Conservatives look to regain message control in next week’s Throne Speech

OTTAWA, Ont. – There is no doubt next week’s Throne Speech will be a tough sell for the federal Conservatives, as the party deals with several ethical scandals.

The speech will be part of an effort for the government to reset its image and agenda leading up to the next federal election in 2015.

Recent weeks have seen charges laid against Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former Parliamentary secretary, while court documents have revealed new allegations and details in the RCMP investigation against senators Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau.

Communications expert Allan Bonner says when a political party is faced with stories of investigation after investigation, it can be an uphill battle.

“There’s no doubt that this is a bit of a tougher moment in the history of the Conservative government,” Bonner told 680News. “There are always difficult throne speeches and difficult times in the life of a government.”

He says adding to the difficulty is “the clutter in the multichannel universe [including the Twitterverse],” and when opposition parties have an interesting issue.

However, “this just ups the ante – this government has to write a throne speech that is going to captivate people’s attention.”

Bonner believes the government may have a good strategy to turn Canadians’ focus to another issue, as the throne speech is expected to touch on a number of consumer friendly initiatives, such as an air passenger bill of rights or reducing cell phone costs.

“People – when they’re living their lives – are interested in the day-to-day challenges that they face,” he said, adding that kitchen table issues are usually more important to average Canadians than constitutional reforms for the Senate.

“All politics is local. How does it look where the rubber meets the road on your street in your bank account, and so this is just great politics.”

While populist measures may steal headlines for a while, the scandals the Conservatives are facing may eventually go before the courts. In that case, the throne speech may only be able to shelter the government for a short amount of time.

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