THRONE SPEECHES IN CANADA tend to be relatively dull affairs, with the governor general reading a prepared speech in both official languages (with varying success), outlining in bland, bureaucratic language the government’s priorities and agenda for the new session of Parliament.

Tuesday’s iteration of the ceremony had a bit more pomp and glamour than usual: the sovereign of Canada, King Charles III, did the honours before a packed Senate chamber. Along with his wife Queen Camilla, the King had flown to Ottawa Monday for a quick 36-hour visit at the invitation of prime minister Mark Carney.

Charles’s visit comes at a fraught time for the country. A rapidly shifting and increasingly dangerous geopolitical order abroad, combined with deep regional fractures domestically, have raised sharp questions about Canada’s security, unity, and even sovereignty. And this all sits against the backdrop of a growing number of socio-economic problems that include a significant shortage of housing and of doctors, an immigration system that no longer serves the needs of the country, and widespread economic stagnation. By many measures, Canada has become a place where it is very hard to get anything built.

Helping fix these latter problems is the entire raison d’etre of Build Canada, which is why we were paying more attention than usual to the Speech from the Throne. We were curious to see what the government’s plan is for getting Canada building again, and if anything in the Throne speech goes beyond what we’ve heard thus far.

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The answer is, not really. At the level of both general direction and specific policies, the speech stuck for the most part to the suite of pledges and priorities that Carney has been emphasizing since even before he called the election.

And that is not necessarily a bad thing. As we noted in a previous dispatch, we are mostly aligned with the priorities outlined in Carney’s mandate letter. We like that the stated core mission of this government is to build the strongest economy in the G7, to “make one economy out of thirteen” by eliminating internal barriers to trade, and to work with willing provinces and territories to implement a system of “one project, one review” for major development projects, including what the speech described as “both clean and conventional energy.”

To a large extent, it struck us that this Throne speech was more overtly political than previous ones. In some parts, it seemed like it had an audience of precisely one person, who isn’t even Canadian. For example, the preamble to the speech noted the length and depth of the royal connection, while emphasizing Canada’s distinct constitutional status as well as its long historical alliance with Europe, where, the King pointedly noted, “Canadians fought and died alongside our closest allies.” A later passage, where the speech promised to increase security at the border to stop the smuggling into the United States of fentanyl and its precursors, was quickly followed by a promise to deploy helicopters, drones and K-9 teams to stop the flow of illegal weapons in the other direction. Ahem.

If there was nothing much new here, then at least we can give the Carney-led Liberal government points for consistency. Their election platform made clear their agenda, they have since doubled and now tripled down on its scope and ambition, and it is now time to start getting things done.

To that end, Build Canada is looking forward to the imminent launch of our newest product: an outcomes tracker that will monitor the progress of major federal policy initiatives on key Build Canada priorities. Watch this space for more information.

Some short things from the Throne Speech:

• Number of times the phrase “Build Canada” appears: 3

• Charles’s French is pretty good!

• It was interesting to see Stephen Harper seated next to Justin Trudeau.

• Trudeau’s choice of footwear for the occasion has caused outrage in the UK