Order of Merit: Thy name is..er…Chretien?
July 15, 2009 · By Sean
I have to admit that I’m having a very difficult time swallowing my partisanship in regards to Mr. Chretien. That this man is being honoured by the Queen and into a group of luminaries the likes as have been listed is, quite literally, mind-boggling to me. Someone, somewhere, said that this award does not elevate the man to the status of the other recipients, but rather weighs them down to his own level.
However, in regards to credit, I will offer these items:
1) It was my anger with Mr. Chretien that got me actively involved in the political realms and helped me find my passion for it. So thank you for that Mr. Chretien.
2) In a dog-fight, Mr. Chretien is the dirtiest, no-holds barred fighter I’ve seen on the political stage as evidenced in his handling of the General Election feat. Mr. Jean Chretien vs Mr. Stockwell Day. In a street-fight, I’d rather have him behind me than in front of me pulling his dirty tricks on my opponents and otherwise slinging muck their way. We can’t always get what we want though right? Mr Chretien as a Conservative…pigs flying…
3) When faced with possible legal harm, he was not afraid to claim ignorance (incompetence?) instead of taking responsibility for the actions of those he had appointed and trusted in their positions (a strategy poorly duplicated later by a successor with lackluster effect). A man without fear of looking stupid or ignorant. He just does what needs to be done. After all, he’s just a little guy from Shawinigan right? Maybe it was just poor judgement, or a conspiracy…
4) He kept us out of Iraq. Yes, and well done Mr. Chretien. And instead of leaving it simply as being because the UN didn’t back it, you allowed your Ministers and MP’s et al. to embark on a mission to further attack the integrity and morality of our own defender and largest trading partner, thereby putting undue strain on our relationship which played no small part in several trade fights. However, this paved the way for the Conservatives to make peace and behave respectfully with the United States once again, and to even earn the respect of an American Messiah(?).
5) Mr. Chretien and his governments also helped bring us the much-beloved Kyoto Accord, the agreement acclaimed by huggy-fuzzy socialists around the globe as the last hope for our doomed planet, and then proceeded to do absolutly nothing about it thereby allowing Canada to fall so far behind the “requirements”, even in such stellar economic times, that when the “Fall from grace” occured for the LPC, and the world (and its scientists) was waking up to the reality that Global Warming was going the way of the Dodo, Canada wouldn’t be amongst those with egg on their faces for spending and taxing themselves to death for no reason other than a splendid hoax meant to re-direct wealth.
6) Mr. Chretien also gave us a collapsing LPC who appears can’t survive without an iron-fisted despot at the helm, thus giving us the likes of Paul Martin (a much anticipated leader by the Liberal Party of Canada who became not-so-much) and Stephane Dion (the intellectual wannabe peace-maker in a fractured and warring Liberal Party of Canada). Thank-you SO much for that Mr. Chretien! I sincerely appreciate it! Probably more than you’ll ever know. I’m sure your members do too! Indeed an incredible legacy there of which Canadians can stand proud about…
So then yes. Congratulations Mr. Chretien on your award. You’ve certainly made your mark on Canada and the world.
The Queen wanted to reward Chretien for ensuring the monarchy stayed in the Canadian constitution….and hopes the bucks keep coming, especially with the polls are showing Canadians are not keen on the monarchy…
I cannot believe this man, who should be locked up and the key subsequently destroyed and who was the cause of the embarrassment of our country when he flipped off the Americans on Iraq is receiving an Order of Merit. He couldn’t win a foot race if he was the only one in it.
He’s made his mark on the world alright, in the form of a skid mark on the underwear of our country.
Your right silvernails,and that was one hell of a skid mark he left.A truly embarrassing man on the world stage and still the best the Liberals could offer.You needed a translator to translate his speeches in either language and his proof is a proof is a proof if its proven speech is probably what got him this award.And to think we survived ten years of this idiots shenanigans and corrupt leadership.God save our queen for sure,because i feel she is losing it by giving this man this award.
My respect for the Queen has come down a notch for this boneheaded move. Chretien was a disaster. To this day, where is the accounting for all the “lost” taxpayer money? One stinking day of questioning in the House? Big deal. It was all swept under the rug after that in true liberal fashion.
Maybe she like the Comedy skit with Paul Martin where they both explained to Justice Gomery that they were “Too Stupid” to be expected to know waht went on under them during the Massive theft of OUT tax dollars by other Liberal thieves that have yet to be charged or do any jail time.
That was the funniest part of the Inquiry , watching two grown men and P.M.’s squirm and use the Sgt. Schultz defence to excuse away their willfull ignorance and outright stupidity.
I’m not too sure who played the part of Colonel Klink .
Thanks Sean.
What was infuriating about Chretien was his friendly demeanour whilst lying straight to one’s face. He was Machiavellian to a tee. On that score, I suppose one can have some admiration for his sense of posturing, be it the Clarity Act (straight out of the Reform Party play book) or Kyoto (which I hadn’t really considered until you mentioned it here). Chretien’s lax ambition for revisiting constitutional reform in a serious way, his sheer disinterestedness in “nation building” (an ambition that is quite contrary to Canadian federalism), was also good for the country.
Wilson, Canadians are generally in favour of the current system. The system works generally quite well.
Silvernails, Chretien could be a bastard (consider his interference in the elevation of Conrad Black to the House of Lords solely for the sake of vendetta) but he wasn’t incompetent. I’m not justifying the corruption of his government, but he was a strong PM and could be very effective; astonishingly, when you consider how poorly he came across in front for a camera.
Yes, very “competent”. Competent in lying. Competent in embarrassing Canadian citizens. Competent in furthering the liberal agenda. Competent in giving us the gun registry fiasco. If that is competence, I’ll take an idiot off the street as my PM over the likes of that corrupt charlatan any day.
As usual, he comes out of the whole thing smelling like a rose when in fact he continues to stink up the place.
If we start from the proposition that every prime minister was elected on the strength of either well-crafted and well-articulated policy proposals, an impressive slate of candidates, a particularly strong personality, some combination of those items or something else altogether, what might we say about Jean Chretien?
Consider that Chretien was in politics for 40 years. Consider also that there are still a lot of people who like him; many who have met him say he is quite affable. As far as the Liberal establishment is concerned, Chretien is their elder statesman.
Silvernails, I share many of your misgivings over Chretien’s political record; don’t confuse incompetence with love of federal government and its bureaucracy. I guess The Queen just likes Chretien, or likes him enough to put him in the company of Margaret Thatcher once a year.
But that’s not the main point!
HM is not known for her lack of political prowess. The Queen knows Chretien rather well, she also has the good sense to recognize that most republican rumblings come from the Liberal benches, not the Conservative side of the house.
The Queen has paid consummate attention to cultivating the role of the monarchy in modern day Canada. Post-1982, the monarchy is about the hardest institution to reform in Canada’s constitution. It’s a safer bet that Canada will break up before we ever get rid of the monarchy.
Part of the way The Queen has kept up her place in Canada is by keeping on good terms with Liberals. Read what Trudeau writes about her in his autobiography.
Liberals like The Queen’s attention as much as Conservatives. HM is giving some attention to the present elder statesman of the Liberal establishment.
If Chretien is their supposed “elder statesman” then answer me this: why do the liberals put a photo of Lester B. on their fundraising flyers which they put out in the mail (after criticizing the Conservatives for putting out flyers first – insert eyeroll here)?
Hehehe…. guess they have to reach THAT far back to find a decent liberal. The Queen may very well be courting the libs but please, spare me the liberal apologist stuff. This is a Conservative site.
I’m not a Liberal strategist. I don’t know why they put Lester B. on their fund raising fliers. … Besides that, Pearson died in 1972, which disqualifies him from being an elder statesman; those who remain among us.
Where have I apologized for the Liberals?
Consider that there are competent and incompetent tyrants—taking things to the extreme, of course. I merely point out that to call Jean Chretien incompetent is to ignore his victories, and they were woeful victories for Conservatives. … The Clarity Act was Reform Party platform and Chretien simply appropriated it.
The Clarity Act was also stolen from the Equality Party in Quebec which was an ‘English-rights’ party. Chretien nor the Liberal Party have ever given credit to Harper or the Equality Party for the Clarity Act.
Ahhh the equality party…what memories…
Richard Holden anyone? Complete scumbags aside, they did raise issues that Quebec anglos have been stewing about since the mass exodus of the early 80s.
Chretien was not perfect, but he won and beat the conservatives hands down in every election. Regardless of your political leanings, the guy was a formidable opponent. His successors may have been more intelligent, at least Martin was a better speaker but they did not have the same ruthlessness as this guy.
Finally, Chretien (with Martin) was more or less a fiscal conservative. I don’t know why you guys would complain about someone who ran so many successive budget surpluses. (and in case you’re wondering, I am baiting you:)
LOL That’s pretty obvious! Nice one!
I’m pissed off too. I mean, he towered over Canada’s biggest scandal and fraud committed against the taxpayers!!! Not to mention his golf course, Human Resources Boondoggle, etc. scandals and scams.
Even among Liberals, he would have been my last choice for any award whatsoever (unless it’s the Biggest Crook Award // Top Librano Award).
Amen brother!
Jean Chretien…
The author of the Trudeau government’s “White Paper” while DIAND’s minister & adopted father of a troubled Inuit scooped up during the 1960′s..
http://www.buzzle.com/editoria.....-23276.asp
“When in 1969 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau issued the White Paper, a government policy document which announced Canada’s intention to dissolve Indian nations and promote the “assimilation of Indian people into Canadian society.”
Trudeau’s White Paper was the last straw for Chief Manuel. His years spent trying to reform Canadian government policies had failed. “Canada was dead set on wiping out Indians once and for all,” George recalled later. Collecting what he called the “best and the brightest Indian people I could find,” George Manuel sought and won the Presidency of the National Indian Brotherhood in 1970. With the added power and resources of a country-wide organization and his “best and brightest,” he set his mind and the whole of Indian Country in Canada to a strategy to defeat “Trudeau’s White Paper.” In countless speeches, meetings, interviews and strategy sessions, he beat the drum of resistance to Canada’s assimilation policy. He urged the mightiest to turn the policy around and he pushed for more community political organization in the reserves.
“If we didn’t fight then,” he recalled later, “Trudeau would have destroyed all the Indian people in Canada.”
http://cwis.org/manuel.htm
For more info on the “Red Paper” see:
http://www.afn.ca/article.asp?id=1425
http://www.emp.ca/downloads/er/er-3-32.pdf
see: http://en.allexperts.com/e/h/h.....rdinal.htm
http://www.absoluteastronomy.c.....cyclopedia
You know Canada’s is still implementing the 1969 White Paper – stealthily – mind you – it’s CANADA’s “official covert” policy… even if they “officially” disavowed it.
In Strength & Unity
Donna Meness
Kitigan Zibi Anishnebeg Community
Algonquin Nation
born member of http://www.idloa.org
recommended websites:
http://www.ripplefx.ca ( out of Alberta I think)
http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org ( out of BC)