Thursday’s speech from the throne spoke pointedly of a renewed national agenda aimed at rectifying the issues of yesterday, prioritizing the issues facing Canadians today and addressing the challenges that lay ahead of us in the decades to come.

The speech opened by highlighting the differences in regional needs required across the country and established this government’s key measure of success as a desire to ensure future generations can look back proudly at the action taken by the leaders of today. The speech outlined ambitious climate action plans, economic development across sectors, continued progress toward reconciliation and Canada’s contributions to a changing international order.

As the adage tells us, what gets measured is most likely to get done. Timelines attached to ending long-term boil water advisories on reserves and jointly producing legislation implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the first year of the mandate were welcome declarations and deserve the attention.

There are complex and pressing issues in communities across our country, and our planet, that will require big thinking to overcome. If our government is truly to help Canadians thrive, there is too much work ahead to waste time with status quo thinking.

As Canadians gathered in remembrance of the 14 women lost to misogyny in Montreal during the 1989 anti-feminist attack at École Polytechnique, a gender-based violence action plan was prioritized and rightfully so. Violence against women as an issue is so prolonged in our society we sometimes lose the motivation to tackle it. There is still much work to do in communities across Canada, on campuses, as well as through continued implementation of the recommendations prepared by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The challenges that lay ahead are varied, we can all contribute to building a more racially just society throughout our public and private institutions. The speech noted the need to serve “Canadians of all genders, faiths, languages, customs, or skin colours.” We must continue to support communities seeking equal economic opportunity, equity and true inclusion.

The speech provided a timely commitment to leading in digital policy, with a particular focus on international ethics in artificial intelligence. This kind of far-sighted thinking will be needed to prepare Canada’s response toward a coming crisis of forced migrants due to climate-related disasters.

It was also promising to see continued targeted international development assistance with a focus on education and gender equality. As more girls around the world are empowered to thrive — and provided the support to succeed — every corner of this Earth becomes brighter.

I had the honour of spending election night volunteering alongside former Ontario MPP and minister, Bill Wrye. He reminded me of the importance of advocacy from within the political apparatus, noting, “You get what you advocate for.” The beauty of a minority parliament is that it presents a uniquely exciting time to be a rookie parliamentarian. Those prepared to be proactive and work together toward solutions will make their mark on history.

While throne speeches are usually meant to be a high level, agenda-setting opportunity, I look forward to reviewing the individual ministerial mandate letters for details and areas of focus that did not make it into the language of the speech — especially those of Bardish Chaggar, the new minister of diversity, inclusion and youth and Karina Gould, minister of international development.

I hope new and returning members of parliament can also take inspiration from the words of the late American writer Toni Morrison, “When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”

We can open the next decade looking for zingers and ways to trip up our political foes, or we can collaborate in the pursuit of solutions.

How will you contribute to a better Canada? And how will Canadians contribute to a better world? I hope over the course of the approaching new decade we can collectively write a chapter in our shared Canadian history that we can all be proud of.

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