August 4, 2003
When Canadafreepress.com first revealed on Sept. 23, 2002 that Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien was angling after a job at the United Nations, there were some that thought its editors needed a reality check.
Jean Chretien as Secretary General of the UN when former American President Bill Clinton was in the competition?
"When it comes to UN job coveting, Chretien may have been first off the mark," said a CFP September, 2002 cover story.
Well, according to a July 14, 2003 National Post story, the Canadian Prime Minister "is very interested in playing an international role, possibly as an ad hoc advisor to the United Nations, in Africa."
Close Chretien friend, Liberal Senator David Smith, confirmed in the Post what CFP had long ago predicted.
CFP was also among the first to point out the bizarre relationship between Prime Minister-in-waiting Paul Martin and UN point man Maurice Strong.
Why outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien for the UN?
Smith points out that Chretien "is rare among international leaders in that he can speak both English and French, two languages most African leaders also speak."
"The Prime Minister made a very, very strong contribution at Kananaskis (where he headed up last summer’s G8 meeting) by making that a key part of the agenda," Smith told Post reporter Anne Dawson. "He’s not seeking a position like that, but if the right opportunity arose…in terms of someone to head up an African agenda, perhaps under UN auspices, I can’t think of anyone better."
Chretien himself recently went on the public record with details of his UN aspirations: "I’ve also told the General Secretary of the UN, who approached me, that if he ever needed me, I would be available to fill certain mandates--moreover, certain African countries and even other countries who want to build federations, asked me if I have time to give them. You know, like Putin, for example. He has a problem--how to build a federation that functions properly. Knowing me, if someone calls me and asks me to do something interesting, I will do it," Chretien told La Presse in an interview published last month.
Meanwhile, you read it first in the one-year-old Canadafreepress.com.