"One of the most helpful things I introduced (and of very considerable consequence to Canadians) was my ultimate success in persuading my colleagues (after continuing battle)to reduce the qualifying age for aged pensioners from seventy to sixty-five over a five year period."

"I suppose, as a politician, I should be content, for the Canada Pension Plan certainly put my name in Canada's history books, and in italics."

"I have always thought that one of the signs of natural leaders of men (and women) was their readiness to take the necessary pains to keep their followers with them."

"I took a hasty trip to Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, and England to talk to the officials of each Government about their pension provisions, and to talk to the responsible ministers in each country about the political "whys" of their legislation."

"Whenever Canada moves to protect its own industries and people, it is subjected to violent attacks in the U.S. Congress and to threats of economic retaliation."

"We were always expected to see Quebec's side of things, but there was damned little reciprocity."

"We had thought Mike the greatest; now we began to discover he was only human and, worse, we had our first dismaying confrontation with the fact that he would not back up his ministers."

"I had always assumed that if I made it to Parliament I would not remain a back bencher."

"Being a part of a political party is something like being a partner in a marriage - work at it and stay loyal to it, and when you can't stomach it any longer, leave it."

"Pity the Party without enough woman power - there will always be dreamers and leaders, but the dreams won't come true, nor will the leaders reach their goal, without the ready doers."

"Women understand that men must often be kept from soiling themselves with the dirty little details of life in order to accomplish the big shinny jobs unimpeded."

"One of the things that has always been my undoing in politics is my readiness to do whatever job has to be done."

"A government may only govern so long as the people, through their representatives, vote it the money to carry on."

"( I was the first, and to date, the only woman veteran ever elected, and there is a surprisingly low percentage of veterans in Parliament.)"

"I have served the Liberal cause for twenty-two years. That ought to be long enough for anyones lifetime."

"I did not spring, when I first entered Parliament, on November 15, 1960, "fully armed, with a mighty shout" from a breach in Lester B. Pearson's skull. like the Pallas Athena from the head of Zeus."

"The power of a government with so much money would be frightening. By controlling investment capital, it would be in a position to dominate business. We would then risk ending up with a sort of national socialism, as it was practiced in Nazi Germany."

"There were a couple of occasions when it was passed around – and, unlike President Clinton, I did inhale!."

"' I was reared in a pub – as a young fellow, serving in the pub I learnt far more there about human nature than I learnt in any university or school. I think it gave me a great insight into people."

"I've come up through the ranks of this parliamentary party and let me tell you the principles that have guided me on that journey since my first election 25 years ago: Loyalty to the party, service to our country and a determination to always do my best for the people. They are principles that still guide me."

"As long as I am running this Government I will run the Government as I see fit...as I believe in, based on my philosophy."

"I believe it is the best method to get the buy-in for the road we have to travel. I believe it is a problem-solving process about how we collectively come forward with a strategy to deal with the issue."

"That deterioration, if you like, has to be addressed in the context of the Government being prepared to look at further programmes to see what way we can ensure that going into next year, as challenging as it may be, to see in what way we can seek to help stabilise the finances further."

"We have seen already how resistant public opinion is, firstly to comprehension of the new paradigm in which we have to operate; and secondly, to the rationale behind the decisions we have had to take."

"Hopefully that will be seen as a response, a leadership responding to an issue and therefore one's authority, while it's not as high if you didn't have the problem, it does mean that people say 'well he used his authority to come up with a solution in double-quick time that met with broader public acceptance."

"We need to get a handle on this, will you ring those fuckers."

"Yeah, well, there's a mirror in the toilet if you want to go in there and talk to them."

"However, we must not lose sight of the fact that the fundamentals of the economy are still good."

"I think it is fair to say that 2007 represents a turning point for the Irish economy."

"Global Warming knows no border. It does not discriminate. It affects us all. And we are here today, because we are all committed to take action."

"It is my ambition that parents can send their children to school with the prospects that they are as interested and excited to learn on their last day of school as they were on the very first."

"Growth and prosperity. These are the blocks with which we must build our welfare society."

"I know that some people in the U.S. associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism... Therefore, I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy... The Nordic model is an expanded welfare state which provides a high level of security to its citizens, but it is also a successful market economy with much freedom to pursue your dreams and live your life as you wish."

"We cannot use Western models of protocols for research and development. We should guard against being bogged down with clinical trials."

"À chaque fois que la chasse recule, c'est le Coca-Cola qui s'avance."