2011 in Quotes

“Well, I’m an absolute fan of lacy lingerie. I want to make that perfectly clear.”
-Michael Ignatieff


"I mean we have the ridiculous thing of a government saying how much confidence they have in Bev Oda and she sits there like she’s in some kind of a witness protection program."
-Bob Rae


“We have debates in Parliament all the time. The Speaker rules, you win some, you lose some.”
-Stephen Harper, on the contempt of Parliament ruling


"This is not a hockey game. This is not a game here. This is democracy."
-Michael Ignatieff, on the above


"They all want to be in our bed, but no one wants to marry us."
-Gilles Duceppe


"I don't know why we'd need so many more prisons when the crooks seem so happy in the Senate."
-Jack Layton


"If you look across the country where the Conservatives have had strong representation, a lot of projects have taken place... But it's normal that you're going to focus on the areas with the people that do support you. That is part of political life."
-Larry Smith


"I'm afraid Ms. Neville has passed her expiry date."
-Shelly Glover


"Most of them are here."
—Jack Layton, on his vacationing candidates


“Opto Civitas. I choose civility. That’s the new me.”
-Pat Martin


"This is a fucking disgrace ... closure again. And on the budget! There’s not a democracy in the world that would tolerate this jackboot shit.”
-Pat Martin


"Folklore has it, that the Canadian beaver will bite off its own testicles when it is threatened and offer them up to its tormentors. I think that is a fitting metaphor for the way our Canadian government reacts to bullying on trade issues by carving off pieces of our nation and offering them over to the Americans."
-Guess who


“Multiculturalism may be a Canadian value but it’s not a Quebec one. We haven’t signed the Constitution of Canada because it contains this notion of multiculturalism.”
-Louise Beaudoin, PQ critic for secularism


"That explains a lot of the challenges I have in my dating life.”
-Calgary Mayor Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, on the city's growing gender gap


"Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world."
-Jack Layton