Remember the referendum on the Charlottetown constitutional accord? The more Canada's political and business elites threatened Canadians that the country would disappear into a black hole if the accord weren't passed, the more Canadians opposed it.

In Canada, what I find what people are afraid of or worried about is politicians who denigrate the importance of the resource sectors, which are the basis of our trading capacity.

My personal political convictions are rooted in the populist political traditions of western Canada.

An optimist in Canada is someone who think things could be worse

Where you find all the worries about immigration, I think the way to handle that is to listen to the person that's got concerns, and then try to move that in a positive direction, as opposed to decrying it and saying, 'Don't even raise that, you can't raise that.'

Populism is about is alienation in large numbers of people, but aggravated and provoked by a deteriorating economic conditions.

New Canada must be workable without Quebec, but it must be open and attractive enough to include a New Quebec.