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Q

What were your feelings on election night? Did you feel that … in 10 minutes, the time it took to see a majority emerging on television, a 10-year project had been achieved?

A

It was 10 years. As you know, I’ve never made a secret that my goal is to make the Conservative party the natural governing party of the country. I don’t think three consecutive victories and one majority assures that. I think there is much more work to be done. Obviously I’m delighted with the results, delighted that we got the majority, delighted with — as you say, if you really look at Ontario, the West and if you include New Brunswick, the strength of the Conservative victory in these provinces is really, I think, quite impressive. And we’ve built the party, you know, kind of step by step. The base we’re establishing is very solid, so I’m very optimistic, but more work needs to be done, and we do need to make greater gains in Quebec.

Q

What about the orange wave in Quebec? It rose higher than anybody expected.

A

Yeah, it was a phenomenon unlike anything I’d seen before. You know, I’ve obviously seen parties make great gains in elections. I was part of Reform when that happened. But there was a lot more lead-up to that. As you recall, the NDP wave didn’t even begin until halfway through the campaign. I think the positive side of this, as we all acknowledge, is the fall of the Bloc. Which, you know, our party does take some credit for. I think our way of managing the federation and trying to deal with the Quebec government and Quebecers went a long way to removing the relevance of the Bloc in federal politics. I’m obviously disappointed we didn’t benefit from it more. The NDP has benefited. It’s better, I suppose, a federalist party than a non-federalist party, but I also think because of the way the NDP’s come to all these seats in Quebec really shows the situation’s very fluid, and presents lots of opportunity for further change.