I believe that Canadians have the common sense to see that a better future cannot be built on fragmentation.

We Canadians are not given as a people to great patriotic displays.

Since the end of the Second World War, our population has more than doubled to 27 million people.

An increasing number of Canadians must juggle the demands of work with the need to care for children, or for family members who are ill or too frail to care for themselves. Our programs have simply not kept pace with these societal changes.

[When criticized for appearing bare-shouldered Madonna-like at a banquet:] A comparison between Madonna and me is a comparison between a strapless evening gown and a gownless evening strap.

Our first Prime Minister saw a country that would be known for its generosity of spirit. And so it is.

For me, unemployment and poverty in the Greater Montreal area is not mainly a problem of structure, or design, or statistics. It is a profoundly human situation.