Jean Chrétien will retire in 2004
Hopefully, this will quell some of the leadership issues currently dominating Canadian politics and political news. It is also probably quite shrewd of Chrétien to announce this retirement before the Chicoutimi meeting, so that he can get his party focused on whatever it is he wants to leave as his ‘legacy’. It should also preclude a pre-emptive strike by his leadership opponents.
Finally, this leaves the Liberals (again) in a excellent position to continue ruling Canada. First, they will know who their opponents are, with the other parties’ leadership votes set for much sooner than that. Second, if this does push the leadership race to the side for a while (as it has been Chrétien vs. and with him stepping down, the other possible leaders don’t need to get involved yet), which will let Canadians forget all about this, and the Liberal party will once again appear to be the unified strong party that it nearly always presents come election time.
For the record, while as these things go, Chrétien has been a decent leader, and probably the best of the viable options in Canada, things have definitely been getting a little skewed of late, and I think his stepping down is excellent. Except for the fact that it probably means the Liberals will remain the governing party for a while yet.
Cretien a decent leader!?!?
It was under his orders that Police removed a Tibetan flag from the graduate student center, in order to avoid embarrassing China’s visiting president during APEC. Not to mention tearing down other hazards like a law students paper sign which read “Free Speech” removed from where it had been taped to a fence.
I recently came across some Cretien quotes (wish I kept a link). One of the more amuzing ones was regarding a legal issue, where Cretien was asked a tough question about a particular case of legislation. Cretien replied, “Why do ask me that? I’m not a lawyer.” Actually Cretien did his first Masters in Law.
Cretien is no leader, but a weak purposeless man with no respect for the rule of law, but one who enjoys basking in a feeling of power. Were he prime minister at a time when strong leadership was required, it would have been a disaster. Not much happened in Canada on his watch, but pretty much all those things that did happen that were at all big, resulted in Cretien trampling on civil rights.
Cretien a decent leader!?!?
It was under his orders that Police removed a Tibetan flag from the graduate student center, in order to avoid embarrassing China’s visiting president during APEC. Not to mention tearing down other hazards like a law students paper sign which read “Free Speech” removed from where it had been taped to a fence.
I recently came across some Cretien quotes (wish I kept a link). One of the more amuzing ones was regarding a legal issue, where Cretien was asked a tough question about a particular case of legislation. Cretien replied, “Why do ask me that? I’m not a lawyer.” Actually Cretien did his first Masters in Law.
Cretien is no leader, but a weak purposeless man with no respect for the rule of law, but one who enjoys basking in a feeling of power. Were he prime minister at a time when strong leadership was required, it would have been a disaster. Not much happened in Canada on his watch, but pretty much all those things that did happen that were at all big, resulted in Cretien trampling on civil rights.
I thought I might get a comment or two about this. Yes, I’ll stand by my comment. Why? Well, look about the political landscape in Canada – of the alternatives during his reign, he was probably the most competent. Yes, his record on rights to protest are pretty poor. But you know what, there’s a reason not much has happened in Canada for a while – steady leadership. We’ve maintained a fairly even keel on virtually every topic. While the Sovereignty issue is by no means settled, it’s been quieted. While Aboriginal relations are still poor, I don’t feel we’re on the edge of violence, like we were 10 years ago (in Ontario). While yes, our economic ties to the US are closer than ever, there are signs that our political ties are less – an important step I feel.
You’ve actually hit on one of the main points why I feel he was a decent leader – that nothing significant happened: things that could have been huge were averted, quieted, made less dramatic, etc.
I won’t excuse Chrétien for his desperate clinging to power, nor will I excuse his flaunting of his power. He seems dictatorial in some ways, he’s certainly giving special favours to some – but in minor ways. I’ve never felt that Chrétien was beholden to special interest groups. One could argue that part of the problem was that he was beholden to no one. There was no opposition that could have wrested power, he had a majority, the party was (mostly) united. Given the scenario, we came out alright, no?
The lawyer comment? My dad, who’s an MD, is a specialist now at the end of his career. Certainly, he’s done all sorts of medical training. He has expertise his very particular parts of medicine. However, he is hopeless when it comes to medicine outside his area of speciality. He know more than I do certainly, but no where near enough that I would consider him an expert. If Chrétien only did a masters, and never practised (or hasn’t practised in many, many years), that comment seems pretty reasonable.
(wow. I never, ever thought I’d be defending chrétien. But here I am. So maybe I’ll stop now and get on with our regular programming)
I thought I might get a comment or two about this. Yes, I’ll stand by my comment. Why? Well, look about the political landscape in Canada – of the alternatives during his reign, he was probably the most competent. Yes, his record on rights to protest are pretty poor. But you know what, there’s a reason not much has happened in Canada for a while – steady leadership. We’ve maintained a fairly even keel on virtually every topic. While the Sovereignty issue is by no means settled, it’s been quieted. While Aboriginal relations are still poor, I don’t feel we’re on the edge of violence, like we were 10 years ago (in Ontario). While yes, our economic ties to the US are closer than ever, there are signs that our political ties are less – an important step I feel.
You’ve actually hit on one of the main points why I feel he was a decent leader – that nothing significant happened: things that could have been huge were averted, quieted, made less dramatic, etc.
I won’t excuse Chrétien for his desperate clinging to power, nor will I excuse his flaunting of his power. He seems dictatorial in some ways, he’s certainly giving special favours to some – but in minor ways. I’ve never felt that Chrétien was beholden to special interest groups. One could argue that part of the problem was that he was beholden to no one. There was no opposition that could have wrested power, he had a majority, the party was (mostly) united. Given the scenario, we came out alright, no?
The lawyer comment? My dad, who’s an MD, is a specialist now at the end of his career. Certainly, he’s done all sorts of medical training. He has expertise his very particular parts of medicine. However, he is hopeless when it comes to medicine outside his area of speciality. He know more than I do certainly, but no where near enough that I would consider him an expert. If Chrétien only did a masters, and never practised (or hasn’t practised in many, many years), that comment seems pretty reasonable.
(wow. I never, ever thought I’d be defending chrétien. But here I am. So maybe I’ll stop now and get on with our regular programming)
No, mmmmmm chicken
No, mmmmmm chicken