The recent appointments made by Prime
Minister Paul Martin have raised, again, a question that has been dogging
the Liberal leader for a long ago and but remains unanswered: Why did he and
his acolytes push out of government and the Liberal Party Jean Chrétien, one
of the most successful politicians this country has seen?
I admit it. Personally, I wasn¹t thrilled with a lot of what Jean Chrétien
did while in power. Mainly, I did not like how his closest advisers behaved
on the job. Most of his ministers were confrontational, arrogant and hoarded
power with little regard for Parliament or the Liberal caucus. The MPs who
dared to cross the Chrétien people were humiliated, relegated to the
hallways and, at the best, ignored. The fact that the Hill is populated with
so-called "trained seals" or "nervous Nellies" was never more true.
The Martinites waged, with some merit, a bloody fight in the name of
those marginalized MPs in a bid to fix the "democratic deficit."
In order to get to this promised nirvana, the Liberals got rid of a
leader that led the party to three back-to-back majorities, put order in the
Canadian economy, got rid of the deficit, adroitly shaped Canadian foreign
policy in the face of growing American unilateralism, with a special focus
on Third World problems in general and Africa in particular.
Yes, we can rightly say that Paul Martin was part of that success,
especially with the economy. But, at least publicly, he was on side also
with any other initiative generated by the Chrétien government.
In fact, when he left (or was fired) from the executive, it was not because
of policy differences on how to improve Canadians health and wealth. Indeed,
he left because he wanted to replace Chrétien so badly.
So, today we have the new team led by Mr. Martin. They support the same
programs Chrétien adopted, in terms of foreign, economic and social policies
(Iraq, Medicare, same-sex marriage, Québec and much more). The only
difference is that Chrétien had the programs and was shoving them down the
throat of the Liberal caucus and Parliament. Paul Martin prepares his
programs according to the political wind of the moment, disregarding his
caucus, like Chrétien, but also, contrary to what Chrétien was doing, his
ministers. Martin deals directly with the opposition. MPs and ministers are
a necessary nuisance useful just for the choreography.
A few months ago, a powerful minister from the West received a call from
someone in the PMO: "Who do you think you are?" the raucous voice from the
Œback street boy¹ in the Langevin Block shouted to the minister. "Yeah, just
a minister!"
Another source tells The Hill Times that a minister complained to him
because when he was in Chrétien¹s Cabinet, ministers received calls from the
prime minister once a month, if at all. Now, under Martin, the calls may be
more frequent but they¹re not about exchanging opinions. The source said
Martin is more interested in giving his ministers marching orders.
Yes, Martin leads a minority government and has to deal with the opposition
parties, but this is the government he and his team were able to get from
Canadians. He inherited a strong majority from his predecessor, he
squandered all that support, with his handlers celebrating, (can you imagine
it?) the downsizing of their caucus in the first election they were leading.
So, at best, we have the same arrogance as before under Chrétien, but
without the same competence. With all due respect, Tim Murphy is not Jean
Pelletier, and David Hurley is not John Rae. And I do not see any Eddy
Goldenbergs around. If I can characterize the change, I might say that
Chrétien's advisers hated the Martin clan because of the fight; now Martin's
handlers fight the Chrétien clan because of the hate. Otherwise, nothing has
changed.
Let's take a look at last week's appointments. Look at the criteria to
appoint Senators or, more striking, the new governor general, for whom I
have the utmost professional and personal respect.
She is a journalist, a women, born outside Canada, and is a visible
minority. And, by the way, she made her career at the CBC. Her name?
Adrienne Jean; Sorry, Michaëlle Clarkson. Oh, whatever. Indeed, so much for
the Martin-promised changes and creativity.
In fact, there is one difference between outgoing Governor General Adrienne
Clarkson and governor general-designate Michaëlle Jean: Clarkson is an
anglophone from Ontario, while Jean is a francophone from Québec. But this
is not a change; it¹s a rule, part of the Liberal Party¹s method of
alternating such appointments between French and English Canadians.
So, the question remains: Why did Martin pushed Chrétien out?
