Top 90 Stephen Harper Quotes (2024 Update)
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51. “I just think it would be unrealistic to suggest we’re going to eliminate every last domestic insurgent in Afghanistan. Certainly, the history of the country would indicate that’s not a very realistic objective, and I think we have to have realistic objectives.”

— Stephen Harper

52. “It will come as no surprise to anybody to know that I support the traditional definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, as expressed in our traditional common law.”

— Stephen Harper

53. “Even if people are suspicious of the motives I think that learning and speaking two languages can only be a good thing for people.”

— Stephen Harper

54. “It’s not sufficient in the internet age to communicate through the media; you have to be able to do it on the ground, door by door, coffee shop by coffee shop, shop floor by shop floor. You really have to do that as well.”

— Stephen Harper

55. “On the justification for the war, it wasn’t related to finding any particular weapon of mass destruction.”

— Stephen Harper

56. “I have no difficulty with the recognition of civil unions for non-traditional relationships but I believe in law we should protect the traditional definition of marriage.”

— Stephen Harper

57. “Whether Canada ends up with one national government or two governments or 10 governments, the Canadian people will require less government no matter what the constitutional status or arrangement of any future country may be.”

— Stephen Harper

58. “First of all, I can’t forget my first responsibility – which is to be the Leader of the Opposition and that’s to provide an alternative government.”

— Stephen Harper

59. “Canada is in budgetary deficit now only because of the recession, only because of stimulus measures, and we will come out of it. We will go back into surplus position when the economy recovers. So there is no need in Canada to raise taxes.”

— Stephen Harper

60. “I intend to lead my party, which is the only party that has a serious policy on the No. 1 priority of the people and that is the economy.”

— Stephen Harper

61. “I think first and foremost everybody should understand that Canadians are strongly committed to the system of universal health insurance, to the principle that your ability to pay does not determine your access to critical medical service.”

— Stephen Harper

62. “When Ralph Goodale tried to tax Income Trusts they showed us where they stood, they showed us their attitude towards raiding Seniors hard earned assets and a Conservative government will never allow either of these parties to get away with that.”

— Stephen Harper

63. “I think the way to change it is to handle issues individually when it’s essential to do so.”

— Stephen Harper

64. “Universality has been severely reduced: it is virtually dead as a concept in most areas of public policy.”

— Stephen Harper

65. “We should have been there shoulder to shoulder with our allies. Our concern is the instability of our government as an ally. We are playing again with national and global security matters.”

— Stephen Harper

66. “Those of different faiths and no faith should seek areas of common agreement based on their different perspectives.”

— Stephen Harper

67. “The Leader of the Opposition’s constitutional obligation – the obligation to Parliament – it’s the reason we did the merger! – is to make sure Canadians have an alternative for government.”

— Stephen Harper

68. “Restoring accountability will be one of the major priorities of our new government. Accountability is what ordinary Canadians, working Canadians, those people who pay their bills, pay their taxes, expect from their political leaders.”

— Stephen Harper

69. “Canada remains alienated from its allies, shut out of the reconstruction process to some degree, unable to influence events. There is no upside to the position Canada took.”

— Stephen Harper

70. “We also support the exploration of alternative ways to deliver health care. Moving toward alternatives, including those provided by the private sector, is a natural development of our health care system.”

— Stephen Harper

71. “We got into a recession because the global economy went into the recession and we’re a big exporting nation.”

— Stephen Harper

72. “I don’t get into that second guessing of myself publicly.”

— Stephen Harper

73. “Canada appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second-rate status...”

— Stephen Harper

74. “I don’t know if for sure in absolute terms if Jim Flaherty is the best Finance Minster in the world, but I am sure that he is the best Finance Minster per inch in the world.”

— Stephen Harper

75. “Redirect federal spending aimed at fulfilling the terms of the increasingly irrelevant Kyoto Protocol.”

— Stephen Harper

76. “I will strive to make this not the highest-spending country in the world, but instead the lowest taxing o-ne.”

— Stephen Harper

77. “It’s the government’s obligation to look really to the third parties to get the support to govern.”

— Stephen Harper

78. “I think I have been perfectly clear in saying that I hope Canadians do elect a majority government. I think this cycle of election after election, minority after minority is beginning to put some of the country’s interests in serious jeopardy.”

— Stephen Harper

79. “But I’m very libertarian in the sense that I believe in small government and, as a general rule, I don’t believe in imposing values upon people.”

— Stephen Harper

80. “We’re not going to scrap the budget and make up some totally new platform the day after the election. So it’s certainly willingness to compromise but we’re not going back on the fundamental things we’re running on in this campaign.”

— Stephen Harper

81. “I do think that all economies need a sense of fiscal discipline especially over the midterm and if you are in the middle of a debt crisis you can’t borrow your way out of a debt crisis. That’s logically impossible.”

— Stephen Harper

82. “We’ll support the government on issues if it’s essential to the country but our primary responsibility is not to prop up the government, our responsibility is to provide an opposition and an alternative government for Parliament and for Canadians.”

— Stephen Harper

83. “Canada receives the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden with sober satisfaction. Sadly, others will take his place.”

— Stephen Harper

84. “The Liberals may blather about protecting cultural minorities, but the fact is that undermining the traditional definition of marriage is an assault on multiculturalism and the practices in those communities.”

— Stephen Harper

85. “Whether Canada ends up as o-ne national government or two national governments or several national governments, or some other kind of arrangement is, quite frankly, secondary in my opinion.”

— Stephen Harper

86. “I do not intend to dispute in any way the need for defence cuts and the need for government spending cuts in general. I do not share a not in my backyard approach to government spending reductions.”

— Stephen Harper

87. “The government can only be brought down because it alienates several parties in the House.”

— Stephen Harper

88. “It was the removing of a regime that was hostile, that clearly had the intention of constructing weapons systems.”

— Stephen Harper

89. “We’ve got to see a state where the Afghan government can handle its own day-to-day security.”

— Stephen Harper

90. “I know economists will say well, we could run a small deficit but the problem is that once you cross that line as we see in the United States, nothing stops deficits from getting larger and larger and spiralling out of control.”

— Stephen Harper

91. “I don’t know all the facts on Iraq, but I think we should work closely with the Americans.”

— Stephen Harper

92. “What the government has to do, if it wants to govern for any length of time, is it must appeal primarily to the third parties in the House of Commons to get them to support it.”

— Stephen Harper