Ottawa – Friday, June 3, 2011 - Gord Brown, Member of Parliament for Leeds-Grenville, is pleased that Parliament is back to work following the recent election.

“Today’s Speech from the Throne outlined our agenda; the agenda that we promised during the recent election campaign,” explains Brown.

“The top priorities for our government are jobs and the economy,” he notes.

Specifically, the Government will focus on:

• Supporting jobs and growth by implementing the Next Phase of Canada’s Economic Action Plan, which will include further steps to promote a stable, low-tax environment; develop a highly skilled and flexible workforce; support innovation and the adoption of new technologies; and expand access to markets abroad.

• Eliminating the deficit one year earlier by making responsible choices and reducing the cost of government, ensuring that the economy can continue to grow and create jobs.

• Supporting hard-working families by helping seniors make ends meet and continuing to help Canadians save for their retirement; by supporting family caregivers; by helping parents who want to provide their children with opportunities to discover their creative passions; and by working collaboratively with the provinces and territories to ensure that the health care system is sustainable and delivers results for Canadians.

• Standing on guard for Canada by celebrating our heritage; by developing Canada’s extraordinary resource wealth in a way that protects the environment; and by continuing to stand for what is right on the world stage, including through our missions in Afghanistan and Libya.

• Supporting law-abiding Canadians by reintroducing comprehensive law-and-order legislation to combat crime and terrorism; by protecting the most vulnerable and working to prevent crime; by addressing the problem of violence against women and girls; and by reintroducing legislation to clarify and strengthen laws on self-defence, defence of property and citizen’s arrest.

• Helping communities and industries by ending the long-gun registry; by continuing to support Canada’s traditional industries; and by addressing the barriers to social and economic participation faced by many Aboriginal Canadians.

• Promoting integrity and accountability by reintroducing legislation to reform the Senate and restore fair representation in the House of Commons; by taking steps to phase out direct taxpayer subsidies to federal political parties; and by ensuring that citizens, the private sector and other partners have improved access to the workings of government.

“We made a number of promises during the election campaign, but chief among them was to stay the course economically,” says Brown. “The Throne Speech concentrates on our promised approach.”

The new session of Parliament began on Thursday with the selection of a new Speaker. The Members elected 32-year-old Conservative Andrew Scheer from Regina who becomes the youngest Speaker in Canadian history.

On Monday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will introduce his budget, which in make-up will be the same as the one he delivered in March. The government’s top legislative priority is to pass the Next Phase of Canada’s Economic Action Plan: A Low-Tax Plan for Jobs and Growth, says Brown.

“Canadians gave us a mandate to stay focused on the economy and pass measures aimed at strengthening both our economic recovery and our country, and we’re following through on these commitments with this parliamentary agenda,” says Brown.