The pre-show for the Speech From the Throne wound up being a pretty exciting affair – first, a dust-up between PMO and journalists after PMO decided that only cameras could observe his speech to caucus but not reporters, to which most media outlets declared no reporters, no cameras, leaving only SunTV sending in a camera. Not that it mattered, as Harper’s account tweeted out the whole speech, once again bypassing the traditional media. And then, even more gallingly, the Conservative Party sent out a fundraising letter to members crying victim, that the mainstream media had hit a new low with their treatment of the party. No, seriously. As if that wasn’t enough excitement, shortly thereafter, there was a bomb threat at the Langevin Block – home of the PMO – where there was a suspicious package and someone taken into custody. A police robot was sent into the building to render the package “safe” before people were allowed back in.

When the show did get underway, it was largely lacklustre. The hour-long speech was pretty much a collection of trite and tired talking points, with few surprises, but some of them were pretty surprising. The Coles Notes version is here, but the only things that really were surprising were the confirmation that the EU Free Trade Agreement is ready to be finalised (to the consternation of dairy farmers, and for which Harper is taking off to Brussels to finalise), and a ridiculously populist announcement that life sentences “will be for life,” which almost certainly won’t survive a Charter challenge. The promise to table balanced budget legislation is a showy bit of nonsense (especially with the caveat of “in normal economic times), considering that it’s proven useless in provinces where it’s been implemented, like Alberta and BC, but it’s all about trying to tie the hands of future governments. Amidst other populist “consumer” measures, most of which have been lifted from the opposition, they have included mention of proposals to fight “genetic discrimination” – because apparently we’re living in Gattaca.

In response to points in the Speech From the Throne, economist Mike Moffatt talks about what the effect of attempting to reduce the price gap with the US would have on our monetary policy – no, really – and evaluates the efficacy of the “consumer-friendly” proposals, while economist Andrew Leach pays particular attention to the talk of pipelines, resource jobs, and “polluter pay.” PostMedia rounds up some expert commentary on the measures proposed in the Speech. John Geddes takes note of reruns, patriotism and pivots. Andrew Coyne points out how very thin the whole thing was in trying to protect the party base. Paul Wells turns some of the best phrases in his own analysis – “What a breathtaking spout of free-associating bloviation. What an epic ramble.” Sounds right to me.

The NDP are now hoping to pre-empt the response to the Throne Speech by raising a point of privilege to allege that Harper misled the House in regards to questions about Nigel Wright and Mike Duffy, despite Harper pleading ignorance in the past.

With the EU trade deal being finalised comes talk of lifting visa restrictions against the Czech Republic. Of course, since those restrictions were put into place, the government has cracked down on the refugee system and made it harder for claimants from that country – no matter how legitimate, and there are plenty of legitimate cases, especially among marginal populations like the Roma.

Paul Wells takes note of some of Justin Trudeau’s ideas for helping the middle class when it comes to seniors and youth unemployment – but finds the logical consistency somewhat lacking.

Ruh-roh! Green Party deputy leader and candidate in the Bourassa by-election Georges Laraque is now facing fraud charges. He protests his innocence, of course.

Marc Garneau has some thoughts about Gravity (but not many, because he doesn’t want to get too technical and be a spoiler).

And Nick Taylor-Vaisey maps the four federal party leaders’ summer tours across the country.

Up today: The first Question Period of the new session – minus Harper as he jets off to Brussels to conclude the European Free Trade Agreement, plus the Information Commissioner’s annual report.