Tag: jean chretien

Chrétien endorses former NDP MP now running for Wynne's Liberals in Sudbury

Jean Chretien
Canada’s former Prime Minister Jean Chretien laughs during an interview with Reuters in Ottawa November 15, 2011. Chretien today endorsed the New Democrat who beat one of his former ministers in Sudbury as the Ontario Liberal candidate in a provincial beyelection. (REUTERS/Blair Gable)

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien and his wife Aline today endorsed Glenn Thibeault, running for the Ontario Liberals in the provincial byelection in Sudbury. Thibeault deserted Thomas Mulcair’s NDP caucus to run for Wynne’s Liberals. Chrétien provided the endorsement even though it was Thibeault who knocked off former Chrétien cabinet minister Diane Marleau in the 2008 general election, becoming the first New Democrat to win in Sudbury since 1968.

Meanwhile, the United Steelworkers are running a radio ad in Sudbury, endorsing the NDP and taking direct aim at the “dirty politics” of Thibeault.

 

Here’s the release from the Ontario Liberals about the Chrétien endorsement: Continue reading Chrétien endorses former NDP MP now running for Wynne's Liberals in Sudbury

A prime minister sends Canadians overseas to fight terrorists

Chretien
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, seen here during an interview in 2011, began Canada’s decade-long war in Afghanistan with nary a word to Parliament. (Blair Gable/REUTERS)

A Canadian prime minister determines that the activities of terrorists operating in a Muslim nation far from Canada’s shores is such a threat to Canada’s security, that he dispatches Canadian Forces on a combat mission. There is no debate or discussion in Parliament let alone a vote. There seems not to have even been a full cabinet discussion before the prime minister makes his decision. Simply a request from an American president.

That was all it took for Jean Chrétien to to begin what would become Canada’s decade-long war against terrorism in Afghanistan. Here’s some of what he said on Oct. 8, 2001 about that mission: Continue reading A prime minister sends Canadians overseas to fight terrorists

A lament for a lost Canada

Does this sound like the sort of thing you might read today — in 2012 — from any number of Canadian newspaper columnists?

Our provider-state is being hollowed out. Social programs and payments will be cut back and parcelled out among the provinces by way of “block grants.” Nation-defining institutions Continue reading A lament for a lost Canada

Happy anniversary, Thomas Mulcair. Why do you hate our Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

On April 17, 1982, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms became the law of the land. Love it or hate it, it’s a very important document that’s had an important influence on our country’s development.

We are now at the 30th anniversary of the Charter and there are some who say that the current prime minister, Stephen Harper, is not celebrating this anniversary in appropriate style. Well, it’s not really “some” people. It’s really one person, former prime minister Jean Chretien, who, as justice minister in 1982, was one of the signatories of that document. On Wednesday, Chretien and interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae will lead a Liberal celebration of the Charter in Toronto.

Continue reading Happy anniversary, Thomas Mulcair. Why do you hate our Charter of Rights and Freedoms?