Fellow Conservatives and fellow Canadians. Maybe it took us a couple of extra years, but welcome to the 21st century.

I tell you tonight that as a party we are heirs to the founders of this country and to the legacy of the electoral success, from Sir John A. Macdonald through to Brian Mulroney. And what we’ve done today is add the democratic energy and grassroots power of a new age.

Ce que les Canadiens et les Québécois attendent de nous maintenant, c’est de mettre en route cette véritable alternative politique nationale, unie, capable de former le prochain gouvernement, capable de faire le grand ménage à Ottawa.

I tell you a victory like this can only come through the determined assistance of literally thousands of people who contribute to our campaign and the hundreds who worked on volunteer and staff positions.

And let me just correct something, something that John Lynch Staunton said about there being no takeover. Well I’ll tell you, there’s going to be a takeover— the Conservatives taking over the Government of Canada. That’s what we’re doing.

This race has benefited immensely from the participation, first of all, of Tony Clement. Tony has long, long been a friend of mine and those who know him have seen what we’ve all known for a very long time. He’s tough, competitive, passionate, a tireless fighter. His ideas, his ability and his experience are going to be essential to our defeat of the Liberals in Ontario in the next federal election.

The party has benefited immensely from the participation of Belinda Stronach. As I’ve said repeatedly, Belinda played a significant and crucial role in the establishment of our new party. Her presence in this race came at great personal cost, giving up a pretty good job I would say, and gave us not only some tough competition, some unprecedented attention and dare I say— I’ll concede this— she generated significantly more glamour than I was able to do. Belinda is going to be a great MP, a great member of the government and great member of the team.

And I want to also pay some tribute to one party leader who was not in the race. His courage and his foresight and his decisiveness have been critical in the events that we have witnessed over the past six months. I don’t think they’ve been appreciated or fully recognized, but history will judge him well. Time is on his side, and that is my colleague, Peter MacKay.

Je demande l’aide de toutes ces personnes pour la grande bataille qui nous attend.

I ask for the help of all people in our quest to take on defeat and replace the Paul Martin Liberals.

C’est une soirée formidable et une période fascinante. Mais nous ne pouvons perdre de vue la bataille encore plus importante qui nous attend— affronter, défaire et remplacer ce gouvernement libéral.

As I have said throughout my campaign, my Conservative Party will not be built by listing the types of people we don’t want in our party.

We need the Red Tory vision of important national institutions and sustainable social programs because the Conservative Party will never leave the vulnerable behind.

We need the economic conservative vision of lower taxes, more efficient government, lower debt and free enterprise, because the best social program is still a job, ladies and gentlemen.

We need the social conservative vision of strong families and safe communities because our children are our most precious resource and our families are our most cherished institution.

And we need the democratic reform vision of a government that is responsible to the people, not a government responsible to the PMO. Because, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve said it before, we need the best 21st century democracy in the world, not the best 19th century democracy in the world.

We’ve got to reach out to all regions of this country, to the unrealized potential of Atlantic Canada, to the unappreciated contribution of the West and to the unheard majority in the Province of Ontario.

Nous devons poursuivre nos efforts pour baÌ‚tir ce parti au Québec. Nous devons é‚tre efficaces dans la province fondatrice de ce pays et dans la langue fondatrice du Canada.

Nous devons nous engager à baÌ‚tir une vaste organisation de Québécois qui soutiennent nos principes et nos politiques.

Les Québécois ont besoin d’une option qui n’est pas la centralisation défendue par le parti libéral ni la séparation proposée par le Bloc québécois.

Mes chers amis du Québec, j’entends vous démontrer que notre parti peut répondre à vos aspirations— notre parti peut prendre le pouvoir dès les prochaines élections et j’ai besoin de votre appui.

We also, ladies and gentlemen, must reach out to new Canadians, to cultural communities who more often than not agree with our policies, but who more often than not have voted Liberal.

Our new Conservative Party must be more than a party of traditional Canadians. It must be a party of all Canadians and all traditions.

But more than anything else, we must ensure that our priority as a party is not our own aspirations and ambitions, but the needs and dreams of the ordinary people of this country. Let the Liberal Party cut the deals with its own elites. Let the NDP figure out how to destroy the system.

Our job is to ensure that our democracy and our economy better serve the interests of proud, hardworking, commonsense Canadians and their families.

We must be a party that believes taxpayers are as important as politicians, rank-and-file workers as important as union bosses, independent shareholders as important as corporate management and grassroots citizens as important as bureaucrats and special interests.

And if we remember these things, combine our conservative values with the needs of our fellow citizens and stand united behind them, we are an unbeatable team in this country.

Chers amis conservateurs, au cours des prochains jours, nous allons rencontrer notre caucus parlementaire, notre conseil national, la base du parti, les dirigeants du parti électoral, et les responsables de campagne. Je vais donner des directives précises pour que nous allions de l’avant en restant unis.

Fellow Conservatives, I will provide strong and clear direction for a unified course ahead.

Our efforts will be based on the belief that Canada as a country has unlimited potential, blessed by a creation with unparalleled resources, further blessed by the unprecedented diversity of people, of energy and enthusiasm and held back only by the incompetence and corruption of this Liberal government.

Nous venons d’assister aux cent premiers jours des dix dernières années de Paul Martin, le début de la fin. Paul Martin a pris le pouvoir en divisant son propre parti contre son leader et contre lui-mé‚me, et il récolte ce qu’il a semé.

We’ve just witnessed the first 100 days of what I call the last ten years of Paul Martin, the beginning of the end.

Paul Martin came to power by dividing his own party against its leader and against itself and he is reaping his reward.

Our last 100 days has been about the unprecedented unification of Conservatives, not as a consequence of electoral choices of others, but as a deliberate act of will by ourselves.

Fellow Conservatives, if we stand for ideas, if we stand as a team we will win the next election.

But the tired, old and corrupt Liberal Party is right now cornered like an angry rat. They are going to attack us like we have never been attacked before. They will attempt to divide us regionally. They will attempt to divide us on issues. They will attempt to open old wounds. They will do this because it is the only way they can survive. We cannot allow this to happen. We must unite as a team. We must unite behind our common ideals. We must unite to win because that is the only way Conservatives can win, ladies and gentlemen.

And we can win. Paul Martin has spent the first 100 days running away from his Liberal record. He spent the first 100 days running away from his Liberal Party.

He spent the first 100 days running away from Liberal corruption. Paul Martin can run, but he cannot hide. Paul Martin has a record, Paul Martin is a Liberal and Paul Martin will be held accountable for the corruption of the Liberal Party.

Fellow Conservatives, and fellow Canadians, we are running and we are not going to hide. We are Conservatives and when elected we will not only hold the Liberal government accountable and Paul Martin accountable for the past, more importantly we will provide this country with a direction for the future.