'Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien',
PC,
CC,
QC,
BA,
BCL,
LLD (h.c.) (born
January 11,
1934), usually known as 'Jean Chrétien', is a Canadian politician who was the twentieth
Prime Minister of Canada from
November 4,
1993 to
December 12,
2003, and leader of the
Liberal Party of Canada from
1990 to 2003.
Early life
Born in
Shawinigan,
Quebec, as the 18th of 19 children (10 of whom did not survive infancy
[ The Life and Times of Jean Chrétien ]) to Wellie Chrétien and Marie Boisvert, Jean Chrétien studied law at
Université Laval. Chrétien would later make light of his humble origins, calling himself "le petit gars de Shawinigan",
[1] or the "little guy from Shawinigan." In his youth, he suffered an attack of
Bell's palsy, leaving the left side of his face permanently paralyzed. Chrétien used this in his first Liberal leadership campaign, saying that he was "One politician who didn't talk out of both sides of his mouth."
On
September 10,
1957, he married
Aline Chainé. They have two sons (Hubert and
Michel) and one daughter (
France).
Early career
Chrétien in 1967
Jean Chrétien practised law in Shawinigan until he was first elected to the
Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal from the riding of
Saint-Maurice–Laflèche in the
1963 election. He would represent this Shawinigan-based riding, renamed
Saint-Maurice in 1968, for all but eight of the next 41 years.
After re-election in the
1965 election, he served as
parliamentary secretary (junior minister) to Prime Minister
Lester B. Pearson (1965) and then to
Minister of Finance,
Mitchell Sharp (1966). He was selected for appointment as
Minister of National Revenue in 1968 by Prime Minister
Pierre Trudeau.
After the
June 1968 election, he was appointed
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. His most notable achievement in this role was the
1969 White Paper, a proposal to abolish the
Indian Act. The paper was widely opposed by
First Nations groups, and later abandoned.
During the
October Crisis, Chrétien told Trudeau to "act now, explain later", when Trudeau was hesitant to invoke the
War Measures Act. 85% of Canadians agreed with the move. In 1974, he was appointed President of the Treasury Board; and beginning in 1976, he served as
Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce. In 1977, following the resignation of Finance Minister
John Turner, Chrétien succeeded him.
Early in his career, Chrétien was described by
Dalton Camp as looking like ''the driver of the getaway car'', a condescending assessment which stuck with him, and which was often cited by journalists and others throughout his career, and usually ironically considering his eventual success.
The Liberals lost power in
1979. When they regained power in
1980, Chrétien was appointed
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada. In this role, he was a major force in the
1980 Quebec referendum, being one of the main federal representatives "on the ground" during the campaign. His fiery and emotional speeches would enthrall federalist crowds, and his blunt warnings of the consequences of separation earned him a reputation as a "straight shooter." He also served as Minister of State for Social Development and Minister Responsible for Constitutional Negotiations, playing a significant role in the
patriation of the
Constitution of Canada. He was the chief negoitator of what would be called the "Kitchen Accord", an agreement which led to the agreement of 9 provinces to patriation. His role in the dealings, however, would forever follow him in his native Quebec, who did not ratify the Constitution (although the
Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Quebec was bound by it). In 1982, Chrétien was appointed
Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources.
After Trudeau announced his retirement in early 1984 as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister, Chrétien sought the leadership of the
Liberal Party of Canada. The experience was a hard one for Chrétien, as many of his longtime Cabinet allies supported the Turner campaign. He was thought to be a dark horse until the end, but lost on the second ballot to
John Turner at the
leadership convention that June.
Iona Campagnolo would ominously introduce Chrétien as, "Second on the ballot, but first in our hearts."
Turner personally appointed him
Deputy Prime Minister, and selected him for appointment by the Governor General as
Secretary of State for External Affairs (
foreign minister). Relations between the two were strained, especially after the Liberals were severely defeated in the
1984 election. Chrétien was one of only 17 Liberals elected from Quebec (the party had won 74 out of 75 seats in 1980) In 1986, Chrétien resigned his seat and left public life for a time. Now working in the private sector again, Chrétien sat on the boards of several corporations. These corporations included the
Power Corporation of Canada subsidiary
Consolidated Bathurst, the
Toronto-Dominion Bank, and the
Brick Warehouse Corporation, among others.
Chrétien would be a major focal point of dissatisfaction with Turner, with many polls showing his popularity. His book, ''Straight from the Heart'', was a best-seller.
Early years as Liberal leader
After Turner's resignation as leader in 1989, Chrétien announced he would run for the party leadership at the June 1990
Liberal leadership convention in
Calgary,
Alberta.
Chrétien's principal opponent,
Paul Martin, was generally seen as the ideological heir to
John Turner, while Chrétien was the ideological heir to Trudeau. A key moment in that race took place at an all-candidates debate in Montreal, where the discussion quickly turned to the
Meech Lake Accord. Martin attempted to force Chrétien to abandon his nuanced position on the deal and declare for or against it. When Chrétien refused to endorse the deal, young Liberal delegates crowding the hall began to chant ''"vendu"'' ("sellout" in French) and "
Judas" at Chrétien. Martin continues to state he had nothing to do with the response from the floor, or a similar outburst by his supporters at the convention, in which Chrétien defeated Martin on the first and only ballot. However, his reputation in his home province never recovered.
In December, Chrétien returned to the House of Commons after winning a
by-election in the safe Liberal riding of
Beauséjour, New Brunswick. The incumbent,
Fernand Robichaud, stood down in Chrétien's favour, which is traditional practice when a newly elected party leader doesn't have a seat in Parliament.
Chrétien later revealed himself to be as staunchly federalist as Trudeau. However, he supported the
Charlottetown Accord while Trudeau opposed it.
When
Progressive Conservative Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney began to lose ground in the polls, Chrétien was the major beneficiary. In particular, Chrétien reaped a major windfall after Mulroney introduced an unpopular
Goods and Services Tax.
The 1993 election
Mulroney's approval numbers soon fell into the teens, and by
1993, opinion polls showed that his Conservative Party would almost certainly be defeated by the Liberals under Chrétien in the
election due that year. Mulroney announced his retirement in February, and was succeeded by National Defense Minister
Kim Campbell in June. Campbell managed to pull the Conservatives to within a few percentage points of the Liberals by the time
the writs were dropped in September.
Campbell, however, had little luck overcoming the tremendous antipathy toward Mulroney, despite a substantial bounce from the leadership convention. Chrétien saw an opportunity, and on
September 19, he dropped a bombshell by releasing the entire Liberal platform. The 112-page document, ''Creating Opportunity'', quickly became known as the
Red Book because of its bright red cover. It was a very specific and detailed statement of exactly what a Chrétien government would do in office.
The Liberals did not promise to remove the GST altogether as a revenue producing agent. Instead, the Red Book pledged to replace the GST "with a system that generates equivalent revenues, is fairer to consumers and to small business, minimizes disruption to small business, and promotes federal-provincial fiscal cooperation and harmonization."
Chrétien promised to renegotiate of the
North American Free Trade Agreement, and reform to the
unemployment insurance system. Above all, he promised to return Canada to fiscal solvency. As proof, the Red Book gave costs for each of the Liberals' policy goals — the first time a Canadian party had gone to such lengths to prove that its proposals were fiscally responsible. In their first mandate in the 1993 election, they were attempting to merge the GST, however most provinces refused to accept this change after the election. An enormous amount of the public was manipulated by the Tories, thinking that Chrétien actually promised to "Scrap the GST". As a result of the confusion, people protested by changing their votes after realizing the GST was here to stay.
The Red Book gave the Liberals the reputation as the party with ideas, since none of the other parties had anything comparable. The Liberals quickly surged to a double-digit lead in most opinion polls. By October, it was obvious that the Liberals would win at least a
minority government. Even at this stage, however, Chrétien's personal approval ratings were far behind those of Campbell. Realizing this, the Tory campaign team released a
series of ads attacking Chrétien. The second ad, released on
October 14, appeared to mock Chrétien's facial paralysis, and generated a severe backlash from all sides. Even some Tory candidates called for the ad to be yanked. Campbell was not directly responsible for the ad, but ordered it off the air over her staff's objections. However, she didn't apologize and lost a chance to contain the fallout from the ad.
Chrétien, taking advantage of the furor, likening the Tories to the children who teased him when he was a boy in Shawinigan. "When I was a kid people were laughing at me," he said at an appearance in
Nova Scotia. "But I accepted that because God gave me other qualities and I'm grateful." The speech, which one Tory described as one Chrétien had waited his whole life to deliver, moved many in the audience to tears. Chrétien's approval ratings shot up, nullifying the only advantage the Conservatives still had over him. All told, the ad flap all but assured that the Liberals would win a majority government.
On
October 25, the Liberals were elected to an overwhelming majority government, winning 177 seats — the third-best performance in the Liberals' history, and their most since their record of 190 seats in
1949. The Tories were nearly wiped off the map, falling to only two seats in the worst defeat ever suffered by a governing party at the federal level. Chrétien himself yielded Beauséjour back to Robichaud in order to run in his old riding, Saint-Maurice. However, he was unable to lead the Liberals back to their traditional dominance in Quebec. He was one of only four Liberal MPs elected from that province outside the
Montreal area.
Prime minister
On November 4, Chrétien was appointed by
Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn as prime minister. While Trudeau,
Joe Clark and Mulroney had been relative political outsiders prior to becoming prime minister, Chrétien had served in every Liberal cabinet since 1965. This experience gave him a masterful knowledge of the Canadian parliamentary system, and allowed Chrétien to establish a very centralized government that, although highly efficient, was also lambasted by critics as being a "friendly dictatorship" and intolerant of internal dissent.
Chrétien entered office in as strong a position as any newly elected Liberal prime minister since
Louis St. Laurent. With 123 more seats than the next largest party, he could have enacted virtually any program he wanted. He turned most of his attention to clearing away the massive debt he'd inherited from Mulroney. He was assisted by Martin, who had been promised the Finance portfolio for his work in authoring the Red Book. The government began a program of deep cuts to provincial transfers and other areas of government finance. During his tenure as Prime Minister a $42 billion deficit was eliminated, five consecutive budget surpluses were recorded, $36 billion in debt was paid down, and taxes were cut by $100 billion (cumulatively) over 5 years, the largest tax cut in Canadian history. There were, however, undeniable costs associated with this endeavour. The cuts would result in fewer government services, most noticeably in the health care sector, as major reductions in federal funding to the provinces meant significant cuts in service delivery. Moreover, the across the board cuts affected the operations and achievement of the mandate of most federal departments. Many of the cuts would be restored in later years of Chrétien's period in office.
One of Chrétien's main focuses in office was preventing the separation of the province of Quebec, which was ruled by the
separatist ''
Parti Québécois'' for nearly the Prime Minister's entire term. After the
1995 referendum very narrowly defeated a proposal on Quebec sovereignty, the government passed what became known as the ''
Clarity Act'', which said that no Canadian government would acknowledge a Quebec declaration of independence unless a "clear majority" supported sovereignty in a referendum based on a "clear question", as defined by the Parliament of Canada. The size of a "clear majority" was left unspecified, but the Supreme Court of Canada made it clear that such a majority would not be "50% plus one vote".
On
November 5,
1995, Chrétien and his wife escaped injury when
André Dallaire, armed with a knife, broke in the Prime Minister's official residence at
24 Sussex Drive. Aline Chrétien shut and locked the bedroom door until security came. It is said Jean was ready to defend himself with a sharp-edged
Inuit carving.
Chrétien was involved in a controversy again in November 1997 when the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit was held on the
University of British Columbia campus in
Vancouver. The APEC summit was a summit of many Asian and Pacific countries and students on UBC's campus protested the meeting of some of these leaders because of their poor
human rights practices. One of the leaders most criticized was then Indonesian President
Haji Mohammad Suharto . Demonstrators tore down a barrier and were pepper sprayed. Other peaceful demonstrators were subsequently pepper sprayed as well. There was debate over whether the action was necessary. Chrétien responded to the media's questions about the incident by saying "For me, pepper, I put it on my plate." Allegations soon arose that someone in the Prime Minister's Office or Chrétien himself gave the go-ahead for the pepper spraying of protestors. Chrétien denied any involvement.
[2]
In
1999, Chretien supported Canada's involvement in
NATO's bombing campaign of
Yugoslavia over the issue of
Kosovo. The
1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was NATO's and Canada's most controversial act as it's first deliberate non-defensive aggression against another sovereign state.
The government under Chrétien's prime ministership also introduced a new and far-reaching ''
Youth Criminal Justice Act'', which replaced the old ''
Young Offenders Act'', and changed the way youths were prosecuted for crimes in Canada.
Chretien was known to be friendly in foreign policy towards the
People's Republic of China. He led four "Team Canada" trade missions to China, and sharply increased the amount of trade between the two countries during his tenure as Prime Minister. Under his leadership, China and Canada signed several bilateral relations agreements. Immigration policy under Chretien was also seen as generally favourable towards Chinese immigrants.
Following the
September 11 terrorist attacks upon the United States, North American airspace was shut down and many Canadians opened up their homes to stranded travellers. Chrétien praised
Operation Yellow Ribbon, saying that it was one of the ways it showed the best of Canadians in a time of tragedy for their American friends and neighbours down south. In response to those attacks, Canadian forces joined with multinational forces that invaded
Afghanistan to pursue
al-Qaeda forces there.
President
George W. Bush and Jean Chretien address the media before a 2002 bilateral meeting.
Chrétien directed the
Crown not to support the US-led
2003 invasion of Iraq. His reasoning was that the war lacked UN Security Council sanction; while not a member of the Security Council, Canada nevertheless attempted to build a consensus for a resolution authorizing the use of force after a short (two to three month) extension to UN weapon inspections in Iraq. (Critics also noted that, while in opposition, he had also opposed the first US-led
Gulf War.) Although criticism from right-wing opposition was vocal, the move proved popular with the Canadian public in general. In December of 2003, it emerged that the government had prepared plans for Canada to send as many as 800 Canadian troops to Iraq if the UN Security Council had authorized it; however, a UN request for an increased deployment of Canadian soldiers to Afghanistan removed this option from the table. This led some of Chrétien's anti-war critics on the left to accuse the Prime Minister of never really being fully opposed to the war. Nonetheless, Canada was the first non-member of the US-led coalition to provide significant financial aid to the post-war reconstruction effort, relative to Canada's size. This move allowed Canadian companies to bid on reconstruction contracts.
Chrétien's term was marked by two major brushes with scandal. In 2000, after initial denials, he acknowledged having lobbied the Business Development Bank of Canada to grant a $2 million loan to Yvon Duhaime, a friend and constituent to whom the Prime Minister had sold his interest in a local resort. The bank had turned down the initial application, but later approved a $615,000 loan following further lobbying by Chrétien. The application became controversial when it was revealed that Chrétien had never been paid for his share in the sale of the adjoining golf course, and by criminal charges against Duhaime. The Prime Minister's ethics counsellor determined that Chrétien had not violated any conflict-of-interest rules, noting that there were no clear guidelines on such matters.
The other major controversy of the Chrétien years was the
sponsorship scandal. The Gomery Commission, First Phase Report, which later assigned blame for the scandal, cast most of the indemnity for misspent public funds and fraud on Chrétien and his Prime Minister's Office staff. The lingering repercussions of the scandal reduced the
Liberal Party to a minority in
2004, and contributed to the government's defeat in
2006.
Chrétien came under fire for backtracking on some of his promises, most notably the GST. Instead of scrapping it, he replaced it with the
Harmonized Sales Tax in three
Atlantic provinces. However, Chrétien claimed that the fiscal situation was far worse than expected. Despite slipping poll numbers, he advised the Governor General to call an election for
1997, a year ahead of schedule. Many of his own MPs criticized him for this move, especially in light of the devastating
Red River Flood. He was reelected with a considerably reduced mandate. However, they still finished with 95 more seats than the next-largest party. The Liberals rebounded in
2000, nearly tying their 1993 total.
Throughout his prime-ministership, Chrétien faced only weak opposition in the House of Commons. This was partly because he governed with majorities for the whole time, and with quite large ones for most of it; and partly because of the peculiar state of the opposition parties. During his first parliament, the
Official Opposition was the
Bloc Québécois, which was more concerned with gaining sovereignty for Quebec than with playing the customary role of a parliamentary opposition. That role was to some extent taken on by
Reform, which had become the leading right-wing party, and which held only marginally fewer seats than the Bloc. The Bloc faded somewhat in the 1997 election, while the Reform Party gained and so took over as Official Opposition for next parliament. Reform, though, began as a Western protest party, and never altogether lost that character. Moreover, Reform was seen as too extreme by most Canadians, especially those east of Manitoba, where the party never had much success. Even after Reform renewed itself as the
Canadian Alliance, in 2000, it gained only slightly on Chrétien. The other two parties in the House of Commons, the leftish
New Democratic Party and the formerly powerful, center-right
Progressive Conservatives, held only a few seats each, and their parliamentary effect was accordingly slight.
Retirement
Relations between Chrétien and Martin were frequently strained, and Martin was reportedly angling to replace Chrétien as early as 1997. In the summer of
2002, Chrétien tried to curtail Martin's by-now open campaign for the leadership of the party. Some said that Chrétien dismissed Martin from Cabinet, while others say that Martin resigned. In any case, the departure generated a severe backlash from Martin's supporters, who largely controlled the party machinery, and all signs indicated that they were prepared to oust Chrétien at a leadership review in January 2003. After less than half the caucus committed to support him, Chrétien announced that he would not lead the party into the next election, and set his resignation date for February 2004.
Chrétien maintained a high approval rating near the end of his term thanks to several developments. The cooperation of federal, provincial, and municipal governments enabled Vancouver to win the right to host the
2010 Winter Olympics. The
election victory of the federalist
Jean Charest in Quebec was largely seen by the rest of the provinces as a vote of confidence in Chrétien's unity efforts. His decision not to participate in the
Iraq war was popular with a large majority of Canadians.
Chrétien's final sitting in the House of Commons took place
November 6,
2003, with many tributes, standing ovations, and even some hearty laughs at humorous stories told by the Prime Minister. He made an emotional farewell to the party on
November 13 at the
2003 Liberal leadership convention. The following day his rival Martin was elected his successor.
U2 lead singer
Bono attended the Convention and made a speech, joking "I'm the only thing these two can agree upon."
On
December 12,
2003, Jean Chrétien officially resigned as prime minister, formally handing power over to Paul Martin. According to Canadian protocol, as a former prime minister, he is styled "
The Right Honourable" for life. Mr. Chrétien joined the law firm of
Heenan Blaikie on
January 5,
2004, as counsel. The firm announced he would work out of its Ottawa, Ontario, offices four days per week and make a weekly visit to the Montreal office.
Jean Chrétien testified for the
Gomery commission regarding the
sponsorship scandal in 2005. Earlier that year his lawyers tried, but failed, to have Justice
John Gomery removed from the commission, arguing that he lacked objectivity.
[3] Chrétien contends that the Gomery commission was set up to make him look bad, and that it was not a fair investigation. He cites comments Gomery made calling him "small town cheap", referring to the management of the sponsorship program as "catastrophically bad", and calling
Chuck Guité, a "charming scamp". Subsequent to the release of the first report, Chrétien has decided to take an action in Federal Court to review the commission report on the grounds that Gomery showed a "reasonable apprehension of bias", and that some conclusions didn't have an "evidentiary" basis.
[4] Chrétien believes that the appointment of
Bernard Roy, a former chief of staff to former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney, as chief counsel for the commission was a mistake, as he failed to call some relevant witnesses such as
Don Boudria and
Ralph Goodale.
Supreme Court appointments
Chrétien chose the following jurists to be appointed as justices of the
Supreme Court of Canada by the
Governor General:
★
Michel Bastarache (
September 30,
1997 – present)
★
William Ian Corneil Binnie (
January 8,
1998 – present)
★
Louise Arbour (
September 15,
1999 –
June 30,
2004)
★
Louis LeBel (
January 7,
2000 - present)
★
Beverly McLachlin (as Chief Justice,
July 7,
2000 – present; appointed a
Puisne Justice under Prime Minister Mulroney,
March 30,
1989)
★
Marie Deschamps (
August 7,
2002 – present)
★
Morris J. Fish (
August 5,
2003 – present)
Legacy
In general, Chrétien supported
Pierre Trudeau's ideals of
official bilingualism and
multiculturalism, but his government oversaw the erosion of the
welfare state established and built under
William Lyon Mackenzie King,
Louis St. Laurent,
Lester Pearson and
Pierre Trudeau. His government advocated
neo-liberal polices on a number of economic fronts, cutting transfer payments to the provinces and social programs, supporting
globalization and
free trade and implementing large personal and corporate tax cuts. However, in 1999 his government negotiated the
Social Union Framework Agreement, which promoted common standards for social programs across Canada.
[5]
Chrétien was repeatedly attacked by both his opponents and supporters for failing to live up to certain election promises, such as replacing the GST and renegotiating
NAFTA. He also came under fire for cancelling the purchase of new military helicopters to replace the aging Sea Kings which were plagued with mechanical failures. Some point to the "No" result of the
1995 Quebec referendum on separation as a political victory for Chrétien, while others interpret the extremely slim margin as a near-disaster for which Chrétien, as de facto leader of the "No" campaign, was responsible. However, some argue that his post-referendum efforts at addressing the separatist issue, notably through the
Clarity Act, will cement his legacy as a staunchly federalist prime minister.
One of the most pressing issues in Chrétien's final years in office was Canada's relationship with the United States. Chrétien had a close relationship with President
Bill Clinton, after attacking
Brian Mulroney for being too friendly with both
Ronald Reagan and
George H.W. Bush, but when
George W. Bush took office in the United States, relations began to cool.
Very soon after his retirement, Chrétien's legacy was marred by the
sponsorship scandal. Although implicated, no direct evidence has been found directly linking him to it. Nevertheless, many of his closest and longtime political allies were fired from government jobs by his successor
Paul Martin, with whom he had fought a bitter leadership battle. The scandal also put a question mark over Chrétien's preferred style of governance, which had been in question long before his retirement due to various scandals, particularly involving cabinet minister
Alfonso Gagliano.
Martin, who was cleared by Justice Gomery, moved to sharply distance himself from the Chrétien legacy, although this was also due to the at times
bitter political rivalry between the two men. Chrétien's supporters have accused Martin of trying to elude responsibility by blaming the scandal on the former. In an unprecedented move, many of Chrétien's most loyal ministers were not included in Martin's cabinet and many of those were also forced to contest their nominations in uphill contests against Martin's appointed candidates. As a result, most of them were forced to retire, although
Sheila Copps contested and lost the Liberal nomination in her riding. The Chrétien-Martin rift has also divided the Liberals in the 2004 and 2006 elections, with some Chrétien supporters complaining of being sidelined despite their extensive campaign expertise.
During his tenure as Prime Minister, Chrétien was active on the world stage and formed close relationships with world leaders such as
Jacques Chirac and
Bill Clinton. His name was rumoured as a replacement for
Kofi Annan as
Secretary General of the
United Nations.
[6]
He was appointed to be a Companion of the
Order of Canada on
29 June 2007.
[7]
Honorary degrees
★
Wilfrid Laurier University in
Waterloo, Ontario, 1981 (
LL.D)
★
Laurentian University in
Sudbury, Ontario, 1982 (LL.D)
★
University of Western Ontario in
London, Ontario, 1986 (LL.D)
★
York University in
Toronto, 1987 (LL.D)
★
University of Alberta in
Edmonton, 1988 (LL.D)
★
Lakehead University in
Thunder Bay, Ontario
★
University of Ottawa, 1994
★
Meiji University in
Tokyo,
Japan, 1996
★
Warsaw School of Economics in
Poland, 1999
★
Michigan State University, 1999
★
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2000
★
Memorial University of Newfoundland in
St. John's, 2000
★
Queen's University in
Kingston, Ontario, 2004 (LL.D)
★
McMaster University in
Hamilton, Ontario, 2005
Entertainment
Comedian Rick Mercer and Chrétien at a Harvey's fast food restaurant
In 1997, Chrétien was a guest star on ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' as former member
Rick Mercer (right) took him to lunch at a Harvey's fast food restaurant, where the topic was Chrétien's life story. The scene is the most memorable of Chrétien's several guest appearances (as himself) on Canadian sketch comedy shows such as ''The Royal Canadian Air Farce'' and ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'', where he was often an active participant in the sketch at hand. Rick Mercer has praised Chrétien's comedic timing.
Trivia
★ Chrétien formed a band, "True Grit", with fellow Liberals
Joe Fontana and
Roger Gallaway. Chrétien played
trombone.
★ During the
1998 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Chrétien made a bet with
American President
Bill Clinton on the playoff series between the
Ottawa Senators and the
Washington Capitals where the loser of the series had to wear the opposing team's jersey, The
Capitals won the series four games to one and Chrétien had to wear a Capitals jersey.
★ In 2002,
Françoise Ducros, a top aide to Chrétien allegedly called American President
George W. Bush a "moron." Chrétien later commented on the situation by saying that Bush is "a friend of mine. He's not a moron at all."
Francoise Ducros soon resigned stating that her position had become untenable.
★ In April 2007, Chrétien and Canadian book publishers Knopf Canada and Editions du Boréal announced they would be publishing his
memoirs, which will recount Chrétien's years as PM and will be entitled "A Passion for Politics." It is scheduled to arrive in bookstores in October 2007, in both English and French.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Government of Canada, Social Union, News Release, "A Framework to Improve the Social Union for Canadians: An Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Governments of the Provinces and Territories, February 4, 1999," URL accessed 20 December 2006.
6.
7. Governor General Announces New Appointments to the Order of Canada
External links
★
Political biography from the Library of Parliament
★
Article about Jean Chrétien's Honourary degrees
★
Jean Chretien Editorial Cartoon Gallery
★
CBC Digital Archives – Jean Chrétien: From pool hall to Parliament Hill
★
Joseph-Jacques-Jean Chrétien, by Robert Bothwell
★
The Red Book
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