Highlights from the 2017 speech from the throne include:
Primary industries:
- Develop a food cluster to underline P.E.I. as Canada’s Food Island
- Invest in new product development and export for agriculture & fisheries
- Extend tourism marketing to key locations in U.S., Europe and Asia
Health
- Suicide prevention strategy, developed by CMHA
- Children’s wellbeing report later this year
- Develop legislation for legal marijuana
Education
- Review student assessments
- Strengthen collaboration with education advisory councils
- Implement recommendations of Child Protection Act review
Related: Throne speech pledges tip-to-tip fibre network for P.E.I.
Culture
- Five-year plan for culture and creative industries
- New creative industry market development program to grow sector
Infrastructure
- Capital budget with extensive spending in infrastructure renewal across P.E.I.
- New high-speed internet fibre network
- New housing strategy over the next year, starting with housing supply task force
Environment
- Carbon pricing approach, details to be announced later
- Carbon mitigation strategy and carbon adaptation plan, coming early 2018
- Direct supports to encourage Islanders to shift to electricity consumption
Poll: What did you think of the speech from the throne?
Population
- Further steps to maximize retention rates for new immigrants
- Seniors program to fund practical services like snow removal, housekeeping
- Poverty reduction strategy in 2018, starting with new advisory council
Transparency
- Re-table lobbyist registry bull and whistleblower legislation
- New mandate letters for cabinet ministers
- Review and update Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
- “Powerful” new open data platform
Electoral reform
- Referendum legislation to hold new vote on electoral reform
- Create map showing how mixed-member proportional representation looks geographically
- Discussion document on political donation reform
