For other people with the name Chrétien, see Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien is a Canadian politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from November 4, 1993, to December 12, 2003.
Born and raised in Shawinigan, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Université Laval. He was first elected to the House of Commons of Canada in 1963. He served in various cabinet posts under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, most prominently as Minister of Justice, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister in John Turner's short-lived government. He became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1990, and led the party to a majority government in the 1993 federal election. He was reelected with further majorities in 1997 and 2000.
Chrétien was strongly opposed to the Quebec sovereignty movement and supported official bilingualism and multiculturalism. He won a narrow victory as leader of the federalist camp in the 1995 Quebec referendum, and then pioneered the Clarity Act to avoid ambiguity in future referendum questions. He also advanced the Youth Criminal Justice Act in Parliament. Although his popularity and that of the Liberal Party were seemingly unchallenged for three consecutive federal elections, he became subject to various political controversies in the later years of his prime-ministership. He was accused of inappropriate behaviour in the Sponsorship scandal, although he has consistently denied any wrongdoing. He also became embroiled in a protracted struggle within the Liberal Party against long-time political rival Paul Martin. He resigned as prime minister in December 2003, and left public life altogether in order to spend more time with his grandchildren. In retrospective polling, Chrétien ranks highly among scholars and the public.
Wikipedia
“For me, pepper, I put it on my plate.”
November 25, 1997, at a press conference, in response to a question from Nardwuar the Human Serviette about whether Chrétien supported police use of pepper spray on protestors. Video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWf2LLaHkM0
Live
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Five, A Balancing Act, p. 108
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Five, The Phony War, p. 115
“To my mind losing is always better than never trying, because you can never tell what may happen.”
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Nine, Main Street...Bay Street, p. 195
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Ten, Power behind the Throne, p. 238
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Seven, Security Details, p. 183
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Fourteen, Vive le Canada, p. 406
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter One, At Laurier's Desk, p. 29
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter One, At Laurier's Desk, p. 28 ( See also: Aline Chretien)
“Most Canadians don't understand the House of Commons.”
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Two, Learning The Ropes, p. 36
Context: Most Canadians don't understand the House of Commons. They turn on their televisions, see us yelling at one another, and dismiss us as a bunch of fools.
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Two, The Virtuous Circle, p. 75
Context: I never bought into the Laffer curve, a theory, named after an American supply-side economist who had been an adviser to the Reagan administration, that essentially argues that a government will increase its revenue by reducing its taxes. If it were that easy, everybody would do it. What politician doesn't want to reduce taxes in order to win votes? Taken to its logical extreme, the Laffer curve makes no sense because, if you lower your taxes to zero, how are you going to get higher revenues? In practice, every government that toyed with this theory ended up with larger deficits, higher interest rates and greater social inequality.
“The art of politics is learning to walk with your back to the wall,”
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Five, A Balancing Act, p. 118
Context: The art of politics is learning to walk with your back to the wall, your elbows high, and a smile on your face. It's a survival game played under the glare of lights.
“The public is moved by mood more than logic, by instinct more than reason,”
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Three, The Business Of politics, p. 67
Context: A successful politician must not only be able to read the mood of the public, he must have the skill to get the public on his side. The public is moved by mood more than logic, by instinct more than reason, and that is something that every politician must make use of or guard against
“God gave me a physical defect, and I've accepted that since I'm a kid.”
1993, at a campaign stop, in response to the infamous attack ad that appeared to mock him and suggest he was unfit for the job of Prime Minister due to his Bell's Palsy condition. Source video on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PikszBkfTHM
Live
Context: But last night, the Conservative Party reached a new low; they tried to make fun of the way I look. God gave me a physical defect, and I've accepted that since I'm a kid. It's true, that I speak on one side of my mouth. I'm not a Tory, I don't speak on both sides of my mouth.
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Four, The Politics Of Business, p. 91
Context: I learned early that business is business and politics is politics. The proof is how few important businessmen have made good politicians. They may think that they are very smart about everything because they made millions of dollars by digging a hole in the ground and finding oil, but the talent and luck needed to become rich are not the same talent and luck needed to succeed on Parliament Hill.
Preface, p. 10
Straight From The Heart (1985)
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Eight, Tales from the Nineteenth Hole, p. 198
“Politics is a game of friends.”
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter One, A Passion For Politics, p. 23
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Three, The Business Of politics, p. 76
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Three, Yankee Traders, p. 87
“Vision is not political rhetoric.”
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Eleven, No the Retiring Type, p. 264
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Four, The Politics Of Business, p. 92
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Nine, Main Street...Bay Street, p. 211
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Thirteen, Friends and Allies, p. 364
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Twelve, No To War, p. 287
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Three, The Business Of politics, p. 87
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Four, One Day at a Time, p. 106-107
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Nine, But Who Watches The Dog?, p. 211
“I've never believed in seeking perfection at the risk of losing everything.”
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Eight, A New Constitution, p. 189
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter One, At Laurier's Desk, p. 16
“To be frank, politics is about wanting power, getting it, exercising it, and keeping it.”
Entre Nous, p. 2
My Years As Prime Minister (2007)
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter Six, "I Want Clarity!", 150
Source: My Years As Prime Minister (2007), Chapter One, At Laurier's Desk, p. 38
Source: Straight From The Heart (1985), Chapter Five, A Balancing Act, p. 111-112
