100 day clock already ticking on Liberals’ promises to introduce host of bills

The Liberals promised more than a dozen initiatives in their election platform — including the introduction or reintroduction of at least eight bills — within the first 100 days.

After getting off to an arguably slow start since winning re-election on Sept. 20, Justin Trudeau‘s Liberal government appears poised to go into hyperdrive with next week’s resumption of Parliament.

The Liberals promised more than a dozen initiatives in their election platform — including the introduction or reintroduction of at least eight bills — within the first 100 days of a new mandate.

That 100-day clock started ticking on Oct. 26 as soon as the prime minister’s new cabinet was sworn in.

The government will have lost almost 30 days by the time the new session of Parliament opens next Monday.

And it will have only 24 sitting days in which to get things done in the House of Commons before the clock runs out on Feb. 3 — with the first two days essentially lost since they must be devoted to electing a Speaker and delivering a throne speech.

The Commons is scheduled to sit for only four weeks before breaking for the holiday season on Dec. 17, and MPs won’t return until Jan. 31.

If the Liberals intend to keep their promises for the first 100 days — and they insist they do — that spells a crammed legislative agenda for the few weeks the House will be sitting before the new year.

“We have a very aggressive agenda to get to in the coming weeks and that’s what we’re focused on,”  government House leader Mark Holland said last week following the Liberals’ first post-election caucus meeting.