- I think this election is about where Canada is going and which party offers the best vision and the best policies to take us to where we want to go as Canadians. And two major issues in that are the economy, which party is liable to be the best manager of our economy and to offer a vision to the challenges we face: globalization, aging population, lack of innovation and productivity. At the same time, I think that everybody is recognizing that the environment is something that we do need to deal with. We can't say let's put it on the backburner until we take care of the economy.

- Which of the parties is most likely to be the best to handle the challenges we face with the economy? Of course, I present the view that we demonstrated for eight years a very responsible fiscal management. But Canadians have to make that decision about who they feel the most confident with. I think that's not only based on past performance, but also on what you are offering for the future. And we are offering something. People have to make up their minds about who offers the best plan.

- I'm obviously hoping for a Liberal majority. I think that there are advantages in having a majority. Unless it's a Conservative majority, because I think that bothers a lot of Canadians about where the country is going to be headed. And Mr. Harper is not making any secrets of it. He's showing that he's ideologically quite far to the right on certain issues. So I think it is hard on Canadians to have to vote every two years. Certainly minorities have their advantages, but I think that it would be nice if we could have some smooth and clear sailing.

- During the recent byelection campaign, there were three main issues mentioned by people that came back time after time no matter what the sector of the riding: economy, environment and public security. I assumed things would possibly change during a general election. They did not, but do seem to concentrate more now on the economy. Yes, the environment was part of it, as well. Arts and culture was a secondary issue, but basically the economy was the main one … And this has become the main issue in this general election.

- The election will be affected by the state of the economy in the following sense, because we basically have two clear choices being provided to the electorate. If you listen to our friends from the opposition parties, their solution to economic problems is either more taxes for possible deficits … The Conservative Party is providing clear economic policies and has done so for the last two years. Yes, there will be required intervention in the short term, but we can't do that before the problems effectively arrive.

- Stable or majority government … is a prerequisite, given the present economic uncertainties. Yes, we need clear policies, certain economic certitudes, and we also need a stable or a majority government. To me that's a given. The two go together. If you want to end up with a solid economic situation, you need very solid government … More and more, when I go door to door, when I meet people in meetings, community groups and so on, it's obvious that's what people are looking for.

- This particular election is about what our vision of Canada is. And when I say 'our,' I mean individual Canadians. Do they want a Canada that actually makes a real attempt to reconcile the challenges that are our environment, our planet's fate? The climate change with a whole series of issues has become a real issue, major, and it will determine the kind of Canada we live in, in 10, 15, 20 years, and that our children and grandchildren will live in even further. We have a stark choice.

- I think it's clearly thrown a curve at Mr. Harper and the Conservatives. It has not thrown a curve in a negative way to the Liberals, because our economic plan is exactly what's needed to address this issue, and we've shown with Mr. Dion's plan, what a Liberal government would do under his leadership in the very first 30 days after the election to immediately begin action to accelerate measures to stimulate the economy and ensure that Canadians' pensions and their savings are well secured and are safe. Mr. Harper has not proposed anything.

- A lot of people are saying that we need a party in government that believes that government has a role and we need some stability.

- This election is a bit unusual in the sense that it's not at the end of the mandate of a government and it's not as a result of a particular issue … Obviously in this case the factor that triggered it was the electoral opportunism on Mr. Harper's part … The question of the economy has emerged over the course of the election … The gyrations of the stock markets in the last couple of weeks have brought it very much to the front pages … The question is which party is in a position to protect the interests of ordinary people. Obviously we feel the NDP is best placed to do that.

- I've been doing a lot of door-to-door, and a few people have been raising this as an issue, but not very many … The principle concern that's been raised has been the health of RRSPs, which hold stocks in them … But those have mostly been older people, people already collecting pensions or people already collecting the income from RRSPs.

- I'm confident in the good sense of Canadians. I think they will elect a parliament and that parliament will grapple with the issues it is presented with. But I think things will be stable in that sense … The interesting thing is that this government fell by its own hand … I don't think after two elections in two years there will be a sharp appetite for another election soon, either by the parties or by the general public. I think there will be some pressure for this parliament to work

- The minority government in Ottawa was no longer functioning properly which was confirmed by Prime Minister Harper when he met with the opposition parties before the election was called. Given the history of past minority governments it is fairly remarkable that this one lasted as long as it did and it was simply time to go back to the Canadian electorate to determine their choice to form a new government.

- So far I think most Canadians understand that a lot of the economic instability is being generated from the crisis in the United-States and that the fundamentals of the Canadian economy have remained relatively strong. That being said it is obviously well understood that an American recession will undoubtedly have an impact on the Canadian economy, but how much of an effect will probably not be fully understood before Election Day. Therefore I do not expect it to have a large impact on the way people vote …

- This is the million dollar question. We are certainly at a very transitional time in Canadian political history where no political party seems to have the support of the majority of the population. This is probably much do to with the lingering weakness in the Liberal Party from the sponsorship scandal and the time it has taken Canadians to get comfortable with the new Conservative Party.