Daily Inspiration Quote by Kim Campbell

Two decades is a long time to be “attempting,” and Kim Campbell’s phrasing quietly weaponizes that duration. The sentence is built to sound sympathetic to Montreal while actually putting the city on trial: if the federal and provincial governments have made “enormous efforts” and tried “a variety of approaches,” then the lingering stagnation must be someone else’s fault. It’s political rhetoric disguised as a neutral status report, the kind that pre-loads the conclusion without ever stating it.

Notice how the language does its work. “Enormous” is an adjective with no numbers attached, a way to claim fiscal and moral seriousness without inviting an audit. “Variety of approaches” is similarly noncommittal: it implies creativity and persistence, and it preemptively rebuts the charge that Ottawa or Quebec City has been rigid or indifferent. The verb “attempt” is the tell. It shifts responsibility from outcomes to intentions, creating a paper trail of effort that can be cited when patience runs out.

Context matters: Campbell was a prime minister in the early 1990s, when Montreal was wrestling with post-recession malaise, deindustrialization, and the political uncertainty of Quebec nationalism. In that climate, “stimulating Montreal’s economy” isn’t just about jobs; it’s about keeping the federation’s second city anchored to a broader national project. The subtext is disciplined: we’ve invested, we’ve adapted, we’ve waited. The next move, implied but not spoken, is accountability, and possibly withdrawal of indulgence.