Stephen Harper Government 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

Why, when the auditor-general condemned this practice in the sponsorship scandal, does this government still award contracts with no proper audit paper trail?

We've had lots of security announcements from this government and very little action, ... This is part of a pattern of phony announcements. I'll believe it when I see it.

Well there are lots of things that could bring the government down, but my opposition can not bring the government down.

Why is the government not suing the Liberal party to recover the money that was lost or stolen?

We will improve Canadians' faith in our public institutions by making government more accountable and effective.

The government will join, notwithstanding its failure to prepare, its neglect in co-operating with its allies, or its inability to contribute. In the end it will join out of the necessity created by a pattern of uncertainty and indecision. It will not join as a leader but unnoticed at the back of the parade.

There's no reason for the federal government to profiteer when consumers are hurting,

The United States defends its sovereignty, the Canadian government will defend our sovereignty. ... It is the Canadian people we get our mandate from, not from the ambassador to the United States.

Is it a nudge? A wink? Precisely what kind of sign is the government looking for?

After 17 months in office the record of this government ? or I should say in many instances its lack of record ? has become unacceptable to a large majority of members of the House representing on overwhelming majority of Canadian voters,

Anything is possible, isn't it... but people don't invest that amount of money on speculation about a government decision unless they have pretty good reason to believe it is going to occur.

This is the first government that couldn't control the flow of guns.

This government has lost the moral authority to run this country because it has been named in a judicial inquiry on corruption.

This election is about choice: A government plagued by scandal, that is only in it for what it can take, or our new team, who want in to public office for what it can give.

This minister and this government had 12 years to complete these reviews. Their time is done,

That is what has been blurred, ... Frankly, if the Government of Canada would sue the Liberal party, it would provide a wake-up call forever that that is not the same thing.

The U.S. defends its sovereignty. The Canadian government will defend our sovereignty.

I'm not sure anything has changed .... Mr. Layton is not happy with the proposals he's had. He's not been happy with them for a while. And I'm not sure what his next move is, but it seems to me that he's still looking for leverage to get more out of the government rather than let the Canadian people have their say,

If you want your taxes to go down, you have to vote for it. If you want a government that actually does something about crime, you have to vote for it. If you want to fix health care, you have to vote for it. If you want choice in child care, you have to vote for it. And the only way to get that is to vote for a new Conservative government.

If the Liberals are re-elected, this is what Canadians can look forward to, a government pre-occupied with ongoing scandals, corruption and police investigations.

Canadians need and they want and deserve a change. and to get that change we need a change in government ... a new Conservative government.

Canadians have seen nothing other than 100 days of inaction from the government,

How can we continue to prop up a government that is under criminal investigation?

And I think the real problem that we're facing already is that the government doesn't accept that it got a minority.

All too often we hear stories of veterans who are ignored or disrespected by government. What a shameful way to treat men and women who risked their lives to defend Canada. This shame will end with the election of a new government.

I'm not trying to be diplomatic. I'm trying to be more nuanced and realistic. I think there has to be a serious examination of the shortcomings of the Euro structure. Euro central institutions, whether it be fiscal policy, monetary policy, financial regulation, are simply not as robust as they are in a currency that has a national government behind it.

The media is tremendously important for all governments that are able to communicate through the it. It doesn't mean there is a balance of editorial opinion that favors what you are doing or that the opposition doesn't have its voice, but you have to be able to effectively communicate your story through the media.

There's unfortunately a view of too many people in Atlantic Canada that it's only through government favours that there's going to be economic progress, or that's what you look to That kind of can't-do attitude is a problem in this country but it's obviously more serious in regions that have had have-not status for a long time.

It is imperative to take the initiative, to build firewalls around Alberta, to limit the extent to which an aggressive and hostile federal government can encroach upon legitimate provincial jurisdiction.

The Liberals, apparently, want to prorogue the House. They want to run out of town, get out of town just one step ahead of the sheriff. Is the Liberal government committed to staying here as planned throughout the month of November so that it can be held accountable in the House for its actions?... Now is it true that the government will prorogue the House so that it will not be held accountable for its shameful record

Whether Canada ends up with one national government or two governments or 10 governments, the Canadian people will require less government no matter what the constitutional status or arrangement of any future country may be.

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.

We want to see oil and gas regulations on a continental basis given the integrated nature of this industry, with the current conditions in the oil and gas sector, this government will not consider unilateral regulation.

The single most important duty of the federal government is to protect and defend our national sovereignty. There are new and disturbing reports of American nuclear submarines passing though Canadian waters without obtaining the permission of, or even notifying, the Canadian government.

It`s all part of the pattern. This is a story of scandal and corruption, investigations, refusals to take responsibility. If this government continues in office, this will continue.

But I'm very libertarian in the sense that I believe in small government and, as a general rule, I don't believe in imposing values upon people.

Restoring accountability will be one of the major priorities of our new government. Accountability is what ordinary Canadians, working Canadians, those people who pay their bills, pay their taxes, expect from their political leaders.

Today, we are tabling a motion seeking the support of the House for the government's decision to renew our military mission against ISIL for up to an additional 12 months. Our objectives remain the same: we intend to continue to degrade the capabilities of ISIL, that is, to degrade its ability to engage in military movements of scale, to operate bases in the open, to expand its presence in the region, and to propagate attacks outside the region.