Chretien, Revisited

I don't know what to say about it,
When all you ears have turned away,
But now's the time to look and look again at what you see
Is that the way it ought to stay?
--Led Zeppelin

Warren attempts to revive the ailing rep of Chretien.

Promoting, protecting and preserving a nation is not merely achieved through the delivery of passionate speeches, of course.

I don't know about the 'promoting' bit, but what of his protection of the nation? Under his watch, the military and intelligence budgets sank. Our troops overseas were put in harm's way because of underfunding. Preserving the nation? He told everyone to shut up right before the referendum and then he came close to losing the whole country.

Integrity; vision; smarts; hard work; heart; sheer force of will – all of
those things are characteristics which Jean Chrétien possessed in abundance.
Building a modern, prosperous, tolerant nation – and racking up three
unprecedented back-to-back Parliamentary majorities – is also the product of
something else, too: smart, effective policies that meaningfully improve the
lives of all citizens

Integrity? Oh boy. I won't even touch that. Oh, maybe I will. Chretien and Berlusconi are about equal in the corruption sweepstakes (and I don't throw that accusation around lightly), but like OJ, they are going to avoid responsibility. That's okay: there's an afterlife and uh...I won't be pouring OE on the curb when Chretien bites it.

Vision? Of what? How did he ever articulate a vision other than winning the next election?... And he only won elections because of the underhanded smearing of westerners. His only "great" policy was of alienating and demonizing the west to achieve political victories. Let's face it: he was Central Canada's PM, not mine. Not the west's. He came out to Vancouver and Calgary only to fundraise. Even then, the overwhelming dislike of the man caused the riot at the Hyatt. (Pssst! The west, outside of pockets of Vancouver and Calgary, hates Chretien. Bigtime.)

Despite the ceaseless disdain of Quebec's elites, despite rigged referendum
questions (that find echoes in the recent Ukrainian vote, and elsewhere), Jean
Chrétien successfully beat back the separatists in Quebec, time and
again.

No, he damn near lost because of ineptitude and laziness and then took remedial action after the fact. Way to be proactive. And the "ceaseless disdain" was pretty evident in Western Canada, too.

Jean Chrétien's handling of the Canadian economy also ranks high on his list of political achievements.

The act of slashing basic funding for healthcare and the military got us out of the red. Congrats: you gained a country ahead in the surplus column, but behind in military and health spending and with productivity 30% lower the US....and even this 'accomplishment', our 'return to the black' was more to do with NAFTA (and it was not Chretien's idea: he ran against it in '93) which the Liberals vehemently opposed and because of the massive expansion of the US economy. Instead of getting rid of government waste and slush funds (that flourished on his watch) he cut the military and healthcare. Way to prioritize. We made it into the black in spite of the Liberals, not because of them.

Unprotected soldiers? Sick citizens? Slash the funds.
Quebec ad firms? Send them a blank cheque. Ditto for any slush funds.

It is not "anti-American" to assert Canada sovereignty, and Jean Chrétien also understood this truism better than most

But it is anti-american to piss on the US at every turn. And Chretien did so, and so did his backbiter, er backbench MP's...and his ministers. And his pmo staff.

His ability to promote international peacekeeping – and, where necessary, to stand with our allies against terrorism, as in Afghanistan.

We can support 2000 troops in Afghanistan-and that's it. We are maxed out on capacity. Remember when we supported the world's 3rd largest navy? Remember our million man army? It's been a while since we had hard power, and thanks to the appointment that soft power tool, Axeworthy, we are now incapable of international influence. We are ignored on the world stage, while being despised and bullied by nations that 50 years ago would have quaked in their boots at upsetting us (Iran).

Was he perfect? No, as he (and Mrs. Chrétien!) would be the first to attest. Did he make mistakes? Yes – as do we all. But, on balance, Jean Chrétien did his level best to leave Canada a better place than he found it.

Shawinigate, Grand Mere, Somalia, Bastard Americans, throttling protestors, the APEC commission, "Six years at Indian Affairs and I didn't lose my scalp", Gustafson, Kananaskis, Gagliano, the gun registry, Kyoto, Groupaction, worst healthcare in the OECD, 49.99-50.01%, Brain Drain, Riot at the Hyatt, "The Alliance supporters are bigots", broken red book promises, "My greatest moment of being prime minister was winning a majority", the Mulroney witchunt, paper napkin sales contracts, puppet ethics commissioner, 101 Ontario Dalmations/a handful of western seats and Jane Stewart. This was his 'honest' best effort?

Did he ever admit his mistakes in office? Nope. Did he take responsibility at the APEC Commission? No-He pulled a Cardinal Law, and transferred his sinning bishop (Gagliano) away from the heat (Adscam). This is his confession of wrongdoing? Has he volunteered info to Gomery? Has he come clean about Grand Mere? Of course not. He's not the first one to admit to anything. He's not even the last one: He admits to sweet F.A.

Some legacy.

So f*** Chretien and the whole apparatus that supported him: The supreme court, the Toronto Star, the Liberal party, the treasonous Quebec ad firms that took the dirty money, the Ontarians who voted for him, his ministers and staff, his henchmen, his appointed crown corp CEO's, the people of Shawinigan, the Bay Streeters who supported him, and the traitors known as western lawyers that fundraised for him.

PS: Some supporter of Kyoto-He now works for an oil company that kisses the asses of dictators for access to their oilfields.

And for good measure, here's the latest on "Chretien's legacy":

'Disgusted' by Chretien
By GREG WESTON -- Sun Ottawa Bureau

If the ethical lapses of Jean Chretien & Co. weren't enough to shock and appall ordinary Canadians, now we have allegations that the former PM tried to speed up his son's release from prison. The incident is detailed in a revealing new book by Willie Gibbs, the highly respected former head of the National Parole Board.

Michel Chretien, the former PM's son, was 21 when he was sentenced to three years in federal prison for sexually assaulting a woman who was drunk and passed out. After barely 18 months behind bars, the younger Chretien was eligible for a parole hearing in July 1996.

But even that wasn't fast enough for the then-prime minister,
Gibbs writes in The Cons and the Pros.

Gibbs recalls the PM called him at home in the evening, saying "he
could not understand why it was taking so long for the parole board to make a
decision in a case as straightforward as his son's.

"He accused me of running an outfit full of incompetents," Gibbs says.
"He said the government had put me in there to straighten things out, but that
they had obviously gotten worse. Apart from being angry and shocked by the phone call, I was also thoroughly disgusted."