After I wrote my column last week on the Throne Speech, I was asked by Daybreak North to give a short interview on what we could expect to hear from the Governor General on Wednesday morning.
The interview was interesting in a number of ways. First, the interviewer was Andrew Kurjata who is an alumnus of UNBC. It was great to sit across the table from him and have a chance to chat about politics. One of the difficult things about being a professor is often we lose touch with the incredibly bright and wonderful students who make teaching such a delight so it is great that Kurjata is part of the local media community.
The second thing was that Kurjata had his Twitter feed open and we got to have a quick look at what the prime minister (or his staffers) was saying prior to the speech. It must be great for journalists to get a minute-by-minute, play-by-play of leaders' opinions about what is going on in real time.
The experience made the interview livelier because Kurjata could refer to what was being said at the moment and I had a chance to react with a few ideas about motives and politics. For example, Kurjata asked me about the importance of the Throne Speech and, I had to be honest, it's not that important unless you are interested in politics and you want to get a good sense of where the government might take their legislative agenda over the next few years.
There are no real details in the speech but it does frame out an approach to governing and that's what makes it interesting.
While we were chatting, the prime minister tweeted out a reminder that the Conservative Party was the party of railroads and nation building.
"Why make the throw-back to the traditions and history of the party?" Kurjata asked.
Great question.
And as I scrambled to think of an answer, it hit me that of course the Liberal Party has its own "built in" throw-back to the traditions and history of its party.
The Liberals won't have to bother tracing the story back to Confederation; they will only need to go back to 1982 and be the party that brought Canada the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Trudeau name can stand for the party's contemporary legacy and that might be all you need when moving into an election. Certainly, I would suggest that the Liberals are going to try to revive the just society approach, even if they avoid using that term.
The Conservatives will want to frame out the long history of their party to reinforce their message of "prosperity and security."
Kurjata asked about consumer rights, which seems like a rather mundane policy, being at the centre of the speech but in fact, policies like this will likely frame the Conservative approach to the next election.
While the Liberals (and the NDP) will focus on issues of social justice and collective fairness, the Conservatives will focus on the family, particularly the middle class, and their individual concerns about their own balanced budgets.
A policy about "unbundling" satellite channel packages may seem benign but it reflects the idea that the Conservatives want families to be in control of their own finances and their own spending.
Finally, Kurjata asked me about whether this speech is a good lead up to the next election.
This was probably a rhetorical question because he knew, as well as I did, that the speech is meant to signal the priorities for the next few years.
I think the Throne Speech outlined two important planks for the Conservative election platform: one is to "stay the course" and the other is to present a clear alternative to what the other two parties will offer.
The Conservatives will remain tough on crime and they will focus on the economy and jobs while the Liberals and the NDP will suggest that the state should take a stronger role in social justice.
I am guessing that, for good or ill, unless there is a shift in the dominant political culture over the next two years, the Conservative approach will likely resonate more strongly with the majority of voters.
