Jean Chrétien

I

Introduction

Jean Chrétien, born in 1934, politician and the 20th prime minister of Canada, from 1993 to 2003. Chrétien, who became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1990, led the Liberals to victory in the 1993 election. This victory ended nine years of rule by the Progressive Conservative Party. Chrétien’s government oversaw a dramatic economic turnaround in Canada during his first term. Chrétien and the Liberals won again in 1997 and 2000. Chrétien retired in 2003 and was succeeded by his former finance minister Paul Martin.

When Chrétien took office in 1993, the Canadian government was burdened by a large budget deficit. For 20 years, successive administrations had spent more money than they collected in taxes, amassing a huge debt. In 1993 federal spending exceeded revenue by 25 percent. Chrétien’s government cut expenditures, and by 1997 Canada had its first federal surplus since 1973. Canada continued to produce surpluses in each of the remaining six years of Chrétien’s tenure as prime minister, contributing to a period of continuing economic growth, low levels of inflation, and reduced unemployment.

Despite economic successes, Chrétien was unable to placate French Canadian Separatists in Québec. From 1993 to 1997 the political party Bloc Québécois held the second largest number of seats in the Canadian Parliament. As the official opposition, the Bloc Québécois promoted Québec separatism. In 1994 the Parti Québécois (PQ) won control of the Québec legislature, and in 1995 it held a provincial referendum proposing Québec’s independence from Canada; the referendum almost won. The separatist provincial government was reelected in 1998 and declared it would hold another referendum on independence in the future. But Chrétien persisted in his strong stance against separatism, support for the PQ declined, and in 2003, the year Chrétien retired as prime minister, the PQ lost power in Québec.

II

Early Life

Chrétien was born in the small Québec town of La Baie Shawinigan, near the city of Shawinigan on the shore of the Saint-Maurice River. He was the 18th of 19 children (10 died in infancy) born to Wellie and Marie Chrétien, French-speaking Canadians whose Québec roots extended back several generations. Wellie Chrétien was employed in the community’s principal industry, working as a machinist at a newsprint mill. Like his father before him, Wellie was an organizer for the Liberal Party.

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Although the Chrétien family’s means were limited, Wellie and Marie were determined that their children receive good educations. Jean was sent to a boarding school for his primary education. At age 13, he was enrolled in a seminary college, a Roman Catholic boarding school in which students could receive both a high school and university education. Chrétien chafed under the strict discipline enforced by the priests who ran the seminary and was in frequent conflict with his teachers.

Over the course of eight years, he was sent to three different seminary colleges. Chrétien impressed other students with his independence and the force of his personality. He settled down to serious study in the last three years of his college education and graduated from Saint Joseph Seminary in Trois Rivières in 1954. He entered the law school at Université Laval in Sainte-Foy, a suburb of Québec City, and received his law degree in 1958. He married Aline Chaîné in 1957.

From a very young age, Chrétien helped his father in election campaigns. By age 14 he was attending political rallies, and at 16 he was making political speeches. At Université Laval Chrétien began pursuing his political career in earnest. He was elected president of his class and the campus association of the Liberal Party. In 1958 he was a delegate at the Liberal Party’s national leadership convention and was elected vice president of the party’s national youth federation.

In 1959 Chrétien joined a Shawinigan law firm, where he quickly established a successful practice. Chrétien remained interested in politics and started preparing to run for public office. He joined the Liberals’ local association and began to form a network of people that would later serve as the foundation for his political organization.

In 1963 the Liberal Party nominated Chrétien for the federal Parliament seat representing the Saint-Maurice-LaFlèche district, which encompassed Shawinigan and a number of small neighboring communities. Chrétien used an intentionally folksy style in his campaign to reach out to the large working-class population in his district. “I have always had to pay a political price among the intellectuals of Québec for using slang, emotions, and jokes in my speeches, but the Saint-Maurice Valley was a region of populist politicians famous for their colorful style,” Chrétien wrote in his 1985 memoir, Straight from the Heart. “Since I had to fight populists, I learned from them and even tried to outdo them.” He won an upset victory, due to his distinctive and effective political style and the strong organization he had built in the district.

Once in Parliament, Chrétien maintained his populist style, winning over English-speaking Canadians in addition to his French-speaking supporters in Québec. Because he never fully mastered English, he often mispronounced words and muddled his syntax. This became part of his appeal—reinforcing his image as a man of the people. Chrétien referred to himself as “the little guy from Shawinigan.”

III

Ministerial Career

Chrétien’s election to Parliament in 1963 coincided with the Liberals’ return to power, under Lester Pearson, after six years of Conservative government. The new member of Parliament from Saint-Maurice-LaFlèche quickly caught the attention of his colleagues in Parliament with his energy, organizational abilities, and effective political style. In 1965 Pearson chose Chrétien as his parliamentary secretary. In that position, Chrétien had no specific administrative responsibilities, but he had an opportunity to work closely with Pearson.

Following the election, held later in 1965, Pearson appointed Chrétien parliamentary secretary to the minister of finance, Mitchell Sharp. This appointment was a turning point in Chrétien’s career. Sharp, a senior and respected minister, became Chrétien’s counselor and political mentor. Chrétien had come to Ottawa as a “left” Liberal, committed to the concept of an activist government that cares for the economically weaker members of society. Under Sharp’s tutelage, Chrétien acquired the view that proposals for government action should always be assessed against the need both to avoid large deficits and to preserve an economic climate attractive to investors. Chrétien continued to see government action as a positive force for helping the disadvantaged, but began to judge each case on what was practical within economic constraints.

A

Early Cabinet Appointments

In 1967 Chrétien gained his first cabinet appointment as a minister in the Department of Finance, and the following year he became minister of national revenue. His early appointments were primarily administrative, with little policymaking responsibility. They gave Chrétien an opportunity to develop ministerial experience without serious political risk.

In 1968 Pierre Elliott Trudeau succeeded Pearson as Liberal leader and prime minister, and he promoted Chrétien to the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development—Chrétien’s first tough ministerial assignment. As Chrétien began his tenure at the department, indigenous leaders and groups were becoming more politically active. They were determined to improve the living conditions of their people, to preserve rights guaranteed by Indian treaties, and to achieve self-government. Although Trudeau wanted to improve indigenous people’s living conditions, he opposed granting them special treatment as a particular group because he believed that rights should be granted only to individuals, not to groups.

In 1969, when Chrétien introduced policy proposals based on this principle, indigenous peoples reacted with such hostility that he ultimately had to withdraw the proposals. Despite this and other clashes with indigenous leaders, Chrétien continued to work at improving the government relations with them. By the time he left the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in 1974, he had earned their respect and appreciation for his efforts.

Following the 1974 election, Trudeau appointed Chrétien president of the Treasury Board, the ministry that controls government spending. At this post, Chrétien became involved in the problem of trying to contain the government’s growing deficit. The minister of finance actually controlled the budget, so Chrétien had little control over the overall problem of the deficit. However, he closely monitored spending and earned a reputation as a competent administrator. Two years later he moved to the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Commerce, where he had an opportunity to take a more active role in economic policymaking. Chrétien encouraged industrial production and international trade, and contemporaries judged his performance in this ministry to be strong.

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