King Charles III delivered the Speech from the Throne on May 27 to open the first session of the 45th Parliament of Canada. Read the full text in English, below. (Some portions were delivered in French)

Honourable Senators, members of the House of Commons,

It is with a sense of deep pride and pleasure that my wife and I join you here today, as we witness Canadians coming together in a renewed sense of national pride, unity, and hope.

I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people. This land acknowledgement is a recognition of shared history as a nation. While continuing to deepen my own understanding, it is my great hope that in each of your communities, and collectively as a country, a path is found toward truth and reconciliation, in both word and deed.

This is my 20th visit to Canada, spread over the course of more than half a century, and my first as Sovereign. As I have said before, “Every time I come to Canada a little more of Canada seeps into my bloodstream – and from there straight to my heart.”

I have always had the greatest admiration for Canada’s unique identity, which is recognized across the world for bravery and sacrifice in defence of national values, and for the diversity and kindness of Canadians.

To the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples – you have welcomed my family and myself to your traditional lands with great warmth and hospitality, for which I am humbly grateful.

This year, we mark the 80th anniversary of V-E Day and V-J Day. On Juno Beach, at Dieppe, on the Somme, at Beaumont-Hamel, at Ypres, and on Vimy Ridge. At those places, and many others, forever etched into our memories, Canadians fought and died alongside our closest allies.

Today, I see representatives from every part of Canada – from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, to Victoria, British Columbia, and Arviat, Nunavut. I see the guardians of the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Canadian Charter and, as King, I thank you for your service to your fellow Canadians, across the length and breadth of this vast and great nation.

You speak for your communities, representing an incredible richness of cultures, languages, and perspectives. We owe it to this generation, and those who succeed us, to think and act for the greater good of all. While the world faces unprecedented challenges, generating uncertainties across the continents with regards to peace and stability, economics, and climate change, your communities have the skills and determination to bring a wealth of solutions.

By fostering collaboration and engaging in respectful, constructive debates, you will ensure this Government is capable of bold and fair action to support Canadians.

It has been nearly 70 years since the Sovereign first opened Parliament. In the time since, Canada has dramatically changed: repatriating its Constitution, achieving full independence, and witnessing immense growth. Canada has embraced its British, French, and Indigenous roots, and become a bold, ambitious, innovative country that is bilingual, truly multicultural, and committed to reconciliation.

The Crown has for so long been a symbol of unity for Canada. It also represents stability and continuity from the past to the present. As it should, it stands proudly as a symbol of Canada today, in all her richness and dynamism.

Opening

When my dear late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, opened a new Canadian Parliament in 1957, the Second World War remained a fresh, painful memory. The Cold War was intensifying. Freedom and democracy were under threat. Canada was emerging as a growing economic power and a force for peace in the world. In the decades since, history has been punctuated by epoch-making events: the Vietnam War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the start of the War on Terror. Today, Canada faces another critical moment.

Democracy, pluralism, the rule of law, self-determination, and freedom are values which Canadians hold dear, and ones which the Government is determined to protect.

The system of open global trade that, while not perfect, has helped to deliver prosperity for Canadians for decades, is changing. Canada’s relationships with partners are also changing.

We must be clear-eyed: the world is a more dangerous and uncertain place than at any point since the Second World War. Canada is facing challenges that are unprecedented in our lifetimes.

Many Canadians are feeling anxious and worried about the drastically changing world around them.

Fundamental change is always unsettling. Yet this moment is also an incredible opportunity. An opportunity for renewal. An opportunity to think big and to act bigger. An opportunity for Canada to embark on the largest transformation of its economy since the Second World War. A confident Canada, which has welcomed new Canadians, including from some of the most tragic global conflict zones, can seize this opportunity by recognising that all Canadians can give themselves far more than any foreign power on any continent can ever take away. And that by staying true to Canadian values, Canada can build new alliances and a new economy that serves all Canadians.

Building new relationships with the United States and the world

The Prime Minister and the President of the United States, for example, have begun defining a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the U.S., rooted in mutual respect and founded on common interests, to deliver transformational benefits for both sovereign nations.

In parallel, the Government is working to strengthen its relationships with reliable trading partners and allies around the world, recognizing that Canada has what the world needs and the values the world respects.

Canada is ready to build a coalition of like-minded countries that share its values, that believe in international co-operation and the free and open exchange of goods, services, and ideas.

In this new, fast-evolving world, Canada is ready to lead. This will be demonstrated in June, when Canada convenes the G7 Summit.

Building a more affordable Canada

The Government is guided by its conviction that the economy is only truly strong when it serves everyone.

Many Canadians are struggling to get ahead. The Government is responding, reducing middle-class taxes

and saving two-income families up to $840 a year. It will cut the GST on homes at or under $1 million for first-time homebuyers, delivering savings of up to $50,000. And it will lower the GST on homes between $1 million and $1.5 million.

The Government will protect the programs that are already saving families thousands of dollars every year. These include child care and pharmacare. In addition to these, the Government has recently expanded the Canadian Dental Care Plan to cover about eight million Canadians, saving the average person more than $800 per year.

Building a stronger Canada

The Government’s overarching goal – its core mission – is to build the strongest economy in the G7. That starts with creating one Canadian economy out of thirteen. Internal barriers to trade and labour mobility cost Canada as much as $200 billion each year. The Government will introduce legislation to remove all remaining federal barriers to internal trade and labour mobility by Canada Day.

Numerous premiers have already taken vital steps to break down provincial and territorial barriers to trade. Together, we will build on that progress to deliver free trade across the nation by Canada Day. This is critical to unlocking Canada’s full economic potential, but it’s not enough.

To build Canada strong, the Government is working closely with provinces, territories, and Indigenous Peoples to identify and catalyse projects of national significance. Projects that will connect Canada, that will deepen Canada’s ties with the world, and that will create high-paying jobs for generations.

Given the pace of change and the scale of opportunities, speed is of the essence. Through the creation of a new Major Federal Project Office, the time needed to approve a project will be reduced from five years to two; all while upholding Canada’s world-leading environmental standards and its constitutional obligations to Indigenous Peoples.

The Government will also strike co-operation agreements with every interested province and territory within six months to realize its goal of “one project, one review.”

When Canadians come together, Canada builds things that last.

By removing these barriers that have held back our economy, we will unleash a new era of growth that will ensure we don’t just survive ongoing trade wars, but emerge from them stronger than ever. It will enable Canada to become the world’s leading energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy. To build an industrial strategy that will make Canada more globally competitive, while fighting climate change. To build hundreds of thousands of good careers in the skilled trades. And to

build Canada into the world’s leading hub for science and innovation.

Critically, the Government will undertake a series of measures to help double the rate of home building while creating an entirely new housing industry – using Canadian technology, Canadian skilled workers, and Canadian lumber.

The Government will introduce measures to deliver affordable homes by creating Build Canada Homes. This mission-driven organization will act to accelerate the development of new affordable housing. It will invest in the growth of the prefabricated and modular housing industry.

And it will provide significant financing to affordable home builders. The Government will make the housing market work better, including by cutting municipal development charges in half for all multi-unit housing. The Government will drive supply up to bring housing costs down.

Building a safer and more secure Canada

To be truly strong, Canada must be secure. To that end, the Government will introduce legislation to enhance security at Canada’s borders. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies will have new tools to stop the flow of fentanyl and its precursors. The Canada Border Services Agency will be given new powers to examine goods destined for export, to prevent the transport of illegal and stolen products,

including cars.

The Government will protect Canada’s sovereignty by rebuilding, rearming, and reinvesting in the Canadian Armed Forces. It will boost Canada’s defence industry by joining ReArm Europe, to invest in transatlantic security with Canada’s European partners. And it will invest to strengthen its presence in the North, which is an integral part of Canada, as this region faces new threats.

The Government will discharge its duty to protect Canadians and their sovereign rights, from wherever

challenges may come at home or abroad. To keep communities safe, the Government will hire 1,000 more

RCMP personnel. It will change firearms licensing and strengthen enforcement of yellow and red flag laws.

Weapons licences for those convicted of intimate partner violence and those subject to protection orders will be revoked. Through the deployment of scanners, drones and helicopters, additional personnel, and K-9 teams, the Government will stem the tide of illegal guns and drugs across the border.

It will take these steps while protecting the rights of lawabiding gun owners and Indigenous Peoples’ longstanding hunting traditions.

The Government will bring a renewed focus on car theft and home invasions by toughening the Criminal Code to make bail harder to get for repeat offenders charged with committing these crimes, along with human trafficking and drug smuggling.

Building a united Canada

During this time of great change, Canadians are uniting behind what makes Canada unique. The French language and the Quebec culture are at the heart of the Canadian identity. They define the country that Canadians and I love so much. Canada is a country that respects and celebrates its official languages and Indigenous languages. The Government is determined to protect the institutions that bring these cultures and this identity to the world, like CBC/Radio-Canada. It will protect the people who give us access to fresh, healthy, and quality food: agricultural producers. And it will protect supply management.

Nature is core to Canada’s identity. In 2022, Canada convened COP15 in Montréal, which concluded with

196 countries striking a historic agreement to protect 30 percent of their lands and 30 percent of waters by 2030. To this end, the Government will protect more of Canada’s nature than ever before through the creation of new national parks, national urban parks, marine protected areas, and other conservation initiatives.

Building a united Canada

The Government will always protect the rights and freedoms that the Charter guarantees for every Canadian.

The Government will be a reliable partner to Indigenous Peoples, upholding its fundamental commitment to advancing reconciliation. Central to this commitment is the creation of long-term wealth and prosperity with Indigenous Peoples. For that reason, the Government will double the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program from $5 billion to $10 billion – enabling more Indigenous communities to become owners of major projects. As Canada moves forward with nation-building projects, the Government will always be firmly guided by the principle of free, prior, and informed consent.

Canada’s immigration system has long been a source of pride for Canadians and of dynamism for the economy. The Government is dedicated to rebuilding the trust of Canadians in immigration by restoring balance to the system.

The Government will cap the total number of temporary foreign workers and international students to less than five percent of Canada’s population by 2027. By doing this, the Government will attract the best talent in the world to build our economy, while sending a clear message to Canadians working abroad that there is no better time to come home.

Building Canada Strong by spending less and investing more

In all of its actions, the Government will be guided by a new fiscal discipline: spend less so Canadians can invest more.

Day-to-day government spending – the government’s operating budget – has been growing by nine percent every year. The Government will introduce measures to bring it below two percent.

Transfers to provinces, territories, or individuals will be maintained. The Government will balance its operating budget over the next three years by cutting waste, capping the public service, ending duplication, and deploying technology to improve public sector productivity.

In parallel, the Government will take a series of measures to catalyse new investment to create better jobs and higher incomes for Canadians. The scale of the Government’s initiative will match the challenges of our times and the ambitions of Canadians.

Conclusion

Honourable Senators, Members of the House of Commons,

When my dear late mother addressed your predecessors seven decades ago, she said that in that age, and against the backdrop of international affairs, no nation could live unto itself. It is a source of great pride that, in the following decades, Canada has continued to set an example to the world in her conduct and values, as a force for good.

I wish to express to you and to the people of Canada my heartfelt gratitude, and that of my wife, for the warmth of the welcome which we have received.

As the anthem reminds us: The True North is indeed strong and free!

Members of the House of Commons, you will be asked Conclusion to appropriate the funds to carry out the services and expenditures authorized by Parliament.

May you honour the profound trust bestowed upon you by Canadians, and may God bless and guide you in all your duties.

• King Charles delivers speech from the throne, laying out government’s agenda

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King Charles and Queen Camilla will head to Parliament Hill in a horse-drawn carriage this morning. King Charles will deliver the throne speech to mark the opening of Parliament. It’s the first time a Canadian monarch has done so since Queen Elizabeth opened Parliament in 1977. After the speech, the royal couple will visit the the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then head back to the United Kingdom, after spending just about 24 hours in Canada. King Charles and Queen Camilla

arrived in Ottawa on Monday

and spent the afternoon at a local farmers market before planting a tree and then holding private audiences with Prime Minister Mark Carney, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon and Indigenous leaders. It’s the couple’s first visit to Canada since Charles became King.

Follow National Post’s live coverage of events today. Can’t see the liveblog? View it on nationalpost.com.

King Charles and Queen Camilla’s itinerary for Tuesday:

9:50 a.m. — Departure for the Senate of Canada building (open to the public)

The Royal couple will travel to Parliament Hill in style, riding in a horse-drawn carriage. It will be the first time the black, box-drawn carriage is used by the RCMP, according to CTV. It was built in the 1800s but fell into disrepair. A Quebec man found it in St. Isidore, Que., and restored it before donating it to the RCMP Musical Ride, CTV reports.

The carriage will travel along Wellington Street from the Bank of Canada to the Senate of Canada Building in Canada’s State Landau, escorted by 20 horses of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride.

10:15 a.m. — Arrival at the Senate of Canada building (open to the public)

After he arrives at the Senate of Canada building, The King will receive full military honours, including a Royal salute, a 100-person guard of honour from the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment, an inspection of the guard and the band, and a 21-gun salute, according to a government other of Canada website.

11 a.m. — Speech from the Throne

King Charles will open the 45th Parliament of Canada and deliver the Speech from the Throne. The Throne speech opens every new session of Parliament and introduces the federal government’s goals. The Senate and the House of Commons cannot conduct public business until the throne speech is delivered, usually by the Governor General, the representative of Canada’s monarch.

11:55 a.m. – Wreath laying at the National War Memorial (open to the public)

King Charles and Queen Camilla will mark the 25th anniversary of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The tomb is located at the National War Memorial and “serves as a focal point for national commemoration, honouring the more than 116,000 Canadians who have given their lives in service to their country,” according to a government of Canada website. King Charles will lay a wreath and Queen Camilla will lay a bouquet of flowers and the couple will pay their respects to Canadians who died in war.

After visiting the tomb, dignitaries and a departure guard will bid the couple farewell, to cap off just under 24 hours in Canada. The couple will head for the airport to return back to the United Kingdom.

As the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, intergovernmental affairs and Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “One Canadian Economy” portfolio, Dominic LeBlanc will face many obstacles in the days and weeks ahead.

But the veteran Liberal minister is no stranger to a challenge, having overcome a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma more than five years ago thanks to a stem cell donation from Germany.

LeBlanc reflected on his battle over the weekend, sharing a memory of visiting with his donor, Jonathan Kehl, on social media.

“Two years ago, Jonathan, the brave young man who saved my life, welcomed Jolene (Richard) and me to his family’s home town in Germany, Bad Hersefeld,” he posted along with two photos of himself and his wife with the now 26-year-old and his family members.

“I will cherish this moment and remember his kindness, and that of his family, forever.”

LeBlanc ‘was as yellow as a lemon … and had lost a lot of weight’

In April 2019, while overseeing intergovernmental affairs, northern affairs and internal trade under then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, a 51-year-old LeBlanc, feeling particularly unwell, was informed by Moncton doctors he had a “lethal form” of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

His only chance at survival: “very aggressive” chemotherapies and a stem cell donation via an allogeneic transplant — obtaining healthy stem cells from a donor who is not identical to the recipient.

In an interview with

DKMS

, the German-based international blood science organization that ultimately paired him with Kehl, LeBlanc said it took doctors a few weeks to figure out the “right recipe of chemotherapy” to get his cancer into remission before referring him to Montreal’s Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, a facility renowned for its expertise in hematology and stem cell transplants.

“He was as yellow as a lemon because of the liver failure and had lost a lot of weight,” Dr. Sylvie Lachance, who oversaw his care, told

Reader’s Digest Canada

in 2023.

But LeBlanc, who’d announced he’d

won a battle with leukemia the year prior

, was optimistic and said doctors were, too, reminding him that even if his younger sister, Genevieve

,

 was not a match, the DKMS’s global registry of potential bone marrow donors offered added hope.

His sister’s blood ended up being incompatible, but a perfect match showed up through the database several weeks later, and the anonymous donor agreed to the procedure.

International rules prohibit doctors from divulging the identity of the donor to the recipient for two years, but LeBlanc wondered if his potential saviour might be based in Germany, “just because they had said that so many Germans are in the database, and the German people are so generous when they’re asked to donate.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, a 20-year-old Kehl, who’d registered as a donor while still in high school two years earlier, was living with his parents in the Hesse state town of Bad Hersfeld when he was told he was a perfect match with a Canadian man.

“I could have said no, but I agreed,” Kehl told Reader’s Digest. “I wanted to save a life! It was a really emotional moment for me, and for my family, who encouraged me to donate.”

In early September, he travelled to Frankfurt to have his stem cells collected, after which they were flown to Montreal, where LeBlanc awaited, having just finished a final round of chemotherapy to prepare his body for the transplant.

“So you’re obviously not feeling a great deal of energy. All my hair had fallen out. I probably lost 35 pounds,” he said to DKMS. “But the doctors were very positive. They said I was ready to receive the transplant. And I’ll never forget when the nurse comes in to the hospital room and shows you the bag of stem cells, it was maybe half a litre in a bag that had a whole series of stickers of different barcodes on it.”

The procedure itself took just two hours to introduce the 570,000,000 stem cells into his bloodstream, followed by a waiting period to see if new blood cells regenerated.

“I was afraid it hadn’t worked until Dr. Lachance came into my room with a smile and told me the neutrophils — the white blood cells — had materialized,” LeBlanc said to Reader’s Digest.

After several weeks of isolation to protect and rebuild a severely weakened immune system, during which he was elected for the seventh straight time as the member of parliament for Beauséjour in the federal election, LeBlanc was discharged in November.

He returned to Parliament in January.

Blood brothers: ‘This young man saved my life’

LeBlanc said he first filled out the form to learn his donor’s identity about a year after the transplant, and he got an email with Kehl’s name and date of birth in October 2021.

“What struck me on the information I got is that he was born in 1999,” LeBlanc said to DKMS. “I didn’t imagine that the donor would have just been 20 years old when he donated the stem cells.”

His team quickly obtained Kehl’s contact information so LeBlanc could send him a personal message of thanks. He even contacted Stéphane Dion, the Canadian ambassador to Germany, to find out which translation agency they use for official correspondence. Kehl responded in English, which he told Leblanc he’d been studying since childhood.

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COVID-19’s Omicron wave delayed an in-person meeting, but the pair chatted on Zoom just before Christmas and agreed to get together when travel rules allowed.

That meeting happened the following September when Kehl visited Canada as LeBlanc’s special guest.

“This young man saved my life,” LeBlanc said, introducing Kehl in Ottawa, where the young German also met Trudeau and conducted media interviews before the pair went to Montreal and then to New Brunswick for two days of salmon fishing.

This week is a very special one for me. Jonathan Kehl, the young German man who donated some of his stem cells to save my life, is visiting me here in Canada. pic.twitter.com/LLN9lli8Lu

— Dominic LeBlanc (@DLeBlancNB) September 27, 2022

Kehl returned the favour in May 2023, inviting LeBlanc and Richard to Bad Hersfeld to meet his family.

“He and I have a special bond,” LeBlanc wrote on Twitter at the time. “Indeed, we have the exact same blood and immune system. Because three and a half years ago, he answered the call to donate some of his stem cells to a man whom he knew was very sick, but whose identity was not known to him at the time.”

For his part, Kehl told Reader’s Digest that should LeBlanc require more stem cells, he’s ready to donate again.

“I consider Mr. LeBlanc to be my genetic twin,” he said.

Last September, I had the pleasure of welcoming Jonathan Kehl to Canada. Jonathan is an exceptional young man from Bad Hersfeld, a town outside of Frankfurt, Germany – and today, his family welcomed Jolène and me as though we were family.

He and I have a special bond. pic.twitter.com/5a9R2XpAqB

— Dominic LeBlanc (@DLeBlancNB) May 24, 2023

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OTTAWA

— The interim leader of the federal NDP says that while the door may be shut to the party being granted official status in the House of Commons, he hopes other parties will grant it resources. 

Don Davies says that while he has not spoken to Prime Minister Mark Carney, federal New Democrats are having “fruitful discussions” and looking to see what is possible through the Board of Internal Economy, which manages the House of Commons’ resources.

“We’ve already made some progress,” Davies told reporters on Monday.

“For instance, we have access to the lobby. We kept our offices.”

These “little privileges,” as Davies puts it, are what the federal party now considers as wins after a general election, where the party was reduced to a mere seven seats, down from its previous 24.

It was the worst showing the federal party has had in a Canadian election. The last time it lost official party status was in 1993, when the NDP came away with only nine seats.

Besides reeling from the political blow that voters dealt the party, which saw Jagmeet Singh, its former leader, resign after placing third in his riding, the fact that New Democrats are returning to Parliament with only seven seats means it has lost many of the resources afforded to parties based on the size of their caucus.

Losing official party status means NDP MPs will be limited in how often they can ask the governing Liberals a question in the House of Commons, and will not automatically be reserved a place on parliamentary committees, where legislation flows before it is passed in the House of Commons.

While Davies said on Monday that it was “possible” for the governing Liberals to relax some of the rules around what constitutes official party status, as has been done at the provincial level across different legislatures, House Leader Steven McKinnon appeared cold to the idea.

“The law requires 12 members,” he told reporters earlier on Monday

Davies said the NDP is now looking to see what may be decided by the Board of Internal Economy, which has not yet been struck.

Even if no NDP MP ends up on that governing committee, it nonetheless has the power to dole out resources, said Davies.

“One of the arguments I’ve made is we’re a national party.”

“We had 1.2 million Canadians vote for us, and it’s important that we have the tools we need to function and discharge that responsibility.”

Given that the Liberals are operating in a minority Parliament with 169 members, Davies said the government will need to work with others, which is where the seven NDP MPs come in.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has already stated he has no plans to pursue a formal arrangement with the federal New Democrats, as his predecessor, former prime minister Justin Trudeau, did in March 2022, which saw the Liberals adopt some of the NDP’s priorities in exchange for the New Democrats passing government legislation.

The introduction of a national dental care program was one of the products of that deal, as was the beginnings of a universal pharmacare program.

Singh announced in September 2024 that the NDP was leaving the deal, which many of their MPs welcomed, given Trudeau’s increasing unpopularity.

During the recent federal election, Singh defended his decision not to trigger an election last fall, at one point saying that he could not

 “stomach the idea” of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who was then riding high in public opinion polls, potentially forming a majority government. 

The Conservatives’ nearly 20-point lead over the Liberals collapsed once the election got underway, as Carney replaced Trudeau as Liberal leader and Canadians’ minds had turned to the economic and sovereignty threats posed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Several weeks into the campaign, the New Democrats shifted their message to acknowledge the likelihood of the Liberals winning and asked voters to elect as many NDP MPs as possible.

The party has not yet announced details for its upcoming leadership race or plans to pursue a campaign review.

In Parliament, Davies said the NDP would focus its attention on affordability issues, such as affordable housing, as well as health care, and providing support for workers hurt by Trump’s trade war.

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OTTAWA – When King Charles III and Queen Camilla first set foot on Canadian soil, the Bloc Québécois was already considering one of its first private member’s bills: making the oath of allegiance to the King optional.

“It’s (Canadians’) party. It belongs to them. We’re not part of that party. You know, there are some who say the King is welcome. I won’t welcome him here,” said Xavier Barsalou-Duval as he was leaving the House of Commons after the election of a new speaker Monday.

Outside, a few kilometres from Parliament Hill, hundreds of Canadians were present to welcome the King and Queen.

The Bloc Québécois MP for Pierre-Boucher–Les Patriotes–Verchères cares deeply about the monarchy. He cares so much about it that he will champion one of his party’s first bills to be introduced this session: making the oath to the King optional when MPs are sworn in.

The idea behind the bill is to give MPs who wish to swear an oath to the King the opportunity to do so, and if they do not, they could swear an oath to the institution they represent.

“I won’t hide from you that for me, it was a humiliation and it’s the fourth time I’ve had to go through this,” he told National Post.

The humiliation, he said, is related to a “modern incarnation of the old British colonial authority.”

Barsalou-Duval spoke of the “atrocities” and “oppression” committed by the kingdom and emphasized that nothing can excuse events like the deportation of the Acadians.

The Bloc Québécois will therefore not send any MPs to the speech from the throne delivered by the King in the Senate on Tuesday. After proposing a bill to protect supply management, making the oath to the King optional is the party’s top priority.

Barsalou-Duval said that this bill would meet the apparent priorities of Mark Carney, who wanted to invite the King at the first opportunity.

“It’s a debate that never dies and why the subject never dies because we always ask ourselves the question each time why it’s still there,” the Bloc MP said.

His bill, he said, will be similar to the one introduced by former Liberal MP René Arseneault in 2024.

At the time, a majority of MPs rejected the proposal, but many federalist MPs voted in favour.

One of them was Joel Lightbound, the Liberal MP from Quebec City who was recently appointed minister of public works and procurement.

In 2022, Lightbound voted in favour of a Bloc Québécois motion to completely abolish the monarchy. He was the only Liberal MP to do so. Two years later, he even gave a speech in the House of Commons in support of Arseneault’s bill.

“We are not preventing anyone from swearing an oath to the monarchy. We are just offering another option for those who, like me, as a member from Quebec, are uncomfortable or have reservations about swearing allegiance to a foreign monarch,” he said.

This time, the new minister said he would vote with the cabinet, despite his personal views, but also added that “it is a beautiful symbol to see the King here.”

“I don’t know what the cabinet’s position will be… I’m really looking forward to the speech from the throne,” he told reporters on Parliament hill.

Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon did not say whether the government would support the Bloc Québécois bill and said he would not comment on bills until he had reviewed them. He nevertheless called the royal visit “rich in symbolism.”

“I think it’s a recognition of our origins as a French-speaking, English-speaking, and indigenous country. And I think and believe that the King will have some interesting things to tell us,” said MacKinnon, who is a Quebec MP.

The NDP said it was also awaiting the bill, and Quebec Conservative MP Gérard Deltell said he was “not a big fan” of the monarchy, adding that the issue will be debated when the bill is introduced.

With files from Catherine Lévesque

National Post

atrepanier@postmedia.com

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OTTAWA — Quebec Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia is the new speaker of the House of Commons, promising to bring back order and respect to the House as he presides over a new minority Parliament.

The longtime backbench MP was elected by his peers on Monday morning as the 39th speaker of the House of Commons during a jovial first sitting of the House of Commons since December.

It is unclear if the joviality will last in this minority Parliament as the final months of the Justin Trudeau government were tainted by a raucous and bellicose House marked by expulsions of MPs, mostly Conservative.

During his pitch to MPs before they voted for the speaker, Scarpaleggia said there must be limits to the attacks by Parliamentary opponents. After his election, he jokingly implored his colleagues to give him time to settle in before testing him.

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“There’s nothing wrong with a clean, even board-rattling, polemical body check in the corners. I’ve been at the receiving end of a few. Robust debate is fundamental to a robust democracy, and a robust democracy is what makes for resilience,” the longtime Liberal backbencher told MPs before his election.

“The problem is when sticks go high… Canadians want to see sticks on the ice, and it’s the responsibility of the speaker to make this so,” he continued. “I believe it possible to skillfully and convincingly dissect and refute an argument without recourse to personal invective or intimidation.”

After symbolically dragging the new speaker to his chair, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Opposition leader Andrew Scheer both wished Scarpaleggia well in his new role.

“I will make mistakes, and I have no doubt that you will call them out for good reason,” Carney said with a smile during his first ever address in the House of Commons.

“Mr. Speaker, we offer you our support,” said Scheer, noting that recent speakers have had to deal with a wide array of issues ranging from nudity to explicit language to

“flying elbows.”

“I did hear that CPAC was considering putting a warning on the daily broadcast may contain violence, coarse language and nudity,” he joked.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, interim NDP Leader Don Davies and Green Party head Elizabeth May also extended their best wishes to the new speaker.

Scarpaleggia defeated five of his Liberal colleagues to win the speakership: incumbent Greg Fergus, Sean Casey, Alexandra Mendès, Robert Oliphant and Sherry Romanado.

On Sunday evening, two Conservatives — Chris d’Entremont and John Nater — were also on the ballot. But the start of the election Monday morning, both Conservative candidates pulled out, paving the way for a Liberal MP to become speaker once again.

D’Entremont’s last-second retreat came as a surprise to many in the House, as late last week the veteran

Conservative MP pitched himself to National Post

as the voice of experience and reason for the job.

In many ways, the first day of a new Parliament looks and sounds like the first day back in school. Before the cameras turn on, MPs crowd the aisles to greet their colleagues of all political stripes, welcome neophytes, congratulate new cabinet members or even get in a quick chat with the prime minister.

Minutes before proceedings began, Carney and Opposition Leader in the House of Commons Andrew Scheer exchanged with a smile from their respective seats across the aisle.

The proceedings began with Bloc Québécois MP Louis Plamondon, a 41-year incumbent and the dean of the House, opening the new Parliament to preside over the speaker election.

But before, he shared a few words of wisdom acquired over four decades of federal politics.

“One piece of advice I’ve already given here in the House is, of course, to manage your frustrations,” he told new and veteran MP. “You may have questions like, ‘why wasn’t I appointed minister? Why wasn’t I appointed as a critic?’ But the feeling passes with time.”

His second piece of advice for newcomers was twofold: “speak up when you have something to say”, but also remember that when speaking to journalists, “one wrong word, and it changes your career.”

Peter Milliken, the longest-sitting Speaker in Commons history and

creator of the Speaker’s Scotch tradition

, overlooked the proceedings from the visitors’ gallery, even getting a shout out from Oliphant during his speech.

The six candidates were then given five minutes to pitch themselves to their colleagues. All promised to return decorum and respect in the House, though their methods differed.

Casey argued that there should have been “more expulsions” in the last Parliament over colleagues who defied the speaker or refused to withdraw unparliamentary language.

“What’s worse is that this lack of respect for Parliament has actually been used as ammunition to raise funds. Sadly, this demonstrates the current state of decline” of decorum, he said, adding that he aimed to “raise the bar” in how MPs treat each other.

Fergus, the incumbent speaker, pitched himself as the candidate of experience who knew how to manoeuvre in a minority Parliament. He admitted that he had made some faux pas during his tenure but compared himself to a “reliable car with experience” that now has a “couple of dents”.

“To be frank, it would have been a difficult time for anyone in that role,” he said of the last, raucous session where “tempers ran high, and cooperation ran low”.

Mendès, previously a deputy speaker who is currently undergoing treatments for cancer, said she would strive to bring more stability to the Commons and noted that a woman has never been elected speaker.

“This is the place where Canada’s most important conversations should be held, where we seriously debate and humorously disagree,” she said.

Oliphant promised to uphold Parliamentary dignity while having “zero tolerance” for unparliamentary behaviour, which he promised to crack down on “no matter where it comes from.”

Romanado promised to be “fair, firm and consistent” in upholding the rules of the House, while Scarpaleggia said he would be the defender of the backbenchers, which he has been all his political life.

After candidates finished their speeches, MPs lined up to fill out their vote in one of six booths in the centre aisle before dropping their ballot into an ornate wood box.

Carney cast his first ever speaker vote by putting his ballot into the box and then tapping twice on the slot as if to wish it safe travels.

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

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Last week, Canada Post received a strike notice from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) that was set to begin on May 23 if an agreement could not be reached. While the deadline to strike has passed, the union instead has implemented

a nationwide overtime ban

 while negotiations continue.

The ban went into effect last Thursday and is still in place at the start of this week. Canada Post workers have been called on to refuse to work more than eight hours in a day and more than forty hours in a week.

What happened last time Canada Post workers went on a strike?

The overtime ban is a legal strike action and all CUPW members must follow this direction, according to the union.

With negotiations ongoing between Canada Post and CUPW, here’s what to know.

What’s the latest in terms of negotiations between CUPW, Canada Post?

On Sunday, the union responded to new offers sent by Canada Post last week. Canada Post will review the union’s response in detail, it said in

a news release

.

The response comes after both parties met with federal mediation and conciliation services at a facility just outside of Ottawa over the weekend, the union said.

“All of this was done through the standard process in mediation called: the integrative approach,” the union said. “Documents and ideas exchanged during the integrative approach are confidential and cannot be used against that party at any subsequent arbitration or any other legal proceeding. This privacy allows both parties to talk about issues they may not otherwise entertain.”

What are some of the issues that remain unresolved between Canada Post, CUPW?

The union said it is still working on resolving issues such as wages, cost of living allowance, sick days, short-term disability program, workers compensation, compensatory time, relief staff, staffing, contracting out, weekend delivery, and part-time usage.

When will Canada Post respond to CUPW?

The union said it was informed that Canada Post had left the facility to review the documents later on Sunday afternoon.

“We were told they may respond within a few days. We would hope the Corporation is back to us as soon as possible,” the union said.

Meanwhile, Canada Post said it would “respond in short order,” because it was “now time for urgency,” after nearly two years of negotiations, a 32-day-long national strike in November of last year and the release of the

final report of the Industrial Inquiry Commission

. The report offers up recommendations on how the union and Canada Post can move forward.

Although talks continue, the nationwide overtime ban remains in effect.

How is Canada Post being affected?

The drawn out negotiations seem to be affecting Canada Post.

“The impact of the ongoing uncertainty on our business is significant, but the impact on the Canadian economy is greater,” the corporation said on Sunday. “By the end of last week our delivered parcel volumes were down by 50 per cent over this time last year and continue to drop.”

Alternative carriers have seen a surge in business inquiries as the uncertainty plaguing Canada Post and its workers looms,

Financial Post reported

. Stallion Express Inc., an e-commerce shipping service, told the publication that it has seen a 22 per cent spike in “inbound inquiries and new-account requests.”

• Canada Post strike: What happens to the parcels already accepted?
• Canada Post, union disagree over taking ‘five-minute wash-up time.’ Here’s what it is

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.