An incoming Liberal majority government will move forward with an ambitious agenda and open Parliament with a speech from the throne before the end of the year even as he is schedule to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila aside from his other international commitments.
But this will happen only after Trudeau returns from a busy travel schedule of international events including the Group of 20 summit in Turkey and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
Before the Paris meeting, he is also expected to attend the Commonwealth meeting in Malta, where he would meet the Queen, whom he first met when he was a child and his father was prime minister.
The new agenda will follow next week’s swearing in of a new Liberal cabinet, marking the official transition of power after nearly a decade of Conservative Party rule.
The Liberals will also consider asking the Supreme Court for at least an additional six months to come up with new laws around doctor-assisted suicide, the source said.
The court ruled that in specific cases terminally ill adults have the right to ask a doctor to help them die, giving Ottawa until February 6 to amend the current law.
“One year is hardly enough,” Trudeau said earlier this year when he introduced a Liberal motion calling on the House of Commons to take action on physician-assisted death.
The Liberal government’s general program for the parliamentary session that will follow is expected to include proposed legislation to lower taxes on the middle class and a plan to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees, a senior Liberal source revealed.
Meanwhile, in Manila the public was advised to plan their trips and bring extra patience as the government plans to close certain roads and implement no-fly zones in Metro Manila when Asia Pacific leaders gather for an annual summit from November 16 to 20.
Malacañang announced that the government will implement traffic and rerouting scheme in Metro Manila during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economic leaders’ week for security purposes. A daytime truck ban and a no-fly zone will also be enforced on specific dates during the regional summit in Manila.
“We are hoping for the public’s understanding. These changes are necessary to ensure the security of our APEC visitors, and to decongest their routes as they travel between venues,” Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a Palace press briefing.
Lacierda said special APEC lanes would be established along EDSA and Roxas Boulevard.
For EDSA, only APEC vehicles will be allowed on the innermost two lanes of both the northbound and southbound sides. All other lanes, however, will remain open for non-APEC vehicles.
“For Roxas Boulevard, only APEC vehicles will be allowed on the southbound side, while the entire northbound side – which will be made two-way – will remain open for non-APEC vehicles,” Lacierda said.
He said some roads around the CCP Complex and MOA Arena will also be closed to traffic for security purposes.
Manila will host this year’s APEC leaders’ summit on November 18 and 19, which have already been declared special non-working days.
APEC members
Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States.
