Elizabeth May Quotes

I was raised to be extremely productive. That was how my mom would put it; she'd say, 'I had a very productive day.'

Three of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence. It's just that any system of government has it pluses and minuses and it's important to understand the system of government you do live under so that you can protect it.

We Canadians think that Canada is a modern, well informed democracy. We look down our noses at the dumbed down content on Fox News and CNN, without noticing that we are rapidly heading in the same direction.

When women raise their voices to be heard over the noise, they sound hysterical. It's a sexist world. If you lose control over your lower register, you're going to be seen as a nut.

Countries with high voting rates also have high levels of political knowledge.

Of all the deteriorating aspects of Canadian democracy, the lack of concern over the ability of the national police force to interfere in elections is the one that most suggests Third World politics.

The role of the individual MP has been sidelined by the power of the Cabinet, and now by the PM alone.

You can’t deal with an issue like climate change if you basically abandon a healthy democracy and allow a corporatist culture to make the decisions. So you need engaged citizens, and you need Occupy,” she says. “You need people who have never seen themselves as political to become political. We need maybe 15 to 20 percent of Canadians to become really engaged and demand better. And then we’ll get it.”

Without sounding arrogant, I'm good on my feet.

Strategically, as leader of the Green Party and the first elected Green in Parliament, I didn't want to be in a renovated bank building. I wanted to be on Parliament Hill, in a building that screams out at you, this is Parliament!

“I’d rather have no Green seats and Stephen Harper lose, than a full caucus that stares across the floor at Stephen Harper as prime minister, because his policies are too dangerous,” she told the Toronto Star.

Kyoto is not dead. We've got a year to convince the prime minister to change his position.

The increasing prominence of a presidential-style prime minister is steadily denigrating the traditions and institutions of Canadian democracy.

Little wonder that the dumbing down of the political discourse, the attack ads and war rooms reign triumphant. The fifth estate is an enabler in this addiction to political trivia in place of reasoned debate.

C-10 is such a nightmare, because we're going to have a ton of amendments. And I can't present them unless I'm physically there.