Joan Bryden wrote a column that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen earlier this week about former Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s unannounced attendance at a Christmas party that was held in an Ottawa pub. as the sub headline so succinctly put it, the reception that Chretien got from some of the bar patrons shows that many people have lost faith in his successor. Some of the people who were interviewed made statements to the effect that they didn’t particularly like the job that Chretien did in office, but…
It is easy to understand how those of us who couldn’t stand the former PM when he was in power and didn’t like the way he ran the country, now look back with fondness for the little guy from Shawinigan after being subjected to two years of governance by Paul Martin Jr.
Unlike Paul Martin, Jean Chretien was not a hater. He wasn’t mean. Chretien never showed the utter contempt for Canadians who disagreed with his views that Paul Martin does. Martin labels all of those on the right who disagree with his views as “un-Canadian”, a terrible characterization by a not too bright prime minister of those who hold views that conflict with his own.
and Chretien was nothing if not consistent. Both he and his successor played the anti-american card for all that it is worth. But at least Chretien did not run for the leadership of his party on the platform that he would improve relations with our southern neighbour. Martin is prepared to say and do anything in order to curry favour with the voters, even if it sharply contradicts what he said or did yesterday or for that matter 20 minutes ago.
During the current campaign, Paul Martin said that Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper was not fit to become prime minister because he would deny basic human rights to gays and lesbians. When it was pointed out to Martin that many members of his previous caucus as well as current crop of candidates oppose same sex marriage, Martin said that was okay. apparently, only the prime minister must defend human rights; MPs are free to deny what Martin says are human rights to Canadians. Jean Chretien wouldn’t have been caught dead backing himself into a corner like that. It’s Martin’s inability to think coherently on issues such as same sex marriage that leads people to look back on what seem like the good old days when Da Boss was at the helm.
On Kyoto, Paul Martin was so busy scoring political points by telling the americans that they lack a global conscience that he gave his true beliefs away. Martin made it clear that the fact that carbon emissions in the United States have increased 13 per cent since 1990 while they have gone up 24 per cent in Canada is not a consideration when it comes to the environment. The important thing is joining the global club; reducing carbon emissions, if it counts at all, is merely secondary. Undoubtedly Jean Chretien feels the same way. But Chretien had the political street smarts not to say it.
When some members of the opposition made fun of Chretien’s facial deformity, the former prime minister replied that he might talk out of the corner of his mouth, but at least he didn’t talk out of both sides of his mouth. Paul Martin, on the other hand, has turned talking out of both sides his mouth into an art form if not a science.
Chretien has something that Paul Martin has never had--a sense of humour. Unlike the current PM, Chretien never took himself too seriously, at least in public. This is undoubtedly a major factor for the nostalgia for Chretien and the old days which, as bad as they might have been, now seem like the good old days.
It is easy to speculate that if Paul Martin walked into a bar unannounced, the place would clear out faster than if it was filled with parolees and the police casually walked in.
Sir Wilfred Laurier: The 20th century belongs to Canada
John F. Kennedy: ask not what your country can do for you. ask what you can do for your country.
Jean Chretien: Da proof is da pro= of and when you have da good proof, it’s proven.
>How can you not love the guy?