Quotes • Canadian

Alexander Mackenzie

"We shall all respect the principles of each other and do nothing that would be regarded as an act of oppression to any portion of the people."

Speech to the House of Commons. 1875.

John A. Macdonald

"As for myself, my course is clear. A British subject I was born — a British subject I will die. With my utmost effort, with my latest breath, will I oppose the ‘veiled treason’ which attempts by sordid means and mercenary proffers to lure our people from their allegiance."

Made as the as the election was called, fought largely over the issue of free trade with the United States. 1891.

John Sparrow Thompson

"These Yankee politicians are the lowest race of thieves in existence."

Statement made during sensitive diplomatic talks with the United States over a trade dispute. 1894.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

"I am a subject of the British Crown, but whenever I have to choose between the interests of England and Canada it is manifest to me that the interests of my country are identical with those of the United States of America. "

Speech in Boston. 1891

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

"I prefer the Yankee dollar to the British shilling, especially when the Yankee dollar is near at hand and the British shilling so far away."

Speech in Boston. 1891

"The best and most effective way to maintain friendship with our American neighbours is to be absolutely independent of them."

House of Commons, Debates. 1903.

"We are living beside a great neighbour who, I believe I can say without being deemed unfriendly to them, are very grasping in their national acts, and who are determined upon every occasion to get the best in any agreement which they make."

House of Commons, Debates. 1903.

"If we were to follow the laws of nature and geography between Canada and the United States, the whole trade would flow from south to north, and from north to south. We have done everything possible by building canals and subsidising railways to bring the trade from west to east and from east to west so as to bring trade into British channels."

Imperial Conference, London. 1907.

Arthur Meighen

"We have one neighbor and one only, and that one an industrial colossus. It lies for four thousand miles along our border, producing what we produce, and doing constant but legitimate battIe to forestall us in the world's markets and in our own. There is the dominating fact that meets Canadians every morning."

Address at Guildhall, London, on receiving the Freedom of the City. 1907.

William Lyon Mackenzie King

"If I thought there was a danger of Canada being placed at the mercy of powerful financial interests in the United States, and if that were being done by my own party, I would get out and oppose them openly."

The Mackenzie King Record, IV, 273; to L.B. Pearson. 1948.

Pierre E. Trudeau		"Canada is not immortal, but if it is going to go, let it go with a bang rather than a whimper."		Comment to the Canadian Senate. 1988.
		"Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."		Addressing the Press Club in Washington, D.C. 1969.

Paul Martin		"America is our neighbour; it’s not our nation. We should have our own set of values."		To Conservative Leader Stephen Harper during the second televised English-language debate. 1996.

Stephen Harper		"Your country, and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world."		Speech to the Council for National Policy. 1997.

		"It may not be true, but it's legendary that if you're like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians."		Speech to the Council for National Policy. 1997.

		"Some basic facts about Canada that are relevant to my talk... Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it."		Speech to the Council for National Policy. 1997.

		"The Bloc Québécois is equivalent to your Southern secessionists, Southern Democrats, states rights activists. The Bloc Québécois, its 44 seats, come entirely from the province of Quebec. But even more strikingly, they come from ridings, or election districts, almost entirely populated by the descendants of the original European French settlers."		Speech to the Council for National Policy. 1997.

		"The party system that is developing here in Canada is a party system that replicates the antebellum period, the pre-Civil War period of the United States... [T]he dynamics, the political and partisan dynamics of this, are remarkably similar."		Speech to the Council for National Policy. 1997.

		"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."		National Post. 2000.

		"I don't know all the facts on Iraq, but I think we should work closely with the Americans. "		Report Newsmagazine. 2002.

		"The world is now unipolar and contains only one superpower. Canada shares a continent with that superpower. In this context, given our common values and the political, economic and security interests that we share with the United States, there is now no more important foreign policy interest for Canada than maintaining the ability to exercise effective influence in Washington so as to advance unique Canadian policy objectives."		Canadian Alliance Defence Policy Paper: The New North Strong and Free. 2003.

		"We support the war effort and believe we should be supporting our troops and our allies and be there with them doing everything necessary to win."		On the Iraq war; Montreal Gazette. 2003.

		"We must aim to make [Canada] a lower tax jurisdiction than the United States."		Vancouver Province. 2004.

			Proceed to the American Quotes page by clicking here.

Canadian Quotes ● American Quotes ● Relationship Quotes ● Annexation Quotes ● Citizen Quotes