Quotes by Stephen Harper

About Stephen Harper:

Stephen Joseph Harper is a Canadian politician who is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and the Leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister in 2006, forming a minority government after the 2006 election. He is the first prime minister to come from the newly reconstituted Conservative Party, which formed after a merger of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

If you want to be a government in a minority Parliament, you have to work with other people.

Stephen Harper

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

Stephen Harper

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

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

We've got to see a state where the Afghan government can handle its own day-to-day security.

Stephen Harper

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

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

I forget what the relevant American rate is, but I can tell you that our goal is to have a combined federal-provincial corporate tax rate of no more than 25 percent. We're on target to do that by 2012. We will have significantly - by a significant ma...

Stephen Harper

Look, I think the worst case scenario is obvious. I think first of all it doesn't work for very long. It's an unstable government that raises taxes and destroys the image we're building for Canada as a strong place to invest.

Stephen Harper

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

I don't believe an Alliance government should sponsor legislation on abortion or a referendum on abortion.

Stephen Harper

It's the government's obligation to look really to the third parties to get the support to govern.

Stephen Harper

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

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

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

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 o...

Stephen Harper

I think the way to change it is to handle issues individually when it's essential to do so.

Stephen Harper

As a religion, bilingualism is the god that failed. It has led to no fairness, produced no unity, and cost Canadian taxpayers untold millions.

Stephen Harper

Canadians know that the promise of a recession didn't happen because of anything we did here. If you look at all the causes of the recession, problems in mortgage markets, the problems in the banking sector, the problems in government finance in coun...

Stephen Harper

After all, enforced national bilingualism in this country isn't mere policy. It has attained the status of a religion. It's a dogma which one is supposed to accept without question.

Stephen Harper

Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society... It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff.

Stephen Harper

Author Bio

  • NameStephen Harper
  • Description22nd Prime Minister of Canada
  • AliasesStephen Joseph Harper; The Right Honourable Stephen Harper; The Right Honourable Stephen Joseph Harper
  • BornApril 30, 1959
  • CountryCanada
  • ProfessionPolitician; Economist
  • AwardsWoodrow Wilson Award For Public Service; Canada India Foundation ("CIF") Chanchlani Global Indian Award