What goes in a Throne Speech doesn't always come out. Our favorite example from the last one is the following: "My ministers are determined to achieve a national consensus . . . to reduce the persistent isolation of Canada's regions, to meet the challenges of economic and social disparity, to revitalize the strength of our traditional resource industries, such as agriculture, forestry, mining, the fishery, and tourism." The plight of the resource- dependent regions has, if anything, worsened in the intervening two years.