Quotes

As long as there are exams, there will always be prayer in schools.

I tend to watch American news; I don't like to watch Canadian news and hear what Allan [Gregg, the pollster/CBC pundit seated in the audience] and everybody else is saying about me.

[on Alberta's behalf as president of the National Citizens' Coalition, National Post, January 24, 2001, "Open Letter to Ralph Klein"] 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.

I've only ever heard two criticisms of prime ministers. They're either too controlling, or they're not in control. Prime ministers who aren't in control don't last very long.

I think we all have more respect for those citizens who run for office to change politics, not to have politics change them.

[observation 2000, on the recently deceased Pierre Trudeau, the former Prime Minister] [He created] huge deficits, a mammoth national debt, high taxes, bloated bureaucracy, rising unemployment, record inflation, curtailed trade and declining competitiveness.. Only a bastardized version of his unity vision remains and his other policies have been rejected and repealed by even his own Liberal Party.. He was also a member of the 'greatest generation', the one that defeated the Nazis in war and resolutely stood down the Soviets in the decades that followed. In those battles however, the ones that truly defined his century, Mr. Trudeau took a pass.

[to Vladimir Putin at the G-20 conference in Brisbane, 2014] Well, I guess I'll shake your hand, but I only have one thing to say to you: You need to get out of Ukraine.

[on opposing Canadian party leaders, 2015] These guys just don't get it. We're living in a dangerous world.