'No plans' for Throne Speech, Tories say

OTTAWA — The Harper Conservatives will resist the urge to refresh their government's image with a new Speech from the Throne in September, despite increasing speculation from the Liberals about forcing a fall election.

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan confirmed Sunday that the party will not delay the opening of Parliament in the fall and launch a new set of priorities, even though Mr. Dion suggested last week that Canadians are increasingly supportive of an election. A Throne Speech results in a confidence motion and could have been used by the Conservatives to force their own demise.

“We have no plans to prorogue,” Mr. Van Loan said Sunday on CTV's Question Period. “We've got an important agenda to deliver on.”

Tory insiders have been speculating for months that their government is considering a prorogation of Parliament for the fall, a move that would discontinue the current session and force the government to come up with a Throne Speech to kick off a new one.

The speech typically lists a new series of government priorities that sources said could be used as a campaign blueprint.

Moreover, the Tories ended the spring sitting facing substantial controversy that included the resignation of former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier after he left documents at the home of his ex-girlfriend. The woman, Julie Couillard, had been linked in the past to organized crime, causing further controversy.

Although pushing the reset button might be tempting for a government that has had its share of difficulties, the Conservatives delivered a new Throne Speech just last fall and doing so again might give the appearance of a government in some confusion.

Mr. Van Loan said Sunday that the Tories want to continue to govern. He noted that they currently have three bills on crime being debated in the House of Commons and that the government wants them to be passed.

“We're going to focus on delivering good government on the same kinds of priorities we have been delivering already,” he said.

Also on Question Period Sunday, Mr. Dion and one of his key supporters appeared to dial down the election rhetoric, perhaps to keep the Tories off-balance or to give themselves a way out should the Liberals underperform in three coming by-elections.

When reminded that he said last week that more and more Canadians want an election, Mr. Dion said that was because of a number of recent provincial votes. “It's a responsibility on my shoulders that I feel, and I will choose the good moment.”

Later, Toronto-area Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay said Mr. Dion appeared to play down last week's rhetoric.

“I want to stress that what Stéphane Dion has been saying – he hasn't been saying we're going to have an election in the fall,” she said.

The Liberals are facing substantial tests in at least two of the three coming by-elections, both of which are represented by outgoing Liberal members. Sources say questions about Mr. Dion's leadership would almost certainly be asked should the party lose one or both of those contests.

Mr. Dion's Green Shift policy – an idea to apply taxes on carbon production while cutting taxes in other areas – will undoubtedly be an issue in those campaigns as well as a general election if one were to be called.

“Mr. Dion is going across the country saying that he wants to raise taxes on just about everything to pay for new spending because he has no other way of paying for it,” said Jason Kenney, Minister of Multiculturalism.

Mr. Kenney acknowledged, however, that it will be difficult for the Conservatives to win the three ridings, given that none is currently represented by a Tory.

Source:Globe & Mail National Top Stories