Trudeau Attacked on Both Sides over Throne Speech

Party leaders, including both O'Toole and Singh, have sounded the attack in response to last week's throne speech by the Governor-General.

O'Toole accused the Liberals of fuelling inflation with reckless spending during the pandemic. He suggested Trudeau doesn't understand the pressures average Canadians are under as the price of "everything" goes up because "he's never had to face pressures in his life."

Using this language of 'corruption', he accused Trudeau of also presiding over the "steepest decline in Canada-U.S. relations in the modern era" -- citing trade disputes, including last week's doubling of American duties on Canadian lumber.

"He wants Canadians to live in shame, he wants them to be ashamed of their past, ashamed of their identity, ashamed of their culture," O'Toole additionally added. "He would rather foster accusations and division and conflict rather than real dialogue and reconciliation. To him, patriotism is a problem."

On the other hand, Singh attacked the Liberal government for not addressing workers in energy sectors as Canada ends reliance on fossil fuels.

"A just transition means it's about fairness for workers, and it gives priority to workers. And it's vital that that plan is made clear and so far, this throne speech and what we've heard from this government does not provide that plan to workers," Singh said. "They're left behind and they're left uncertain about their future."

Trudeau responded to O'Toole angrily. "Unfortunately, he didn't really demonstrate all that much in the way of leadership so much as trying to score cheap political points," Trudeau told the House. He added that ending the pandemic is the best way to grow the economy, but threw in that "the Conservative Party won't even confirm how many of its MPs are vaccinated. That is simply not leading by example."

Conservative MP Dan Albas said he found Trudeau's speech "very partisan" and suggested O'Toole had got under his skin because his criticisms were valid. "I think Canadians want to see a little more statesmanship," Albas said.