Stephen Harper Quotations

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.

After all, enforced national bilingualism in this country isn't mere policy. It has attained the status of a religion. It's a dogma which one is supposed to accept without question.

The job numbers are positive. We've had more jobs created now than were lost during the recession. We're seeing that the creation, we're seeing those numbers not only grow but shift toward the private sector and shift toward full-time employment and these are all signs that the recovery is taking some hold but we're not out of woods.

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.

Having hit a wall, the next logical step is not to bang our heads against it.

Canadians know that the promise of a recession didn't happen because of anything we did here. If you look at all the causes of the recession, problems in mortgage markets, the problems in the banking sector, the problems in government finance in countries like Greece, none of those problems were in present Canada.

Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society... It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff.

This party will not take its position based on public opinion polls. We will not take a stand based on focus groups. We will not take a stand based on phone-in shows or householder surveys or any other vagaries of pubic opinion.

I have no difficulty with the recognition of civil unions for non-traditional relationships but I believe in law we should protect the traditional definition of marriage.

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.

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.

The government can only be brought down because it alienates several parties in the House.

That's my personal view I would say most in my caucus agree with that but there are some who don't and I've always said that on these kinds of moral issues, people have the right to their own opinions.

We have to remember we're in a global economy. The purpose of fiscal stimulus is not simply to sustain activity in our national economies, but to help the global economy as well, and that's why it's so critical that measures in those packages avoid anything that smacks of protectionism.

Make no mistake. Canada is not a bilingual country. In fact it is less bilingual today than it has ever been.

We have in this country a federal government that increasingly is engaged in trying to determine which business, which regions, which industries will succeed, which will not through a whole range of economic development, regional development corporate subsidization programs.

I believe very strongly that in this world you have to have values and you have to stand up for your interests and if you don't do those things you're not going to get anywhere.

Universality has been severely reduced: it is virtually dead as a concept in most areas of public policy.

We got into a recession because the global economy went into the recession and we're a big exporting nation.

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.

There is a Canadian culture that is in some ways unique to Canada, but I don't think Canadian culture coincides neatly with borders.

I think in Atlantic Canada, because of what happened in the decades following Confederation, there is a culture of defeat that we have to overcome.

I think because we're such a trading nation, I think Canadians understand that first and foremost we're part of the global economy.

If Ottawa giveth, then Ottawa can taketh away.

As a religion, bilingualism is the god that failed. It has led to no fairness, produced no unity, and cost Canadian taxpayers untold millions.

Whether Canada ends up as o-ne national government or two national governments or several national governments, or some other kind of arrangement is, quite frankly, secondary in my opinion.

We'll support the government on issues if it's essential to the country but our primary responsibility is not to prop up the government, our responsibility is to provide an opposition and an alternative government for Parliament and for Canadians.

If you want to be a government in a minority Parliament, you have to work with other people.

We've got to see a state where the Afghan government can handle its own day-to-day security.

I do not intend to dispute in any way the need for defence cuts and the need for government spending cuts in general. I do not share a not in my backyard approach to government spending reductions.

I don't get into that second guessing of myself publicly.

On the justification for the war, it wasn't related to finding any particular weapon of mass destruction.

I forget what the relevant American rate is, but I can tell you that our goal is to have a combined federal-provincial corporate tax rate of no more than 25 percent. We're on target to do that by 2012. We will have significantly - by a significant margin the lowest corporate tax rates in the G-7, and that's our - our government's objective.

But I've been very clear in this campaign - I don't believe the party should have a position on abortion.

I've always been clear, I support the traditional definition of marriage.

My own views on abortion, I'm not on either pole of that and neither of the interest groups on either end of this issue would probably be comfortable with my views.

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.

I don't believe an Alliance government should sponsor legislation on abortion or a referendum on abortion.

It's the government's obligation to look really to the third parties to get the support to govern.

The world is now unipolar and contains o-nly o-ne superpower. Canada shares a continent with that superpower.

First of all, I can't forget my first responsibility - which is to be the Leader of the Opposition and that's to provide an alternative government.

I think the way to change it is to handle issues individually when it's essential to do so.

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.

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.

When we have an election, the government's record will be back on the radar.

We're going to create a distinct organization through legislation.

We know we've run a good campaign. We've run the campaign we wanted to run and got our message out.

We're not going to try to force a vote unless we think we can win it.

We have no alternative but to accept the checks; they're part of our system.

What the prime minister doesn't seem to face is the election is either going to occur now or it's going to occur in January, ... We're not going to wait another four months.

We have in office a corrupt party which now is ignoring the democratically expressed will of the House of Commons. This government does not have the moral authority and the constitutional authority to govern.

The prime minister told the House in response that he had 'met the families and had long discussions.' The families told us afterwards that no such discussions took place,

The prime minister intends to act just like (his predecessor) Jean Chretien,

The prime minister called me today to assure me that the new Governor General and her husband are federalists,

We were committed at the time of the convention, and through the last debate, to put a free vote to the next Parliament on this issue, ... It will be a genuinely free vote when I am prime minister. I will not whip the cabinet; cabinet can vote as they want.

Let the Liberals complain about facing the people. We're interested in facing the future as a party and a country.

Set your sights not just on the next few weeks ... set your sights on the years ahead -- because our vision will look that far ahead,

Should the government refuse to debate this motion or refuse to abide by the motion ... I will move a motion of non-confidence in the government the following week.

Since most of these announcements aren't funded in any of the three budgets the Liberals tabled this year, why should anyone believe these promises,

Most of the time they don't even admit a problem exists, ... They point to selective statistics of crime going down.

Minister MacKay, as you all know, has deep roots in Atlantic Canada and is very familiar with PEI and its provincial government. He will serve Islanders well in our new cabinet.

Mr. Martin is campaigning in Montreal, which was considered not too long ago the strongest set of Liberal ridings in the country. That's an encouraging sign. Indications on the ground are good everywhere.

move forward and address the real priorities of Canadians.

One of the things that has made Canada a great country historically has been our traditionally low crime rate,

Obviously we would expect the head of state to be a supporter of the state. I don't think there should be any doubt about that

No one will ever be held responsible, not legally, not criminally, not politically, as long as this Liberal government is in power, ... A culture of waste, mismanagement and corruption is not going to fix itself.

Obviously, the first thing we have to have is the capacity to know who is in our waters. We obviously want and expect foreign countries to tell us when they're in our waters. They are currently not doing that.

Obviously I've tried my best within a small cabinet to try to represent all these different balances while at the same time obviously taking into account the skills and experience of individuals.

People who are in cabinet have more responsibility, but everyone in caucus, every elected member of this caucus, has equal power.

I would prefer to do it sooner rather than later but not immediately.

I don't know all the facts o-n Iraq, but I think we should work closely with the Americans.

I don't believe this government has the moral authority to govern.

I'd anticipated the Liberals would want to delay the election at least until the spring, if not longer, ... But look, if there's a necessity to have a fall election and the NDP ceases to prop up the government, that could still happen.

I am confident about the next election. We have our candidates in place, we have our financing in place and we have our policies ready to go if need be,

But we want Canada to stay competitive and we want to make sure the dollar is enhancing that.

But a big part of the reason this has happened is the Liberal government has allowed communications with the Americans to break down entirely.

Chinese-Canadians are making an extraordinary impact on the building of our country. They've also made a significant historical contribution despite many obstacles.

I have never been so proud of our great country, and I am honored and overwhelmed to be asked to lead it.

I felt almost from Day One that we were doing what we wanted to do, getting our message out, and the surprise for me from early on was that the Liberals didn't seem to be doing that.

If the special envoy were to conclude that this is not a direction in which the United States wishes to go, then Canada will have to make other long-term choices in its economic infrastructure,

If that's the case, then obviously we'll have options to talk about.

I always say, it doesn't matter how busy I am and how early in the morning it is. The one thing I can always manage to get energy for is to see my kid (Ben) play hockey. I love my job as prime minister, but if you could be a hockey player, I mean, what could be better than that?

I always took the view and still take the view that we weren't going to pressure Peter, that this was an important decision, he should take some time to make it.

He's decided to support the Government. If he changes that view, look, I'm sure (we) will get together as quickly as possible.

He's aware of our position. The ball is in his court now.

I actually think the (U.S.) ambassador's intervention was inappropriate... I don't think foreign ambassadors should be expressing their views, or intervening in an election.

I think it's an innovative proposal. It's trying to address things that concern us all,

It is a great honor and a feeling of great responsibility to be sworn in as the 22nd prime minister of Canada.

I think what I've tried to lay out to the Canadian people is that we would take a middle-road approach. I don't think we're going to be able to have a lot of other stuff.

I think things are looking up, but you don't know until people actually go into the voting booth.

I think that we should obviously have good relations whenever possible with our closest ally and our biggest customer. I would hope to talk to the president very closely to start us on that track. But that's not going to take us off fighting on specific Canadian interests.

I think the ad that basically tries to suggest ... that we'd impose martial law or some such things has not only angered our soldiers and our veterans, it raises serious credibility questions once again.

I think there is a dangerous rise in defeatist sentiment in this country. I have said that repeatedly, and I mean it and I believe it.

Our government will build a new and dynamic voice for federalism in Quebec.

Over the course of a decade, people's views evolve somewhat and situations change. I deal with the situation as I find it.

Our team is talented and diversified and reflects Canada and we will work hard for all Canadians. The Cabinet that I have put together is smaller, but it will be more focused and more effective.

Our party will make those decisions in our own way and in our own time,

Our mission is clear. We will restore faith and trust in our public institutions as we keep Canada strong and united.

My smaller cabinet and more streamlined cabinet structure are designed for work -- not for show.