Throne speech coming today

SPEECH TO TALK SHORT-, AND LONG-TERM PLANS AS CASES RISE, PROMPTING PM ADDRESS

The federal Liberals’ throne speech today is to lay out plans for child care, health care, affordable housing and navigating the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The speech, crafted by the governing party but delivered by Gov. Gen. Julie Payette, will be given in the shadow of rising COVID-19 cases across the country, prompting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to deliver an unusual televised address of his own a few hours later.

Trudeau’s own speech will deliver a message to

Canadians on the “urgency of fighting COVID-19” as the country faces a second wave of the pandemic, according to his office.

Trudeau will also speak about how the Liberals plan to combat COVID-19 with government action and to build the economic recovery from pandemic-related shutdowns earlier this year, repeating elements of the throne speech.

Payette is expected to add her own commentary to the throne speech about the pandemic, which will broadly be a message of hope for Canadians in these trying times, according to a source with knowledge of the additions who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about them. What the Liberals have told various stakeholders is to expect a two-step approach: promises of short-term help, mixed with references to a longer-term vision for the country.

For instance, sources who have knowledge of the government’s thinking on child care, and spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations, said there is a much broader policy discussion behind the scenes about reforming the sector that the speech may allude to, while pledging more immediate help.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has asked the Liberals to establish a longpromised child-care secretariat that would guide policy decisions, suggesting tax incentives for parents, guardians and daycare owners.

Martha Friendly, executive director of the Childcare Resource and Research Unit, a Toronto think-tank, says the pandemic has created a “eureka’” moment for policymakers about the necessity of child care to the country’s economic and social recovery.

“I hope there has also been the equally crucial ‘aha’ that the reliable, safe, high-quality child care families can count on in good times and bad depends on a transformation of government policy, not just money alone — a bold, ambitious strategy,” she said.