"We have to be focused on growing the party and getting young people to see us as a viable option."

"We have to stress our conservative credentials and emphasize that we are the natural, national alternative to the Liberals. Clearly the Alliance has shown it can't break out of its Western box. The Alliance is at single-digit support in three quarters of the country."

"I guess my natural inclination is to finish what I started. We have a Conservative government in Nova Scotia. What I want to see is a Conservative government in Ottawa."

"I want to lead the Progressive Conservative Party, a party that will promote true conservative values and principles. I can tell you right now, I am not the merger candidate. I am not interested in institutional marriages with other parties."

"It's not as if our party has a leadership campaign underway."

"If the United States leads a multinational force into Iraq without United Nations backing, Canada should fight beside its neighbour. We've gone from being a middle power to a muddle power on this one."

"What Canada has to do is to have a government connected to the priorities of the people of which it is elected to serve. Those priorities include ensuring medicare is sustainable, support for the military, and tax and justice systems that work."

"My gut tells me and continues to tell me that the Conservative party is on a road back to government."