April 14, 2000
A gaffing Jean Chrétien - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- With the Prime Minister doing a bang-up job touring the Middle East, the strain of the job is finally showing. Mr. Chrétien would not be considered a brilliant man, perhaps he could be at the sheer tact he invoked in rising through the ranks of the Liberal party to the top job as PM. He has never been known for the class or thought he puts in his remarks, not to mention the manner by which he delivers those remarks.
The Prime Minister has committed diplomatic suicide. He has delved into the delicate neighbourhood of Middle Eastern politics, by not thinking before he talks. He’s contradicted his country’s own policy, as well as the policy thought to be the general procedural plan by ourselves and our “allies”.
Imagine if it were Brian Mulroney causing the current hiccups in Canadian diplomacy. The national press and the entire nation would be up in arms asking for their PM to return home. His own caucus as well. And wouldn’t the mouth breathers across the country call for his head?
But, damn us because we’ve got Liberals we’re still stand behind our man, much like Tammy Wynette.
Prime Minister Chrétien is simply foolish. The Middle East is not the region for diplomatic lightweights. Chrétien has proved he’s only good at contributing moral and military support to the United States. He’s proved that Canada has no idea what it is to become a world player; no idea on how to act responsibly or at least remotely sanely. No wonder no one takes us seriously. Doesn’t it sound like that old song, about Canada being a bit player? You’re damned right it does.
Laurier, (Mr. Chrétien’s hero, by the way) had the gall a century ago to call the 20th Century, one that would belong to Canada. Boy was he off the mark. Dare I mention he was a Liberal? That’s heresy, but the fact remains, our Canadian leaders have no comprehension of the world at large.
I sometimes wonder, and after reading Kim Campbell’s and Pierre Trudeau’s brilliant memoirs, why Canada’s PM’s have it so much easier than the United States’ Presidents. (I mean, when Trudeau left office, he went on to practice law and denounce Meech Lake and Charlottetown. Reagan fell into the arms of Alzheimer’s.)
The United States, is smart. For one thing, they keep abreast on world matters so diligently you’d think they were big brother. (I say that truthfully, as well as cynically.) The stress of the Oval Office, is so damned hard to fathom, because almost half of their activities are spent on watching world politics. Canada doesn’t spend as much time or attention, simply because we do as the US tells us to. Now we could argue on that score on the legitimacy of that relationship, but the fact is the head of government, any government must have something in their own respective heads when going on state visits like these.
The recent folly at Tupper regarding the issue of Canadian content in the History 12 Provincial, is ripe to bring up. No wonder some pencil pusher in Victoria thinks we’re a bit player in world affairs. Prime Minister Chrétien’s recent actions are living proof of Canadian bit-playing at its finest.
When you think of it, Jean Chrétien’s smarts on world affairs makes George W. Bush look like Rain Man.
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