if this proposal limited in any way the right to organize, i would not support it. we just cannot go on missing out on the middle-class jobs our state needs just because of this one issue. for the sake of those without jobs, and those young people just beginning the ascent up life's ladder, i ask you to remove this obstacle and make indiana the 23rd state to protect the right to work. [ applause ] i have a new prized possession. it's a letter written to his parents by a young clerk named a.b. carpenter on february 12th, 1861. amid updates about haircuts,

colds and headaches young mr. carpenter reported the following. there is considerable excitement concerning a couple of legislators who went to kentucky to fight a duel. mr. hefern, a democrat, slandered and abused mr. moody, a republican, in a speech and moody challenged him. he accepted and choosed bowie knives. they went to kentucky last friday night and have not been heard from since. we think we have disagreements. when we do, i hope we'll keep them not only in state, but also in this chamber where the people's business is supposed to be settled. [ applause ]

mr. carpenter's letter wasn't mainly about duels or haircuts. he wrote it because he'd gone to see the newly elected president, abraham lincoln, who had spent that day, his 52nd birthday, in indianapolis. young carpenter described lincoln's arrival at lafayette road, the procession down washington, pennsylvania, ohio and illinois streets to the bates house hotel. seeing the new president filled carpenter with hope, he said, that soon our government will be remodeled. i like the term. these measures i have mentioned are part of our continuing remodeling project. in three weeks, the entire world will fix its eyes on this city and our state. it should be a magic moment. i hope a matter of pride to every hoosier everywhere. but the super bowl didn't get here overnight. indy's selection followed decades of constant striving and

building and reforms to make our capital the vibrant, livable model city it has now become. no one leader or group of leaders made it happen. the work was passed from hand to hand, administration to administration, generation to generation. and in no era did the people of indianapolis rest or settle or loaf. so it will have to be with the construction of the great indiana we are determined to achieve. i carried here from its place on my desk an atomic clock given to me by a friend who served a sister state as governor with great distinction. it sits directly in front of me each day, counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until i turn over these duties and return to private life. it is there to remind me to use every moment as well as i can to make indiana a place of greater

promise and prosperity. silently it challenges me to search each day for the next improvement, the next efficiency, the next breakthrough, the next stroke of indiana leadership. yes, these nights are about the future. but i do look back at past speeches, if only to avoid repeating myself. in one, i recounted telling an east coast ceo who wondered what indiana was known for that one day he wouldn't have to ask. tonight, he doesn't. in another, i said i hoped we'd become bolder in our embrace of change. take our motto from the inspiring athletes of the special olympics and be a braver state. tonight, we are. in the very first of these meetings, i invited you and every hoosier listening to join us in rejecting mediocrity, demanding excellence, aiming higher. tonight, we do.

in a column titled "indiana promises a better future," a young graduate student, a life-long resident of a neighboring state, wrote to the indianapolis star that she had made a critical life decision. she would take her new degree and move to indiana. she cited our, quote, fiscally responsible choices. our economic integrity. our avoidance of out of control spending we see in so many other states. she concluded by predicting that more talented young people would make that, quote, short drive down i-69 to a more promising future. that is the state we have dreamed of. a state that magnetizes people of talent and the risk taking capital that seeks to employ them. a state of growth. a state of hope. a state of promising futures. we are not yet fully that state.

but we are so much closer to it. we have leapfrogged other places, pass more competitors than tony stewart at homestead. we are certainly irrefutably different. until it became real, i never imagined that for eight fulfilling years, i would be given the chance to help make indiana different. on the night it became real, i resolved to use every day, take every action, make every change that might make our state a place of promising futures. i now have 369 days, 5 hours, 28 minutes and 9 seconds left as the people's employee. i pledge to use every one of them as wisely as i can in the service of those who sent us to this chamber.

i ask you to do likewise. to be the kind of leaders, the new leadership state of indiana now expects us to be. god bless this assembly and this great state. [ applause ]

>> this joint assembly is adjourned. >> the house will reconvene at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow. we're adjourned.

by 2016, according to the imf, the world's leading economy will be a economistic dictatorship. that's in five year's time. think about that. if the imf who is elected next november will be the last to preside over the united states -- >> columnist and author mark steyn has published five books. he writes the happy warrior column and is a frequent guest host on rush limbaugh's radio show. and live sunday your chance to call, e-mail and tweet with your questions live at noon eastern on book tv on c-span 2. it would be intolerable if a

handful of violent people, and that is what it is, just a handful, could harden us against needed change. i've seen an uglier violence, too. it perverts the very spirit of america. i saw it at the republican convention in 1964 when governor rockefeller was shouted down. i saw it in minneapolis, when governor wallace, a man with whom i disagree was heckled into silence. and it happened to me in philadelphia. we must give notice to this violent few. there are millions of decent americans who are willing to sacrifice for change. but they want to do it without being threatened. and they want to do it peacefully. they are the nonviolent majority. black and white. who are for change without violence. these are the people whose voice i want to be. >> as candidates campaign for president this year, we look back at 14 men who ran for the office and lost. go to our website, c-span.org/thecontenders to see video of the contenders who had a lasting impact on american politics.

>> our ancestors came across the ocean in sailing ships you wouldn't go across a lake in. when they arrived there was nothing here. they built their tiny little cabins and they did it with neighbors helping one another, not federal grants. they came here because they wanted to be free. and they wanted to practice the religion of their choice. and after 200 years, too many of us take those privileges for granted. >> c-span.org/thecontenders. this is c-span 3 with politics and public affairs programing throughout the week. and every weekend american history tv. 48 hours of people and events telling the american story. get our schedules and see past programs at our websites. and join in the conversation on these social media sites. now remarks from canadian prime minister stephen harper on

the state of canada's economy. he made these remarks during th davos, switzerland. this is about 25 minutes. >> prime minister harper, it's my great privilege to welcome you back. indeed, i think much to the envy of many leaders here in the audience and elsewhere, you managed actually to increase your standing in parliament, passing from minority to

majority government for the next several years. canada is recognized for having navigated the waters of the international financial crisis in a very impressive manner. your own personal leadership in this regard, together with a sound regulatory and business context for which canada is so well-known have served the country very well. prime minister, we look forward to hearing your impressions of the state of the global economy, and in particular, the role and contribution, what many people call the canadian model can make to improve current economic challenges facing much of the industrialized world. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome prime minister harper of canada. [ applause ]

>> mercy beacoup. thank you for that kind introduction. i also want to thank you particularly for the invitation to speak here that you extended to me earlier this year. but more than that, professional, you have made the world economic forum an indispensable part of the global conversation among leaders and politics, business and civil society. and in the face of continuing global economic instability, the opportunity that this gathering provides is now more valuable than ever. so i know everyone here joins me in thanking you for in the service really of the common good, your leadership and your vision. [ applause ] my greetings to ambassador santi, to the governor of the bank of canada, known internationally as the chair of the financial stability board, mark carney, to our hardworking

minister of international trade, ed fast, and to the best finance minister on the planet, jim flaherty. that's an official title, he tells me. and let me just say that i am especially proud to see so many outstanding canadian business leaders making their presence felt here in davos. ladies and gentlemen, i will use my time today to highlight canada's economic strengths and to frame the choices we face as we work to secure long-term prosperity for our citizens. in a difficult global environment, and i should say in instability that in a difficult global environment is likely to remain with us -- [ speaking in french ] "forbes" magazine ranks canada as the best place on the planet

for businesses to grow and create jobs. the oecd and imf predict our economy will again be among the leaders of the industrialized world over the next two years. and one more cherished accolade, of course, is for the fourth year in a row, this body, the world economic forum says our banks are the soundest in the world. these evaluations are the result of sound fundamentals. among g-7 countries, canada has the lowest overall tax rate on new business investment. our net debt to gdp ratio remains the lowest in the g-7 and by far. and while we remain concerned about the number of canadas who are still out of work, canada is only one of two g-7 countries to recoup all of the jobs lost during the global recession. indeed, more canadians are now working than before the downturn. how was this achieved?

[ speaking in french ] we made historic investments in infrastructure. we encourage businesses to invest and help them avoid layoffs. we put substantial funding into skills training, and we extended support for workers who lost their jobs. these things we did on a timely, targeted, and temporary basis. we did not create permanent new programs or government bureaucracy. as a consequence, our deficit is now falling. our debt-gdp ratio has already peaked, and we do not need to raise taxes going forward. i should also add we did not reduce immigration or give in to protectionism. instead, we have maintained the high levels of immigration that our aging labor force of the future will require.

we have continued as well to pursue new trade agreements. and we have taken action to make canada ag-20 countries the first terra free zone for manufacturers. [ speaking in french ] we have pursued these policies, ladies and gentlemen, once again because our number one priority as a government is prosperity. that is economic growth and job creation. now that may sound obvious, almost cliched. but is it really? as i look around the world, as i look particularly at developed countries, i worry. i wonder, and i ask whether the creation of economic growth and

therefore jobs really is the number one policy priority everywhere. or is it the case that in the developed world too many of us have in fact become complacent about our prosperity, taking our wealth as a given, assuming it is somehow the natural order of things, leaving us instead to focus primarily on our services and entitlements. is it a coincidence that as the veil falls on the financial crisis, it reveals not just too much bank debt, but too much sovereign debt. too much general willingness to have standards and benefits beyond our ability or even our willingness to pay for them. now i don't know, but what i do know is this -- [ speaking french ]

first, that the wealth of western economies is no more inevitable than the poverty of emerging ones. and that the wealth we enjoy today has been based on and only on good growth-oriented policies, the right, often tough choices and the hard work done in the past. and second, that regardless of what direction other western nations may choose, under our government, canada will make the transformations necessary to sustain economic growth, job creation, and prosperity now and for the next generation. [ speaking in french ]

that further means two things. making better choices, better economic choices now, and preparing ourselves for the democratic pressures the -- the demographic pressures, excuse me, the canadian economy faces. on what we must do now, first we will, of course, continue to keep taxes, tax rates down. that is central to our government's economic vision. but we will do more, much more. in the months to come, our government will undertake major trans formations to position canada for growth over the next generation. for example, we will continue to make key investments in science and technology necessary to sustain a modern competitive economy. but we believe that canada's less than optimal results for those investments is a significant problem for our country. we've recently received a report on this, the jenkins report, and we will soon act on the problems the report identifies.

we will continue to advance our trade linkages. we will pass agreements signed, particularly in our own hemisphere, and we will work to conclude major deals beyond it. [ speaking in french ] we expect to complete negotiations on a canada-eu free trade agreement this year. we will work to complete negotiations on a free trade agreement with india in 2013, and we will begin entry talks with the transpacific partnership while also pursuing other avenues to advance our trade in asia. i will of course, for example, be making another official visit to china very shortly. we will also continue working with the obama administration to implement our joint beyond the border initiative. this is our plan to deepen our economic and security links to our most important partner. however, at the same time, we will make it a national priority

to ensure we have the capacity to export our energy products beyond the united states and specifically to asia. in this regard, we will soon take action to ensure that major energy and mining projects are not subject to unnecessary regulatory delays. that is delay merely for the sake of delay. this compliments work we're already doing, and that we will move forward on with the canadian federation of independent business to cut the burden of red tape for entrepreneurs. we will also undertake significant reform of our immigration system. we will ensure that while we respect our humanitarian obligations and our family reunification objectives, we will make our economic and labor force needs the central goal of our immigration efforts in the future. as i said earlier, one of the backdrops for my concerns is canada's aging population.

if not addressed promptly, this has the capacity to undermine canada's economic position. and for that matter, that of all western nations, well beyond the current economic crisis. immigration does help us address that and will even more so in the future. [ speaking in french ] our demographics also cute a threat to the special programs and services that canadians cherish. for this reason we will be taking measures in the coming months, not just to return to a balanced budget over the medium term, but also to ensure the sustainability of our social programs and our fiscal position over the next generation. we've already taken steps to

limit the growth of our health care spending over that period. we must do the same for our retirement income system. fortunately, the centerpiece of that system, the canada pension plan, is fully funded, actuarily sound and does not need to be changed. for those elements of the system that are not funded, we will make the changes necessary to ensure sustainability for the next generation while not affecting current recipients. now let me summarize, ladies and gentlemen, by saying this. that notwithstanding canada's many advantages, we remained very concerned about the continuing instability of the global economy of which we are very much a part. the problems afflicting europe, and for that matter the united states are not only challenging today, but in my judgment, threaten even greater problems in the future.

each nation has a choice to make, western nations in particular, face a choice of whether to create the conditions for growth and prosperity, or to risk long-term economic decline. in every decision or failure to decide, we are choosing our future right now. and as we all know both from the global crises of the past few years, and from past experience in our own countries, easy choices now mean fewer choices now. [ speaking in french ] canada's choice will be with clarity and urgency to seize and to master our future, to be a model of confidence, growth, and prosperity in the 21st century.

economy. mercy beacoup. thank you, ladies and gentlemen for your kind attention. [ applause ] >> prime minister, you have talked about all your reforms in canada and maybe i will come back. but if i take the context, which is so important and as a g-20 country, and having listened to president calderon. >> translator: what are the major objectives which you are looking at for the meeting this year under the presidency of mexico? what are your wishes? >> translator: thank you. well, that's always a good question. as you know very well, the g-20,

despite having certain constraints is really the only genuine forum for international governance of this global economy. i would hope for two things. firstly, that we discuss. we will not at this point still be discussing the crisis in europe. i hope we would have found a solution by then. and i really hope that it would be oriented towards real economic objectives, real issues. i hope that the subjects won't be too numerous, that the approach will be focused, and that the work will coordinate the international response to the crises, and that we will continue to