Things fell into place and there was an opportunity for fresh leadership. And - I was - I was successful.

I was a snowboard instructor, I was a bouncer in a nightclub, I was a whitewater river guide for many years. I worked as a teacher. I make no apologies for a very varied set of life experiences.

Indeed, often because of the size and weight in the world of our neighbor, we in Canada often define ourselves in contrast to American positions on things like Cuba, the Vietnam War and nuclear disarmament. Historically, Canada has not always been aligned with the United States. It doesn't necessarily serve anyone's interests - Canadian or American - to be seen as an extension of the United States.

For me, to represent people who represent the future of Canada and the great challenges we will face over the coming decades - this is where I wanted to start. I'm a teacher; I'm a convenor; I'm a gatherer; I'm someone who reaches out to people and is deeply interested in what they have to say. And people see that I'm not faking it. I'm actually genuinely committed to this dialogue that we're opening up, and this understanding that needs to happen in order to be an effective MP.

We have extraordinary women running for us right across Canada, and I look forward to showing that women are needed in positions of power. And I certainly hope that, after people see how effective a cabinet with a gender parity in it is, we're going to draw even more women into politics in subsequent elections.

The emphasis of that statement about my temptation to switch to the separatist side in Quebec was that someone who obviously loves Canada with everything he has, has been right here and fights for Canada all the time - for him to say something like that, something must be very wrong with Canada.

The big frustration for me is that people are growing so cynical about politics that you see them basically shrug and say, "Oh, yeah. Who cares that Harper is shutting down debate? Who cares that he's building prisons, and everything? All the politicians are the same so why should we be outraged about one rather than the other?" And my point is Canadians need to wake up. This is not the Canada they'd recognize if they looked closely.