OTTAWA — The Liberals made big promises in the last election campaign about rebuilding the economy. Tuesday’s throne speech repeats those promises, but doesn’t explain how or when the re-elected government plans to achieve them.

Before the newly sitting Commons breaks for Christmas, Liberal house leader Mark Holland said their priorities are to pass bills revising pandemic benefits, restricting protests at COVID-19 vaccination sites and medical facilities, mandating sick leave for federally regulated workers and cracking down on “conversion therapy.” That means much of the economic heavy lifting will come in the new year.

Tuesday’s speech focuses on health measures and worker supports designed to see Canada through the end of the pandemic, the emergency response to the devastating British Columbia floods, combating racism and hate, and promoting Indigenous reconciliation. It’s lighter on business-focused content. 

Here’s what the Liberals’ agenda-setting throne speech had to say about their most urgent plans for the economy.

What’s in there:

Some of the strongest language in the speech is on climate change: it talks about making Canadian industry “leaders in producing the world’s cleanest steel, aluminum, building products, cars, and planes.” It pledges to “go further, faster” with caps on emissions from oil and gas, investments in public transit and zero-emissions vehicle mandates. At the same time, with British Columbia still flooded (and more rain on the way), the Liberals promise to work on preparing for and preventing floods, wildfires, droughts, erosion and “other extreme weather worsened by climate change.”

In the election campaign, each of the parties tried to outdo the others with promises to make housing more affordable; it’s a key issue for workers and the companies trying to attract them. The throne speech calls it one of the government’s two major priorities, alongside child care, and reiterates plans for supports for first-time buyers and a fund to help municipal governments build more housing.

Similarly, on child care the government said it will keep working on agreements with the two remaining provinces and two territories without deals for federal money to support $10-a-day care. Ontario, the last big holdout, has talks scheduled for tomorrow, according to Education MInister Stephen Lecce.

Trying to make housing and child care more affordable are connected to the speech’s one nod to the consumer price index’s recent acceleration, which is a single sentence: “​​​​Inflation is a challenge that countries around the world are facing.”

During the campaign, the Liberals pledged to re-introduce legislation to bring international streaming services under the authority of the CRTC and new measures to tackle online harms; policy experts have criticized both efforts as overreaching and unworkable. The speech promises to “reintroduce legislation to reform the Broadcasting Act and ensure web giants pay their fair share for the creation and promotion of Canadian content” and to “continue to fight harmful content online.”

Separate from the throne speech, Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said Tuesday that reintroducing a version of Bill C-10, which will impose rules for streaming services, is a top priority for him even though it isn’t on Holland’s pre-Christmas wish list. “We’ll see what’s possible,” Rodriguez said in French. “My instructions to my officials and my team are to move as fast as possible.” 

What isn’t in there:

While the speech is titled “Building a Resilient Economy,” it makes scant mention of businesses or policies and programs designed with them in mind. 

Following a blockbuster April budget that expanded the Liberals’ flagship AI, R&D and venture capital programs and proposed new national strategies for quantum and genomics, the party’s election platform focused on long-standing innovation challenges like reforming the scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) tax incentive. The throne speech did not reflect any of those promises.

During the campaign, the Liberals also promised to revive their bill overhauling the rules governing consumer data and to act on online competition. Those didn’t make it into the speech, but earlier this month, a senior government official told The Logic the government does plan to table privacy legislation in the new Parliament, though it has not publicly set a timeline.

What happens next:

The Bloc Québécois’ Yves-François Blanchet said his party will allow the throne speech and the Liberals’ proposed amendments to pandemic benefits to pass. That removes any suspense about the Liberals’ holding onto power and, incidentally, any other party’s leverage to demand changes.

The Liberals haven’t specifically pledged the customary fall economic update to bridge the gap between the election and a full budget in the new year, but they have previously said they would use one to announce results of consultations on issues like credit-card interchange fees. Specifics on election promises such as raising taxes on banks could be included there, too. The Liberals have also traditionally released the mandate letters that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sends his ministers, which signal their priorities for the new Parliament.