Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier: Ladies and gentlemen: I can assure you that this evening I am jolly good fellow. I should be a sorrowful fellow indeed not to be a jolly good fellow on such an occasion as this. Everything is jolly here tonight. You have a unanimous candidature to oppose any possible candidate that the opposition may put in the field. I appear in my capacity as an elector of the city, this cosmopolitan constituency, to raise my voice in support of the young man [Jean-Baptiste Thomas Caron, 1869–1944] you have chosen to be your standard bearer in the coming election, and who will give his support to the good government in power today in Canada.

This government has been in power for 11 years and has guided the ship of state on many stormy seas, and amid numerous rocks and shoals, and will continue to carry the flag at the top mast for many years to come. (Cheers).

I thank my friend, the chairman, for his kind words. He has spoken of me in words altogether too flattering. He said my life was clean and moral. I take no credit for that, but I thank him all the same. I believe he doesn’t read the Tory newspapers. (Laughter). I read the Tory papers night and morning, and I find that they are not so lavish of their praise. In fact, when I read the Tory papers, The Mail and Empire for instance, I am surprised at the extent of my wickedness.

When I read the editorials, I ask myself if there was a single vice condemned in the Decalogue that was not in this body of mine. But I take all that is said about me cum grano salis. I am not as bad as the Tory papers represent me to be, and I am not quite so good as my friend the chairman represents me to be. I am just a plain, average citizen, with many faults and mistakes, but I have an unfounded intention to do right by my fellow-men. (Great applause).

I will not allow the chairman to take precedence of me in welcoming the ladies. Well, sir, I am no longer a young man, I am sorry to say, but my heart is always young. (Applause and laughter). Moreover, I am of French origin and in talk to any of the ladies, I will not allow an Anglo-Saxon to take the lead. I welcome you, ladies, and show you what a good-looking candidate we have to present to the citizens of Ottawa …

A meeting was held in this hall last week in honour of my friend, the Leader of the Opposition. One of the policies enumerated by Mr. Borden at that meeting was reform of the Civil Service. There is not any particular call, however, for reform. The service is good enough. Where can a better class of men be found than those working on Parliament Hill? They are hardworking, honest citizens.

The Conservatives would have appointments to the service made by competitive examinations. While I am satisfied with the present system, I have no objection to a change, provided it be followed all round. If the Conservatives at Toronto would consent to appoint by competitive examinations, I would have no objection to the system being introduced at Ottawa. (Applause). I object, however, to appointments by party at one point, by competitive examinations elsewhere. The Conservatives want appointments by competitive examinations in Ottawa, where they are in the minority, and appointment by party at Toronto, where they are in the majority.

Mr. Borden spoke on the defensive, explaining his own conduct rather than accusing the Liberals. He had just returned from a tour of the continent, in which he preached the gospel of the Conservative party to the people, and attempted to catch the passing breeze in every locality he visited. The trouble with Mr. Borden is that he has not learned to say no. In visiting a locality, he adopted the opinion of that locality. If the next locality he visited was of a different opinion, he became of the same opinion. This inability has landed Mr. Borden in serious trouble and has caused him to occupy a position extremely dangerous and unpatriotic [by supporting calls from British Columbia to exclude Japanese immigrants] …

It may become Mr. Borden’s duty to take the position I occupy and no man is worthy to be called the leader of a party, whether in opposition or in power, if he is not ready at any moment to run the risk of losing his position in order to do his duty to the country. (Great applause) …

In the 11 years that it has been in power the present government had many important questions to dispose of. This is a difficult country to govern with all its varied interests, its interests of creed and race, and its vast unsettled spaces. I may say, however, that we have never hesitated to take a position upon questions as they arose.

We took a bold course on the Manitoba school question, which was vindicated by the people. Only two years ago the Autonomy Bill came up. For two- or three-months Parliament was the scene of angry passions. The government took a course to satisfy the reasonable men among Roman Catholics and Protestants. What was the result? Mr. Borden, who fought us on the question, went through the west only recently and never opened his mouth on the question.

That is the attitude and the policy that we look to you to assist us by returning my young friend, Mr. Caron [who was to be elected in the end], as one of the representatives of this city. (Great cheering).