Random Thoughts on the Throne Speech

I found several parts of the Throne speech surprising.

Given that Harper already has set up an "eminent" panel to report to him on Afghanistan, I found it very surprising that the speech said that Canadians should remain in Afghanistan until 2011 to train the Afghan army and police. This obviously precludes a complete pullout in 2009 or even just some other type of aid programme that excludes this.
It surely indicates that the panel is a wheel that is turning nothing except to run over the Liberals. If the mission after 2009 Feb is to do this why do we need an "eminent" panel at all?

Another part I found surprising was the stress on removing interprovincial trade barriers. This is part of the SPP agenda of course and also of TILMA. It is the agenda of the cabal that met at Montebello. Commentators after the speech simply ignored this. That of course is not surprising at all.

The hot air on the environment and the remarks about Kyoto were as I expected.
The crime omnibus bill is a stroke of genius. If Dion decides to let the throne speech pass then the next phase will be that Harper will dump the omnibus crime bill in his lap and to use Harper's phraseology make Dion fish or cut bait..The opposition will be forced to fight a campaign in which they are all dubbed as soft on crime and criminals.
Watching Ignatieff be the spokesperson for the Liberals makes me wonder if Dion has already been deposed by the Liberal kingmakers. Ignatieff even told the press what Dion must do. Canadians do not want an election. Liberals must be responsible as an opposition. Did Dion sanction this sort of garbage? Why did he not appear himself as did Duceppe and Layton. Neither of them had any trouble articulating their position.

I understand that Dion himself actually wants to vote against the Throne Speech. He should but at the same time he should get rid of those around him who are doing nothing but undercut him. If the Liberal grass roots insists that everyone rally around Dion or hit the road Dion could very well pull his chestnuts out of the fire, or fish and surprise everyone by catching the Big One.