make our communities safe through enhanced crime legislation,” notes Brown.

The government will introduce legislation to increase penalties for sexual offenses against children; ensure the youth criminal justice system responds strongly to the few who commit serious and violent crimes; propose laws to deal with multiple murderers and tough legislation to combat the organized drug trade and introduce tougher legislation to deal with white collar crime.

Police will be given 21st Century investigative powers and the government will introduce legislation to help avoid lengthy, drawn-out trials and offer tangible support to victims of crime.

The government will continue to work at eliminating the wasteful long-gun registry.

To help combat terrorism, the latest screening programs and technologies will be employed and biometric passports will be introduced.

Seniors were addressed in the speech, says Brown. Many have expressed concern about retirement income.

“We will continue to work with the provinces and territories on options to support seniors in their retirement,” he explains.

Military veterans will also see better access to employment insurance.

“Unlike last year’s Speech from the Throne that concentrated on an economic plan, this speech sets a broader agenda,” says Brown.

It is a blueprint for the government to move forward as the country begins to recover.