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"He that wrestles with us [the opposition] strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper."
Edmund Burke, 1790
"When I sit down in solitude to the labours of my profession, the only questions I ask myself are, What is right? What is just? What is for the public good?"
Joseph Howe
"A party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life."
John Stuart Mill, 1859
"What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried?"
Abraham Lincoln
"Party is merely a struggle for power."
Sir John A. Macdonald
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Yankee Notions, New York, April 1852
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The ministry is trying to dry its dirty laundry. The rope is not long enough.
Le chairvari canadien, Québec 16 October 1868
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Harper's Weekly, New York, 17 August 1871
"It is the function of Ministers – we know it, and I do not quarrel with it – to say nothing that can be caught hold of, nothing in advance of the popular opinion of the day, to watch the current of that opinion, and when it has gathered strength, to crystallize it into Acts of Parliament. That is the function of a Liberal minister. The function of a Tory Minister is to wait till he is absolutely forced to swallow his own opinions."
Edward Blake, speech, 3 October 1874
"When men are prevented from discussing political matters openly, and seeking in a fair and legitimate manner the redress of what they regard as grievances, they will naturally resort to secret conclaves, and plots and conspiracies, and seek strength and redress in organizations which law knows only to condemn."
Toronto Globe, 22 June 1877
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A Destructive Worm, Puck, New York, Friedrich Graetz, artist, 4 April 1883, LC2012645461
"The foundation of party government is bribery, is it not? Men are party men for the spoils. They support the government for the time for the sake of the spoils. If a man 'kicks' and gives and independent vote against the party he loses their patronage, does he not? Is not bribery the corner stone of party government?"
John D. Armour, The Globe, Toronto, 5 December 1884
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Before, after, elected! The end of politics.
Le canard, Montréal, 18 September 1886
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British Columbia Legislative Assembly BC Archives 189-, PDP02196
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The blue hound is dead. Look, my friends, I'm going to turn him into a red sausage.
Le canard, Montréal, 3 June 1899
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Alonzo Ryan, Political Caricature in Canada, Montréal, 1904
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Motley Verses Grave and Gay, Toronto, 1905
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The Canadian Courier, Toronto, 2 March 1907
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As The Snow Of Concealment Disappears. LAC, Acc. No. 1987-70-224, Sam Hunter, 26 March 1908
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ANOTHER INJUSTICE
Two bear the burden
Le Peuple, Montréal, 18 June 1911
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Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King at a Liberal Party rally during the federal election campaign. LAC PA-210353, William A. Gordon, 15 August 1911
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Art Young, Life , New York, 23 March 1915
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Art Young, Metropolitan, New York, October 1916
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Woman's Journal, Boston, 6 May 1916
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Art Young, The Liberator, New York, March 1918
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Which of these two characters do you think the police are watching to take to jail?
Le Nouveliste, Montréal, 18 April 1918
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City Government, Windsor McCay, 1920s?
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The Civilian, Hull, September 1920
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Art Young, Good Morning, New York, October 1920
"Politics, after all, is the science of compromise."
Bob Edwards, 1921
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The Civilian, Hull, March 1921
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Lou Skuce, Maclean's, 1924
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"The capitalist system has grown up and it is in use because, and only because, the experience of mankind has proven it to be the best way of doing what has to be done."
Clifford Sifton, speech, 1925
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"A healthy society will consist of a great majority masses a little to the right and a little to the left of centre, with smaller groups of strong conservatives and strong radicals out on the wings. If these minority groups are not present in any significant force to provide a perpetual challenge to the majority, the conservatives and liberals of the centre are likely to be a pretty flabby lot, both intellectually and morally."
Frank Underhill
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Judge, New York, 8 November 1926
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"I would not like to live here [U.S.S.R.]. There are no smiling people, no gaiety, no whistling in the streets. If the people have any liberty, there is no sign of it apparent."
Agnes Macphail
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King's Mixed Pickles, with apologies to Heinz. LAC Acc. No. 1971-65-31, A. G. Racey, 1930?
"In politics one has to do as one at sea with a sailing ship, not to try to go straight ahead but reach one's course having regard to prevailing winds."
William L. M. King
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A. G. Racey, The Montreal Daily Star, 21 March 1931
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"We aim to replace the present capitalist system, with its inherent injustice and inhumanity, by a social order from which the domination and exploitation of one class by another will be eliminated, in which economic planning will supersede unregulated private enterprise and competition, and in which genuine, democratic self government, based on economic equality will be possible."
CCF preamble, The Regina Manifesto, 1933
"We do not believe in change by violence. We consider that both the old parties in Canada are the instruments of capitalist interests . . . who finance them."
The Regina Manifesto, 1933
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"Socialism and Social Credit. Two great reform movements. Born in the depression. One turned to the left and one to the right, that’s all. That's the only difference. They're both populist movements."
W. A. C. Bennett, The Vancouver Sun, 6 September 1976
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Kitchener tombstone, Hammer, sickle to . . ., 1934, Digital Archives Ontario
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Mr. King's harmful paunch
Harby, L'Action Conservatrice, Montréal, 21 June 1935
"Fascism is dictatorship from the extreme Right, or to put it a little more closely into our local idiom, a government which is run by a small group of large industrialists and financial lords."
Heywood Brown, 1936
"First they arrested the Communists – but I was not a Communist, so I did nothing. Then they came for the Social Democrats – but I was not a Social Democrat, so I did nothing. Then they arrested the trade unionist – and I did nothing because I was not one. And then they came for the Jews and then the Catholics, but I was neither a Jew or a Catholic and I did nothing. As last they came and arrested me – and there was no one left to do anything about it."
Rev. Martin Niemoller
"The conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it."
Will and Ariel Durant
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1938 National Federation of Liberal Women of Canada LAC PA-096901
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"You've heard politics described as the art of the possible. Well, the impossible is involved––because you've got to get elected to practice the art of the possible and in order to get elected, you've got to promise the impossible."
Benny Nicholas
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"The Conservative Party must stand for all that its name implies. The word 'Conservative' suggests stability and security at a time when the whole world longs for stability and security. The word implies sound business methods as opposed to radical experiments. In a world gone mad the word 'Conservative' offers hope of common sense and orderly progress. It is a word which carries into the realm of practical politics the Biblical injuction: 'prove all things; hold fast that which is good.'"
George Drew, speech, Toronto, 17 April 1940
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"Most papers in Canada had been started by political parties, or been financed by them."
Peter Stursberg
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Arch Dale, Winnipeg, 1945
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"Fundamentally, liberalism is an attitude. The chief characteristics of that attitude are human sympathy, a receptivity to change, and a scientific willingness to follow reason rather than faith or any fixed idea."
Chester Bowles, 1946
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"Governments are like underwear. They start smelling pretty bad if you don't change them once in a while."
Margaret (Ma) Murray
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"There are more votes on Main Street than Bay Street."
John Diefenbaker
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"Without an Opposition, it is not too much to say, the parliamentary system of government would fail in its primary task of protecting the rights of individuals and minorities, and of ensuring freedom and democracy."
John G. Diefenbaker
"I am a Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship God in my own way, free to stand for what I think is right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind."
John Diefenbaker, H or Cs, 1 July 1960
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"Democracy does not claim . . . that the average citizen is capable of resolving the extraordinarily complicated problems that face modern governments. The electoral systems asks the citizen only that he should decide on a set of ideas and tendencies, an on men who can hold them and give effect to them. These sets of ideas and men complicate political parties."
Pierre Elliot Trudeau
"Politics is the science of who gets what, when and why."
Sidney Hillman
"Freedom is the right to be wrong, not to do wrong."
John Diefenbaker, 1962
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1867-1967, MacDonald, Pearson. LAC, Copyright: Canada Post Corporation, 1966?
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Varsity, Toronto, March 1972
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George Shane, Big Biz, Robert Stanfield (Conservative), Pierre Trudeau (Liberal) versus David Lewis (NDP), Labour, Consumer
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"To switch from the Liberals to the Tories is to switch from blue cheese to green cheese."
Ed Broadbent
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[Brian Mulroney and John Turner]
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"With the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in place we can now say that Canada is a society, where all people are equal and where they share some fundamental values based on freedom."
Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Memoirs
"I think socialism means doing good for others and capitalism means looking out for yourself. Both things exist in us. Both are necessary."
Harjinder Sunner, 1987
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Kim Campbell 1990 Barbara Woodley Labatt's Brewery of Canada LAC PA 186869
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"Freedom is the right to be wrong, not to do wrong."
John G. Diefenbaker
"Politics is the science of who gets what, when and why."
Sidney Hillman
"Democracy is superior to other political systems because it solicits the express agreement of the people, and thus avoids the necessity of violent changes."
Pierre Elliot Trudeau
"The failure of Europe and America has been that men have turned politics into war. The success of Canada has been that we turned war into politics. The war of the French and English, of the Americans and Canadians, of the Indians and whites, have all been converted into issues, elections, debates and solutions."
James Barque
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2012
"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."
Muhammad Ali, 1978
"Change means movement, movement means friction, friction means heat, and heat means controversy. The only place where there is no friction is in outer space or a seminar on political action."
Saul Alinsky
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