As Parliament Opens, Canada's Leader Promises the Basics

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CANADA'S Parliament opened Tuesday, a grand event with formalities that included a period-dressed Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod rapping on the door of the Senate chambers to gain admission for members of the House of Commons. The members of Parliament filed in and shortly thereafter, Governor-General Ramon Hnatyshyn, the Queen of England's representative to Canada, launched the 35th Parliament in Ottawa with the traditional Throne Speech, authored by Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

But the ornate preliminaries contrasted sharply with the 17-minute, no-frills speech outlining the Chretien government's agenda. Normally 45 minutes to an hour long, the new …