Throne speech underscores Canada's sovereignty, commits to joining ReArm Europe

Prime Minister Mark Carney's government confirmed Tuesday it is joining Europe's massive new rearmament plan.

Reading the speech from the throne — which lays out the government's policy priorities — King Charles said Ottawa will protect Canada's sovereignty by building up the military and engaging with ReArm Europe, a major defence procurement plan designed to ramp up arms production on the continent.

Joining ReArm Europe could reduce Canada’s reliance on the U.S. as a source of military equipment — at a time when the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is pressing a trade war with much of the world and calling for Canada's annexation.

“The government will protect Canada’s sovereignty by rebuilding, rearming and reinvesting in the Canadian Armed Forces,” King Charles said, reading from the speech.

Tuesday's speech from the throne officially opened the new Parliament following the April election. It's the first throne speech to be delivered by a sitting British monarch in Canada in nearly 50 years.

The speech mentioned "sovereignty" multiple times and ended on a note of national pride: "As the anthem reminds us, the true North is indeed strong and free."

Reading from the text, King Charles said Canada faces "unprecedented challenges" and is at a “critical moment,” as the system of global trade that made the country prosper undergoes a shift and its relationships with its key allies come under pressure.

He said the world has become “a more dangerous and uncertain place" than at any point since the Second World War, but while Canadians feel anxious about the future, the moment also brings an "opportunity for renewal."

"A confident Canada, which has welcomed new Canadians — including from some of the most tragic global conflict zones — can seize this opportunity by recognizing that all Canadians can give themselves far more than any foreign power on any continent can ever take away," he said.

While sovereignty was the key word of the day, the 23-page speech — titled "Building Canada Strong" — also called for accelerated home construction and actions to restore affordability, and used the word "build" 30 times.

The speech said the government means to quickly implement several marquee election promises, including a "middle class" cut to the lowest income tax bracket and the elimination of the GST from sales of homes at or less than $1 million to first-time homebuyers.

The speech commits the government to quickly introducing legislation to remove all federal barriers to internal trade and labour mobility by Canada Day. And it promises to reconfigure the approval process for infrastructure projects to fast-track projects of "national significance."

The speech also promises to do all of these things in a new climate of "fiscal discipline."

Interim NDP Leader Don Davies said the speech was not “worker-centred.” He pointed out that the words “health care” and “Indigenous housing” were absent from it, as was any mention of protections for workers affected by U.S. tariffs.

"It also struck me as a bit of a Conservative-lite throne speech," Davies told reporters in West Block afterward, adding that many provisions in the speech could "easily have been written by a Conservative government."

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the speech was heavy on slogans and light on details, and he would have written a different one.

"One slogan dealt with controlling government spending, but there were no specific savings to roll back the morbidly obese Liberal government's costs," Poilievre said. "We saw promises about getting things built, but no mention of oil and gas or pipelines."

Asked if he will support the speech from the throne, Poilievre said his party will put forward a "constructive amendment that will add very specific plans."

Calling on the government to repeal its offshore shipping ban and electric vehicle mandate, Poilievre said the Conservatives will put forward an amendment stating the Liberals should repeal Bill C-75, which overhauled the country's bail system.

The NDP will discuss whether to support the speech at its caucus meeting on Wednesday.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick