The Yukon's Liberal MP would join his party in abstaining from the House of Commons vote on the Speech from the Throne if the party's proposed amendments to the speech aren't accepted by the House of Commons.

'It's a fairly obvious step,' Larry Bagnell said this morning from Ottawa, of the amendments proposed by his party to Tuesday's Speech from the Throne.

If the NDP and Bloc Quebecois don't accept the Liberal amendments as proposed, the party would abstain from voting, Bagnell said.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion said yesterday that rather than voting against the speech, which could bring down the minority government and force a federal election, he would propose amendments to it.

Among them would be a recognition of past Liberal programs and ending the military combat mission in Afghanistan in 2009 as scheduled, rather than the 2011 date proposed in the throne speech.

Bagnell isn't likely to support an amendment proposed by the Bloc Quebecois to one of the Liberal amendments over federal spending in the provinces.

The Liberals proposed an option for provincial/territorial governments to allow them to use federal dollars toward their own programs where they can show they have a similar initiative to what the federal government was putting the money to.

For example, if the federal government was going to spend money on housing in a region, the territory could ask that the money goes to a housing program offered there. If they turn out to be the same, the territory could use those funds.

The Bloc Quebecois, Bagnell explained , is proposing an amendment to the Liberal suggestion that would not require the provinces to show they have a similar program.

The Bloc also names the Liberals along with the Conservatives as being responsible for not meeting the Kyoto protocol targets for greenhouse gas reduction.

'I think that would be hard to support,' he said.

Before Dion took a stance on the speech, Bagnell stated there is both good and bad in the document.

Yesterday in the house, he asked a number of questions, he said, again pointing to both positive and negative aspects he saw in the government's direction.

'I'm being objective,' he said.

Included in his queries was one for NDP Leader Jack Layton questioning why Layton had taken a stance against the speech even prior to it being read.

'It was just a minor skirmish,' Bagnell said, recalling Layton's response that Bagnell was supporting the Conservative government in pointing out the positive and questioning the lack of support for the speech.