I was asked to speak about Canadian politics. It may not be true, but it’s legendary that if you’re like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians.
Canada is in budgetary deficit now only because of the recession, only because of stimulus measures, and we will come out of it. We will go back into surplus position when the economy recovers. So there is no need in Canada to raise taxes.
I just think it would be unrealistic to suggest we’re going to eliminate every last domestic insurgent in Afghanistan. Certainly, the history of the country would indicate that’s not a very realistic objective, and I think we have to have realistic objectives.
If we are willing to be still and open enough to listen, wilderness itself will teach us.
Our relationship with nature is more one of being than having. We are nature: we do not have nature.
What the government has to do, if it wants to govern for any length of time, is it must appeal primarily to the third parties in the House of Commons to get them to support it.
We’re not going to scrap the budget and make up some totally new platform the day after the election. So it’s certainly willingness to compromise but we’re not going back on the fundamental things we’re running on in this campaign.
We should have been there shoulder to shoulder with our allies. Our concern is the instability of our government as an ally. We are playing again with national and global security matters.
I think first and foremost everybody should understand that Canadians are strongly committed to the system of universal health insurance, to the principle that your ability to pay does not determine your access to critical medical service.
The Leader of the Opposition’s constitutional obligation – the obligation to Parliament – it’s the reason we did the merger! – is to make sure Canadians have an alternative for government.
It was probably not an appropriate term, but we support the war effort and believe we should be supporting our troops and our allies and be there with them doing everything necessary to win.
Canada remains alienated from its allies, shut out of the reconstruction process to some degree, unable to influence events. There is no upside to the position Canada took.
Look, I think the worst case scenario is obvious. I think first of all it doesn’t work for very long. It’s an unstable government that raises taxes and destroys the image we’re building for Canada as a strong place to invest.
I don’t know if for sure in absolute terms if Jim Flaherty is the best Finance Minster in the world, but I am sure that he is the best Finance Minster per inch in the world.
There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept.
Faith teaches that there is a right and wrong beyond mere opinion or desire. Most importantly, it teaches us that freedom is not an end in itself, that how freedom is exercised matters as much as freedom itself.
I think I have been perfectly clear in saying that I hope Canadians do elect a majority government. I think this cycle of election after election, minority after minority is beginning to put some of the country’s interests in serious jeopardy.
Buying pollution credits is folly; it doesn’t help the environment. Instead of using tax dollars to buy credits overseas, we’ll use them at home.
I intend to lead my party, which is the only party that has a serious policy on the No. 1 priority of the people and that is the economy.
Redirect federal spending aimed at fulfilling the terms of the increasingly irrelevant Kyoto Protocol.