This is from the Brandon Sun. As I mentioned in a earlier post this shows that the speech will violate at least two of Dion's former conditions for passing the speech. Harper will not bring back the amended environmenta bill nor will he commit to ending the combat mission in Afghanistan by Feb. 2009. Now Dion is going to swallow his principles and pride because he is frightened of the electorate. Somehow Liberal strategists think that this is a great way to buy time. Buy time to either swallow even more crap as Harper ladles it out or else go to the polls anyway.
The Conservatives are going to consider most every bill one of confidence. In effect they are telling the opposition they are going to govern as if they had a majority. The Liberals are not only going to look like total unprincipled cowards. That is exactly what they will be. Do they really think they can ever get better polls by such suicidal actions or are they seeking defeat to dump Dion.
Dion claims that people underestimate him. I sure did. I thought he had a lot more sense and more gumption and wouldn't let himself be led around by his enemies and put them in places of power.
Harper aims to turn up political heat on Dion with throne speech
OTTAWA - With his chief opponent down, Prime Minister Stephen Harper appears set to use Tuesday's throne speech to deliver a few swift kicks to the Liberal party in places that hurt.
Government insiders suggest the speech - which reopens Parliament and lays out the Conservatives' plans - is designed to embarrass and neutralize the Liberals on key issues they hope to campaign on eventually, such as Kyoto and Afghanistan.
They say Harper has put on paper what has been saying since he was elected: that the government will not meet its climate-change commitments under the Kyoto accord, but it will take action to cut greenhouse gases.
Harper will also remain committed to the Afghanistan mission, while restating that there will be a parliamentary debate on the issue after his hand-picked panel reports back with its recommendation on the future of the deployment.
Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has said he will oppose the speech if it's too extreme - a move that would bring down the minority Conservative government, given that the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois have already suggested they'll vote against it.
But with the Tories well ahead in the polls and the Liberals struggling in public opinion and fundraising, Dion's troops admit privately that they will glumly accept the political beating and almost certainly allow the speech to pass.
One senior Liberal said the most likely option for Dion is having some front-bench MPs vote against the throne speech while backbench MPs abstain.
"It would have to be completely disgusting (for us to oppose it)," said the senior Liberal.
"I mean, it would pretty much have to say, 'We're staying in Afghanistan until 2020.' "
The Tories hope to pressure Dion into either rushing into an election or risk losing credibility on his party's dearest issues.
The Liberals counter that the throne speech is only a blueprint, and they'll make their stand when it comes to legislation.
Conservatives dangled the election option in front of Dion on Monday, repeating Harper's suggestion that even if the current Parliament survives the throne speech vote, the Tories plan to keep calling the shots.
The Conservatives would rather talk about major tax cuts and get-tough-on-crime initiatives, which the throne speech will also signal.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Monday that the speech herald tax cuts and fewer internal trade barriers.
And Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has said he will crack down on gun crimes and juvenile offenders.
"The Dion Liberals can either support those priorities by endorsing the government's mandate to continue getting things done, or alternatively trigger an election," Industry Minister Jim Prentice wrote in an e-mail.
"Continued Liberal obstruction in the Parliament of Canada will not be an alternative and support for the throne speech will be taken as support for the government's agenda."
That sort of majority-government talk from a minority government means Dion might find himself in the untenable position of having to rescue Harper on every confidence vote while the NDP and Bloc oppose him.
The first test could occur as early as Thursday, in a vote on a Bloc Quebecois sub-amendment to the throne speech.
While that motion is only a matter of confidence if Harper declares it to be so, a vote next week on the full throne speech is necessarily a make-or-break affair for the government.
As for Afghanistan, Harper has already demonstrated publicly how he intends to insulate himself against the thorny issue in the event of a fall election campaign.
Last week, he named former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley to lead a panel that will spend the next few months examining Canada's future options in the war-torn country.
The throne speech is expected to refer to that process and promise a parliamentary debate on Canada's options beyond 2009.
The Liberals and Bloc are calling for a pullout by 2009 from Canada's current combat role in Kandahar, and the NDP wants an immediate end to the deployment
The House of Commons order paper served notice Monday of other potential headaches ahead for Dion.
It declared that the first item of business in the new Parliament will be the security certificates used to detain and deport non-citizens suspected of terrorism.
The Supreme Court of Canada struck them down earlier this year as a violation of fundamental rights - and the government appears set to bring in a modified version.
The NDP and the Bloc will almost certainly vote against the new measures and, if Harper declares them a matter of confidence, Dion may find himself stuck quickly with yet another dilemma.
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