Brian Mulroney

“I think the government has to reposition environment on top of their national and international priorities.”

“If your only objective is to be popular, you're going to be popular but you will be known as the Prime Minister who achieved nothing.”

“The Conservatives over the years have done a great deal, from Sir John A, to Diefenbaker, and others.”

“It's my responsibility, and entirely my fault, Of course I regret it. It's the kind of locker-room conversation we all use, but as prime minister I shouldn't have used it.”

“You cannot name a Canadian prime minister who has done as many significant things as I did, because there are none.”

“Whether the process proves to be Kyoto or something else, let's acknowledge the urgency of global warming.”

“You can't be chasing 15 rabbits. Otherwise, the public mind cannot follow you.”

“Every cabinet minister gets a mission statement from the Prime Minister.”

“First, President Reagan was not enthusiastic. But I built up a relationship with him in other areas and then persuaded him that this was important to us and to me, and that we had to at least be in the process of looking at this seriously.”

“You have to spend your political capital on great causes for your country.”

“I would go to them and I would explain this is the price of going forward. We're going to move ahead in all these other areas. We're moving ahead in tax reform and GST, we are moving ahead on trade, but this will not be done at the cost of the environment.”

“For example, the Prime Minister earlier this year talked about the importance of the Arctic to our future. He's right. A hundred years from now, the strength of Canada is going to be coming from our resources in the Arctic.”

“The biggest trading partner of the United States is not West Germany or Japan, it's right here.”

“And, of course, the fact that Maurice Strong, a Canadian, was in charge made it important for us to pull up our socks and become leaders in this field. Now, here is a field we should be a leader in!”

“And look, I was a big, brassy guy who won and won big. I did what I wanted.”

“I can see now a vision emerging how Canada is going to profit in the future from our Arctic resources without destroying the environment on which it is all based.”

“We created the Cabinet Committee on the Environment to review the environmental implications of all government initiatives. I think what made us successful was the fact that it was a sustained approach. We did something new every year.”

“If everything is very important, then nothing is important.”

“Once you articulate an agenda, you have to follow it.”

“Trudeau's contribution was not to build Canada but to destroy it, and I had to come in and save it.”