page_title: 39th Canadian Parliament
section_title: Five priorities
hierarchical_section_title: 39th Canadian Parliament / Major events / Five priorities
caption_attribution_description: Original description by Ted Buracas: Stephen Harper at the Telus Convention Centre on January 23, 2006. He's just won a minority government, and is the Prime Minister elect. Description by the uploader: Stephen Harper gives his victory speech to party faithful in the Telus Convention Centre, Calgary, Alberta.
context_page_description: The 39th Canadian Parliament was in session from April 3, 2006 until September 7, 2008. The membership was set by the 2006 federal election on January 23, 2006, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections. The Parliament was dissolved on September 7, 2008, with an election to determine the membership of the 40th Parliament occurring on October 14, 2008.
  There were two sessions of the 39th Parliament:
context_section_description: Prime Minister Harper said he would move forward with his top five priorities from the campaign. At least four of these would require legislative action: the passage of a Federal Accountability Act in response to the sponsorship scandal; setting longer mandatory sentences; lowering the Goods & Services Tax to 6% (and eventually to 5%); giving $1,200 for parents per child under the age of 6; and negotiating with the provinces to shorten wait-times (this priority was replaced, post-election, with combating crime by creating more police officers). The child allowance and first GST were in place by July 1, 2006. On December 6, 2006, another issue many expected to arise in the first session of parliament did, in fact, come to the fore, when the government introduced a motion calling "on the government to introduce legislation to restore the traditional definition of marriage without affecting civil unions and while respecting existing same-sex marriages." The next day, the House defeated the motion by a vote of 175 to 123, with six cabinet ministers voting against it, and Harper declared the issue settled. (See Members of the 39th Canadian Parliament and same-sex marriage for more information.) and on January 1, 2008 the second GST reduction came into effect. The Federal Accountability Act received Royal Assent on December 12, 2006
caption: Stephen Harper is Prime Minister during the 39th Canadian Parliament. He is seen here giving his victory speech after the 2006 federal election which ended thirteen years of Liberal rule.
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