Top five quotes from Justin Trudeau’s keynote address at the Liberal convention

For those waiting for some meaty policy ideas, keep waiting.

Justin Trudeau delivered his keynote express at the Liberal Party convention in Montreal, on Saturday afternoon.

To be fair, he did speak a little about policy: he talked about having a national target of 70 per cent post secondary education attainment; he talked about wanting to invest in infrastructure; he talked about building a "true partnership" with First Nations; and he hinted at his support for loosening rules around doctor-assisted suicide.

But, for the most part, he spoke in generalities.

That's not to say the speech wasn't effective. In fact, Trudeau seemed poised and controlled in what turned-out to be a very quotable speech.

Here are some of his best quotes from his 40 minute address.

1. About the Senate expense scandal:

"As a candidate [Mr. Harper] promised that he would never appoint a Senator. Not a single one. Then, after he got elected he appointed 57 of them.

"And by the way, anyone who puts Pamela Wallin, Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau in the Senate, might want to be careful about making judgement a campaign issue."

2. About Senate reform and the potential of re-opening the constitution:

"Now that people have had it up to here with the people [Harper] appointed, he wants you to believe he's still a reformer at heart. That he still believes in an elected Senate, even though he know that roads leads to Constitutional negotiation.

"...But I disagree. Mike Duffy is not worth another Meech Lake."

3. 'No new taxes':

"We need to ensure that governments keep costs as low as possible, especially for the middle class. The middle class is already having a hard time making ends meet, and struggling with debt. Tax increases for them are not in the cards, not on the table."

4. About John A. MacDonald:

"The Conservative Party is not the party of John A. MacDonald.

"It is the party of Stephen Harper. And here's the hard truth about Mr. Harper. I believe that as a young idealistic reformer, he was a principled man. But over eight years as Prime Minister, he has abandoned the principles he held dear."

5. Where we are compared to the pre-Harper era:

"Ask yourself the question: is Canada a fairer country than it was a decade ago? Are we a more prosperous country? Are we more free? Do more Canadians have more chances to succeed?

"It's not my candidacy that frightens Mr. Harper and his party. It's that they know, in their hearts, the answer to each of those questions is no. More important, Canadians know it too."

[ Related: Conservative, NDP attacks fail to land as Liberals convene in Montreal ]

Not surprisingly, there were those who were quick to slam Trudeau for not talking about specific policies at a 'policy convention.'

"It was short on content, short on proposals, zero policies, zero solutions," Karl Belanger, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair's principal secretary, told Yahoo Canada News.

"The easy part is to talk about problems. But you need to propose something. You need to put something on the table. What is it that you are going to do? We don't know."

[ Related: Poll shows Liberals riding high heading into weekend convention ]

A former Liberal MP, however, says that specific policies will come.

"There's a couple of things to bare in mind," Dan McTeague who intends to run for the Liberal nomination in Pickering Uxbridge, told Yahoo.

"We're still two years away from a federal election. The party is chalk full of ideas.

"I think the leader is taking the right position in terms of listening to the grassroots and ensuring whatever the grassroots of the Liberal party passes [this weekend] is well-articulated in our policies."

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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