Leaders Of The Official Opposition Canada

"I learned early that business is business and politics is politics. The proof is how few important businessmen have made good politicians. They may think that they are very smart about everything because they made millions of dollars by digging a hole in the ground and finding oil, but the talent and luck needed to become rich are not the same talent and luck needed to succeed on Parliament Hill."

"Besides my religious commitment, the greatest single factor that has enabled me to pursue my business and political objectives has been the security and freedom of my home."

"The art of politics is learning to walk with your back to the wall, your elbows high, and a smile on your face. It's a survival game played under the glare of lights."

"Most Canadians don't understand the House of Commons. They turn on their televisions, see us yelling at one another, and dismiss us as a bunch of fools."

"A successful politician must not only be able to read the mood of the public, he must have the skill to get the public on his side. The public is moved by mood more than logic, by instinct more than reason, and that is something that every politician must make use of or guard against"

"The founders of the CCF were called communists. And Social Credit was frequently portrayed as a dangerous mixture of monetary unorthodoxy, religious fundamentalism, and grassroots fascism. It therefore came as no surprise tha the Reform Party was labelled, particularly in the early stages, as "fringe", "extremely right wing", potentially racist, and seperatist."

"My first official consulting job, therefore, was for a scrap metal dealer (he resented the term "junk dealer") in East Edmonton named Benny Sugarman."

"I've never believed in seeking perfection at the risk of losing everything."

"Economics has been called the dismal science. Once you get to understand it, you may not find it so dismal, but you don't find it much of a science either."

"Nothing disturbs me more than superficiality and mere sloganizing on matters of public policy, and the suspicion that what the speaker is saying represents the full extent of his knowledge on the subject."

"The Prime Minister was the first of the leaders from other lands who was invited to call upon me shortly after I entered the White House; and this is my first trip--the first trip of my wife and myself outside of our country's borders. It is just and fitting, and appropriate and traditional, that I should come here to Canada--across a border that knows neither guns nor guerrillas."

"Some wonder why I have such a feeling of concern over the imposition of the death penalty. I ask those who wonder how would you feel if you defended a man charged with murder, who was as innocent as any hon. member in this House at this very moment, who was convicted; whose appeal was dismissed, who was executed; and six months later the star witness for the Crown admitted that he, himself, had committed the murder and blamed it on the accused? That experience will never be effaced from my memory."

"Everyone is against me - except the people!"

"There can be no dedication to Canada's future without a knowledge of its past."

"I was criticized for being too much concerned with the average Canadians. I can't help that; I am one of them!"

"Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong."

"I have an intensive hatred for discrimination based on colour."

"I am not anti-American. But I am strongly pro-Canadian."

"Well, Mr. Prime Minister, I can't waste any more time on you. I must get back to work."

"I am a Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship God in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind."

"He's been class all the way, a total team player. We couldn't have asked for more."

"The greatest foreign minister in Canadian history except for Lester Pearson...the person who tried first of all to get rid of the deficit...the credit for the fight in trying to get rid of the deficit belongs to Joe Clark and John Crosbie, and yet they are scorned."

"I do more than reflect and respect this country, I fight for it...the question for Canadians is "Can we win?" Yes, we can win except when we are fighting ourselves."

"Mr. Speaker, as I was saying on November 27, 1979, before I was so rudely interrupted..."

"It has been my ironic lot to be seen as both a statesman and a scrapper. The statesman is the more respectable reputation. But the scrapper is what these last four years have required."

"We will not take this nation by stealth or by surprise. We will win it by work."

"You will know that in our most recent skirmishes, I won some debating points and he won another general election."

"I told my friends: 'They chose the wrong guy.' I thought that Joe Clark would be a far stronger opponent than Brian Mulroney."

"Democracy does not happen by accident."

"I'm not just in this race so you will remember my name at some future date. I'm not here now for some next time. I am not bidding now for your consideration for some vague convention in 1984- perhaps when I've mellowed a bit. My time is now and now is no time for mellow men!"

"In any democracy, there is always a tug-of-war between policies to achieve equality and policies to promote excellence. I am certain that Canada can achieve both equality and excellence."

"I've told you and I've told the Canadian people, Mr. Mulroney, that I had no option."

"I think the issues happen to be so important for the future of Canada. (spoken over Brian Mulroney's objections) I happen to believe that you've sold us out...once any country yields its economic levers, once a country yields its investments, once a country yields its energy, once a country yields its agriculture, once a country opens itself to a subsidy war with the United States on terms of definition, then the political ability of this country to sustain the influence of the United States, to remain as an independent nation- that is lost forever!"

"In opposition, there's not much one can do. One doesn't have the carrot and one doesn't have the stick. One can't promote and one can't fire. And persuasion has its limits."

"We must never give up on this country! Never, never, never, never!"

"I'm not going to allow Mr. Mulroney to sell out our birthright, I'm not going to let Mr. Mulroney destroy a great 120 year old dream called Canada."

"I think the Canadian people have a right to know: Why, when your primary objective was to get unfettered and secure access into the American Market we didn't get it. Why you didn't put clauses in to protect our social programs in this negotiation we'll have on the definition of subsidies where the heavy weight of the American Republic will be put in against us. Why did that not happen? Why also, did we get a situation where we surrendered our Energy policy to the United States, something which they'd been trying to achieve since 1956? Why did we abandon our farmers? Why did we open our Capital Markets so that a Canadian Bank can be bought up and we don't have reciprocal rights into the American Market at all? And why did you remove any ability to control the Canadian ownership of our businesses? These are questions that Canadians deserve to have an answer to, and we have not had an opportunity in six hours to deal with them in a way that would make you come out of your shell!"

"For the courtesy of appearing before you, as for other courtesies, I am sure I am largely indebted to my good friend, Prime Minister Mackenzie King. I was particularly happy to be present yesterday when he was honored in the rotunda of this Parliament building. It was a wonderful ceremony, and one which I think he richly deserved. I also appreciate very highly his political advice which he gave me. I have come to value and cherish his friendship and statesmanship. As our two nations have worked together in solving the difficult problems of the postwar period, I have developed greater and greater respect for his wisdom."

"William Lyon Mackenzie King Sat in a corner and played with string, Loved his mother like anything, William Lyon Mackenzie King."

"Do nothing by halves Which can be done by quarters."

"Nearly forty years ago, a distinguished Prime Minister of this country took the part of the United States at a disarmament conference. He said, "They may not be angels but they are at least our friends." I must say that I do not think that we probably demonstrated in that forty years that we are angels yet, but I hope we have demonstrated that we are at least friends. And I must say that I think in these days where hazard is our constant companion, that friends are a very good thing to have."

"We had no shape Because he never took sides; And no sides Because he never allowed them to take shape."

"That Canada should desire to restrict immigration and remain a white man's country is regarded as not only natural, but necessary for economic, political and social reasons.""

"I think it's the worst of two worlds because in the current system you choose the best person I'm not sure the prime minister chose the best person. And he cannot claim that it's a democratic process. Really, it's an election that came a very long time ago."

"Canada is a country that works better in practice than in theory."

"Coalition if necessary, but not necessarily a coalition."

"Some voices are calling on America to circle the wagons. Some are even saying that our enemies do worse, so we should respond in kind. The problem here is that this is America. This is a constitutional republic based on the rule of law and equal respect for all persons. We can’t pretend that we can bend the rules any which way. We made the rules for ourselves. We have to live by them."

"As Interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada."

"We do need to ask ourselves, as a society, as a free people, how we came to this pass. Those soldiers were acting in the name of America, and they disgraced its name. We have to ask who authorized them to do so. Who should take responsibility here? We need answers to these questions, and we need to take responsibility as citizens that we get answers, and that accountability is established, right up the chain of command if need be, so that we do not go here again as a country."

"I’m in politics to speak up for a Canada that takes risks, that stands up for what’s right. A Canada that leads."