My idea of freedom is that we should protect the rights of people to believe what their conscience dictates, but fight equally hard to protect people from having the beliefs of others imposed upon them.

I was raised with pretty thick skin. And I think people are hungry for politicians who aren't afraid to say what they think and mean it.

Canada is lucky enough to be protected both by oceans and by a southern neighbor that is very careful about its migration and its borders. So, we don't have the irregular flow that Europe has been having to deal with. But because of that, people here have seen that welcoming people, helping them to integrate, is actually a tremendous benefit to local economies. It creates jobs, innovation and opportunity. One of the things that comes with that, though, is stemming the flow of irregular migration. But you can't just create barriers - you also have to work with the countries of origin.

Let's try and bring out the best in all of us and a positive vision of working together to solve big problems, to recognize that, yes, all is not right, things need to be fixed. We're better off solving things by working together than by pointing fingers at other people.

I don't read the newspapers, I don't watch the news. I figure, if something important happens, someone will tell me.

Young people are tremendously frustrated because they don't see politics as changing anything. They see it as perpetuating a system that frankly doesn't work and no matter who you vote for things don't really change. Social media is where I think a bold message will wake them up. We saw that a little bit in the Occupy movement. Over the next three years, I think young people are going to wake up and be empowered.

Ultimately, it is the people who judge, through elections, whether someone governs well or not. It's not up to other politicians to define and determine our colleagues.