I'm happy when people decide that they are more aligned with me and my party but they should also think about being active and aligned with the parties that disagree with me on certain issues.

People think that boxing is all about how hard you can hit your opponent. It's not. Boxing is about how hard a hit you can take and keep going.

I look at what I have as a challenge and I could list a whole bunch of different challenges. And I choose not to be daunted by any of them.

So having a little more of an awareness of what's going on in the rest of the world I think is what many Canadians would hope for Americans.

Canada must be progressive, and Canada must be a just society.

The center has had the challenge of always having to be reasonable, balanced. If you're on the right, you can reach to the right; and on the left, you can reach left. But the center hasn't always sold as well in politics - it doesn't fit neatly on a bumper sticker. But what we're seeing is that citizens in countries around the world are realizing that, no, it's more important to be responsible and optimistic and thoughtful about the solutions and not feed knee-jerk, negative emotions.

Connecting with Canadians isn't about what you say, it's about what you're listening to. It's about what you understand.