Members of the House of Commons, Ladies and gentlemen, herewith the Speech from the Throne.

It is my pleasure to address this first session of Canada's 44th Parliament.  I would like to welcome the new members of this assembly and to welcome back returning members.

The last Speech from the Throne was delivered on December 5, 2019.  That is less than a year ago, but it feels like several lifetimes.

In that speech, which was replete with high-sounding words that signify nothing, we made many promises that went nowhere.  We told lies, to ourselves and to Canadians.

For example, there was one stirring passage in that Speech from the Throne that claimed that the Liberal government had a "mandate" for change.  It had no such thing.  It was the government with the smallest share of the popular vote in Canadian history.

But still, it said it had a mandate.

"It is a mandate to fight climate change, strengthen the middle class, walk the road of reconciliation, keep Canadians safe and healthy, and position Canada for success in an uncertain world."

Your government has done none of those things.  Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has called the Trudeau government's environmental record "shameful."  It "is obviously not doing enough," she said.

Strengthen the middle class?  This Prime Minister would not know the middle class if it bit him on the ass.  And he hasn't "strengthened" the middle class.

His 2015 budget offered a tax cut the Liberal government claimed would greatly benefit the middle class.  In fact, their own Parliamentary Budgetary Officer said it's biggest beneficiaries were the rich.

The government often claims to have lowered taxes for the middle class.  One 2019 study says 80 per cent of the middle class now actually pay more taxes than they did before.

This government also said it would walk the road of reconciliation.  Almost immediately thereafter, Indigenous people shut down Canada's rail system and much of the economy because they had gotten fed up waiting for reconciliation.

At one AFN meeting he attended, the younger participants had an alternative Indigenous name for this Prime Minister.  It was "the one who keeps trying to fool you."

But every Honourable member knows that already.  Every Honourable member knows the truth.

The Prime Minister showed what he truly thinks of Indigenous people when he defamed and demeaned and cast out Jody Wilson-Raybould, the Indigenous leader who dared to say "no" to him.  In his actions, if not his words, we saw who he really is.

"Keep Canadians safe and healthy" in "an uncertain world"?  That is what this government said it was going to do.  It didn't.

Do you feel "safe and healthy," my fellow Canadians?  You need not answer.  We both know the answer already.

On the very day that China placed 65 million of its citizens under lockdown, this government's Minister of Health went on TV and shrugged.  She said the coronavirus posed "low risk."  She discouraged wearing masks.  She said "our country is prepared."

Tell that to the nearly 10,000 families of those who have died.  Tell that to the families of the 140,000 who have gotten sick.  Tell that to those still in hospital, still on ventilators.

Tell that to those who are getting sick again, at the fastest rate we have seen in many months.  Tell them.

That is the truthful record of this government.  Since the last Speech from the Throne, this government has been again mired in scandal, losing its Finance Minister and yet more of its reputation.

It has indebted the nation more than at any time in its history, with seemingly no plan to get us out.  It has coasted on the actions of the governments that are truly fighting the coronavirus, which is the provinces.

This is a Throne Speech that tells the truth, because the truth needed to be told.  It is not a Throne Speech like the last one, that was oozing with the usual sophistries and spin.

Will you be motivated to tell Canadians the truth, Honourable members?

Based on the record so far, the odds are not good.

God bless the Queen, etc.

Photo Credit: CBC News