The Canada of today is the world in microcosm. The sooner the evolutionary forces at work in a multiracial society like ours are understood, the more likely a strong futuristic and progressive state, in which those differences are seen as positive attributes, will arise. This process is not something to fear, but to welcome, because it is a new kind of people that will emerge, at peace with one another. -- John V. Stephens
From The Supreme Court's Decision on Quebec Separation

It is no secret that a stable economy coupled with sustainable economic growth directly contributes significantly to the quality of life of a society.  For when all is said and done, people who are content with their lot and the quality of life that a community or a society affords them are not likely to demand or seek out any alternative political arrangement to realize their aspirations or dreams.  That applies to the people of Quebec, and to people living in other regions of Canada. -- Al Fiorino
From The Supreme Court's Decision on Quebec Separation

As Alvin and Heidi Toffler point out in the work, Creating a New Civilization (1994), change in the 21st century will not come about as a result of some single upheaval, crisis, or decree, "but as a consequence of a thousand innovations and collisions at many levels in many places over a period of decades".  To facilitate a smooth transition, the task of reform must begin now and the process must be all inclusive; that is, it must involve experts, professionals, lawyers, and politicians, as well as ordinary citizens from all walks of life. -- Al Fiorino
From Politics for the 21st Century:  In search of a New Model

The transcendent works through us and in us.  Therefore, our relationship to the transcendent within us must be one of active resignation; that is, we must strive to excel in whatever station of life we find ourselves.  Responding to God's will means becoming the most effective instruments we can be in the service of divine providence.  God will take care of the rest.  -- Al Fiorino
From Quenching the Human Spirit in Our Times

My book, Listen Ontario, uncovers the fact that the most fundamental command of all world religions is to honour God's beloved marginalized. This is so because it is essential to community.  The only security we can have is to know we are part of a community which will care for us, whatever happens. Locks and bars, on our gated buildings or on prisons, cannot keep us from disasters and diseases and accidents of all kinds.  It certainly cannot protect us from the cancer of greed that is destroying our world community and environment.  But the beloved community ordained by God can be there for us, and uphold us with some of the divine love.  God calls us to be part of creating that community.  -- Dr. Ruth Morris
From Ethics in Private and Public Life

Charles Conn proposes the person as the basic human value for any future rethinking of the way we govern ourselves and of any future restructuring of governance.  By doing so, he joins a nascent movement that is calling for a personalist approach to social and political reconstruction. The personalist model calls not so much for any intrusive/disruptive re-engineering of our social and political life, but for the adoption and promotion of a radically new perspective on the social question--that all men and women on this planet are free moral agents, possessing inalienable rights and obligations to the commons, and thus entitled to full participation in the socio- economic activities of the community.  -- Al Fiorino
From Personalism v. Socialism: Governance among a Free People

We desperately need to see real generational change among our political leadership. If we wish to excite and engage younger generations in becoming democratically active citizens, they must see in their political leadership some reflection of themselves, their hopes and their dreams for their future. They will be better engaged by seeing leaders of their generation, not their grandparents’ generation.-- The Hon. Peter Van Loan

We cannot hold, for example, that human beings are, by nature, pleasure-maximizing and purely material creatures as the utilitarians would have us believe, while simultaneously believing that we are spiritual-material beings called to a transcendent destiny but nonetheless capable of freely choosing to act in ways that are intrinsically evil. -- Dr. Samuel Gregg
From Capitalism and Democracy Revisited

I am of the view that the human person and not the group is the end of all civil society.  The group, society, the species are all mental constructs.  They do not have a separate existence outside the mind.  The individual, the human person, is the only real entity.  In other words, the whole is a mental construct and the part is the only real, existing element.  The whole has only a virtual existence through its individual parts that constitute it.  Thus, the common good is not for society, but for its individual members, or for the human persons constituting it.  For all the benefits that are accrued in the common good can only be reaped by individuals, by human persons for whom all institutions are established in a civil society.  Mental constructs cannot and do not benefit from the common good except through the individuals that in reality incarnate and represent them. -- Al Fiorino
From The Exercise of Power by Modern Governments

Thus, religions are means to an end, means by which to reach God.  However, when religions are mistaken as ends in themselves, they degenerate into different forms of fundamentalism.  It is this very fundamentalism, elements of which can be found in all world religions, that divides and destroys the relations between members of the same family, and relations between families, ethnic groups, regions, and nations.  It is this kind of fundamentalism that can deprive women of their rights, turn them into third class citizens, and prevent them from pursuing an education. As recent events have clearly shown to us all, religious fundamentalism is truly a most slippery slope that can quickly lead to actions that can have serious and disastrous economic and political consequences.-- Elias Helewa

When religions view themselves as ends in themselves, as closed systems, then the practice of religion, the spiritual quest, terminates not in God, but in the dogmas we claim to espouse, the rituals we routinely practise, and the institutions that we end up worshipping.  The institutions, in turn, do their very best to regulate our every movement from 'womb to tomb' to ensure that their maintenance and survival needs are met.  If in that spiritual journey we do not meet our fellow human beings along the way and share in the joys and trials of that quest, then most assuredly we are not moving toward God... -- Al Fiorino
From In Search of Our Common Origins:  An Act in Interfaith Dialogue

Yes, a more proportional system will imply more minority governments.  This is exactly what many people want.  People are tired of false majority governments who do not represent even half of the voters.

Yes, a more proportional system will imply more coalition governments.  This may be good because a government would be constantly kept under check by a smaller party....  In a democracy, any party (big or small) can play tricks when in power.  It is the voters' responsibility to punish that party at election time (or by recalling its members).

Yes, a more proportional system does elect representatives chosen by the party.  This has two advantages:  1.  It clarifies for the electorate the precise function of that elected representative.  If he/she has been elected as representing a riding, this per-son will be less tied to party policy.  If elected to represent the party policies, this person represents the party ideology and philosophy.  In today's Canada the PM has control of cabinet and shuts out backbenchers.  Who represents you? 2.  It is an assurance that the best people representing a party are not lost when they place second in a tight race against another prominent candidate from another party.  (We have lost some experienced, honest politicians this way.) -- Giuseppe Gori
From Electoral Reform in Canada

Presidents, CEOs, Boards of Directors must exercise principles-based leadership in the governance of their organizations.  That means taking bold decisions that reflect and model socially responsible behaviour and corporate action in the best interest of the company, its shareholders, its clients, and consumers.  Only then will they be able to regain the confidence and trust of these different constituencies.  They must come to realize that market forces are not only sensitive and thus responsive to fraudulent and corrupt managerial and accounting practices, they are equally sensitive and responsive to honest and principles-based governance. -- Al Fiorino
From Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Policy

What we say is important to other people, what we do is more important, what we stand for is most important.  Modelling our value and belief system is the key to effecting a response and change in another person.... There can be no organizational or institutional transformation unless and until there is first personal transformation.  -- Michael A. Stephen
From Rekindling the Spirit Within:  A Starting Point to Institutional Reform