Perhaps in the long view, de Gaulle was more responsible with his troublesome interventions into our domestic politics, for unifying our country than we will ever give him credit for.

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

Whenever it was necessary to have a large entourage, we used military vehicles or, as for the two state funerals and our state swearing in, we hired every spare Cadillac from every undertaking firm in Ottawa. It's a make-shift way to operate a country of the size and rank of Canada.

Most women have a distaste for guns, and I am no exception.

I cannot say that I have been hindered all my life by the permutation of genes that resulted in me being born a woman.

It will be, I suppose, a foolhardy Government that tries to push through legislation making knowledge of both official languages one of the qualifications for election to the House of Commons or appointment to the Senate, but maybe it will have to come to this as a price we must pay for equality of the two great language groups of our founding fathers.

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