On October 16th, Parliament started up again for the fall season with the Speech from the Throne. A few of the elements in the Speech from the Throne tended to dominate the news cycle: the comprehensive crime bill, a restatement of the Arctic sovereignty strategy, and enhanced environmental protections were in the forefront. There were other things that the government stated in the Speech from the Throne, and I would like to mention a few of them.

First, we are going take another run at scrapping the long-gun registry. The three opposition parties continue to be firm supporters of the registry, and they all opposed Bill C-21, our first attempt to scrap the registry. While I don’t know if we can gather the votes to overturn the registry, but we will certainly continue to try.

Mining also got a mention in the Speech from the Throne. This is important to a province like Saskatchewan which produces potash, uranium, and oil & gas. Mining has produced good jobs for Saskatchewan. The pledge by the government to eliminate unnecessary red tape for mining projects will help create more of those good jobs in Canada.

Finally, the government will make sure that the Canadian Human Rights Act will be enforced on reserves. The fact that Aboriginal people don’t have the protections that all other Canadians enjoy is a disgrace and we as a government cannot have two separate sets of laws for Canadians. All Canadians deserve protection under the law, both on and off reserves.

Other issues (namely tax cuts) got a mention in the Speech from the Throne but that is a topic for another day.

I’m Brad Trost, your MP for Saskatoon-Humboldt. I welcome your feedback, contact my offices anytime. You can contact my office at (306) 975-6133.