OTTAWA - The speech from the throne, to be read Wednesday afternoon by Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean, will be a mix of bragging about the government's record steering Canada through the recession and a vision for a future where the Canadian economy is more productive and more reliant on so-called knowledge industries.

The speech, which kicks off the new parliamentary session, will also be a long one, a government official says, taking Ms. Jean at least an hour and possibly 90 minutes to read.

Like most throne speeches, the government will spell out, in broad terms, what its legislative agenda will be. But this throne speech is unique in that it comes the day before Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is to table the 2010-11 budget in the House of Commons.

The two documents, then, will form a kind of one-two punch: The throne speech will be longer on rhetoric and inspiration while the budget speech will be filled with the cold, hard facts of trying to deal with country's largest-ever deficit amid pressure to boost employment and maintain the economic recovery.

The speech, which carries the title, A Stronger Canada. A Stronger Economy. Now and For the Future, is expected to begin with a review of the Canadian economy's performance during the recession, a record Prime Minister Stephen Harper has often bragged about at international fora, most recently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, but also during trips last fall to China and India.

In Davos, for example, he pointed out Canada's banking sector has been ranked the soundest in the world for two years in a row and that no major Canadian financial institution required a government bailout during the recession, a noted contrast to most other industrialized countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.

And while hundreds of thousands of Canadians lost their jobs during the recession, the speech is likely to claim that, but for the government's economic action plan, job losses would have been much worse. Mr. Harper has made that point frequently, in response to reporters' questions or in speeches in Canada and abroad. He often notes, for example, that Canada's unemployment rate has been a full percentage point lower than that of the United States, the first time in a generation that has happened.

"Through targeted and temporary stimulus, our plan has been creating jobs now, when they are needed most, encouraging immediate economic activity in every part of Canada," Mr. Harper said in January in a speech in St. John's, N.L.

A section of the 6,000-word throne speech is widely expected to contain similar pats on the government's back.

Looking ahead to the future, the speech will spell out how the government will wind up its economic stimulus plan and, at the same time, try to help transform the Canadian economy through a mix of investments in new infrastructure, support for research and development, and skills training.

The speech, though, will also touch on a broad range of the Conservative government's policy priorities, including improving Arctic sovereignty, Senate reform, and its law-and-order agenda.

The speech will also confirm that once Canada's military mission in Afghanistan ends in 2011, Canada will continue to assist that country with civilian foreign aid.

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