Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 23 - 29 November 2000 Issue No.509
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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The little big man

By Marc Munro

During the autumn months, Canadians normally slowly sink into hibernation, but Prime Minister Jean Chrétien called a snap election. Despite having over a year and a half remaining on the governing majority Liberal Party mandate, Chrétien explained that he called the early poll because there are very important choices to make for the future. Just prior to dropping the election writ, Finance Minister Paul Martin announced a record US$8.14 billion budgetary surplus. According to Chrétien, the monumental size of the surplus, which is projected conservatively to continue to exceed US$6.6 billion annually over the next five years, necessitates a public consultation.

However, the opposition parties have dismissed this election as a cynical attempt to satisfy personal ambition. If opinion poll indications are correct, it is more than likely that on 27 November Chrétien will become the first prime minister in 55 years to win three consecutive majority governments. Yet, aside from the healthy state of the economy, there is really nothing in the way of a legacy Chrétien can point to as his own.

One of the principal reasons for this lack of political vision is the nature of Chrétien's political persona. Much of his success is due to his ability to cast himself in the role of the average citizen. Throughout his almost 40-year career in parliament, he has often referred to himself as "Le petit gars de Shawinigan." The 66-year-old little guy from rural Québec, however, is not the simpleton character he likes to portray. Behind the affable façade of the country bumpkin, is a shrewd tactical savant. In a country as vast and ethnically diverse as Canada, Chrétien understands that in order to obtain and maintain power the ruling party must represent as much as possible to as many as possible.

Traditionally, power has belonged to the party most adept at juggling the contradictions of a federation that has no single unifying notion of itself. Canada is a patchwork quilt of regions separated by over five thousand kilometres and two official languages. Liberal governments have held power for most of the past century, because the party has turned pragmatism into a fuzzy dogma of expediency over consistency.

Former Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau once referred to the party as the radical centre. Consequently, during the 70s, the Trudeau Liberals effortlessly adopted conservative fiscal policies while implementing a socialist welfare safety net. This, of course, led to large budget deficits, but Trudeau attempted to finance social spending by expropriating revenue from the booming Alberta oil patch. Needless to say, the residents of Alberta were not very pleased. Unfortunately for Alberta, due to the large population concentrations around Toronto and Montréal, elections are usually decided in the Eastern-Standard time zone well before the polls in Calgary even open. Thus, despite its wealth, Alberta could be ignored. When juggling competing interests, the trick is to know which ball to drop and when. Throughout his tenure, Trudeau was a master.

However, Trudeau was an odd Liberal. He was an ideologue. A legal philosopher by vocation, Trudeau had entered politics to counter Québécois nationalism with his own personal vision of a multicultural civil society.

In the aftermath of the defeat of the sovereignty option in the 1980 referendum, Trudeau was able to entrench a constitutional Charter of Rights and Freedoms, thus buttressing a strongly centralised federal government. As his closest minister, Chrétien is very much associated with this legacy, but he was, as Trudeau once dismissively described him, merely a worthy lieutenant. Recently, the Trudeau legacy was reanimated in the minds of Canadians due to the wave of popular nostalgia that followed his death on 28 September. In this election, Chrétien has cast himself as torchbearer for Liberal idealism. The notion, however, is an oxymoron. Liberals are pragmatists of the purest order and true to tradition, Chrétien has had no single definable purpose. After seven years in office, there is nothing Chrétien can claim to represent besides competent stewardship. In fact, this may very well be the basis of his success.

Canadians, at the moment, are tired of gut wrenching debates. During the Trudeau years, Quebecois nationalism and Western alienation rent national politics. In 1984, the Progressive Conservatives under Brian Mulroney were able to build a ruling coalition based primarily on anti-Liberal sentiment. The backlash, however, ushered in an era of renewed turmoil. During the Mulroney years, Canadians suffered through two ill-fated national unity initiatives and engaged in a bitter soul searching over the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. After Mulroney's resignation in 1993, the embattled Conservatives were decimated at the polls.

Assuming the Liberal leadership for the 1993 election, Chrétien's campaign resembled a coronation procession. The essential elements of the former Conservative governing alliance had fragmented into the Alberta-based Reform Party and the separatist Bloc Quebecois. In a typically Canadian twist of irony, Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition was formed by the separatists. This situation was ended by the 1997 election, with the Reform claiming official opposition standing, but little else was altered. In effect, the Liberals have ruled without any viable opposition. The only real challenge came in 1995, when Quebec almost voted "Oui" in another sovereignty referendum.

Afterwards, Chrétien simply returned to the banal affairs of governance as if nothing had happened. Most Canadians have been simply glad for the reprieve.

With a booming economy and a quiescent sovereignty movement, Chrétien has in typical Liberal fashion adopted many of the opposition parties' policies as his own. Before coming to power, Chrétien condemned free trade. He is now one of its strongest advocates. Likewise, he once vocally opposed tax cuts and social welfare reduction. Over his tenure, Chrétien has proven he can slash and burn with the best. Then as soon as Finance Minister Paul Martin was able to find him a few billions of dollars in largesse, Chrétien began to dole it out gleefully.

Worried that Chrétien was about to proclaim, l'état c'est moi, the Reform Party realised it needed to reinvent itself. Earlier this year, in a convention designed to appeal to all conservatives everywhere, Reform was dissolved into the new Canadian Reform Alliance Party. The party name was quickly shortened to the Canadian Alliance once strategists realised it created a rather unfortunate acronym. Despite its awkward beginnings, Chrétien recognised the potential threat. Consequently, before the fledgling party could strengthen its wings, Chrétien forced it into an electoral race.

Yet, the coronation procession that Chrétien had hoped for has not come to pass. Although it is highly unlikely he will be denied a historic third straight majority, Chrétien's personal future is far from secure. The haste with which Chrétien doled out renewed social spending has come back to haunt him. Poor bookkeeping has created what the opposition dubbed the "billion dollar boondoggle." During the election, criticism of clerical incompetence has escalated into accusations of outright corruption. Chrétien has dismissed the charges as "mudslinging" that is beneath contempt. However, the prime minister has not remained over the mire. Throughout this campaign, Chrétien has charged that the Alliance harbours a scary right-wing hidden agenda and has accused its leader Stockwell Day, an evangelical Christian, of appealing to the "dark side" of human intolerance.

Despite the ugly partisan rhetoric, the real political battle is the quiet undeclared leadership contest within the Liberal Party itself. Prior to the election call, there were the tell-tale signs of a putsch by supporters of Paul Martin. The election served to rally party cadres but it has not solidified internal divisions. Confident they will return to power, Liberals are now beginning to look beyond 27 November and openly musing about a change of leadership. In response, Chrétien has firmly declared, "The leader, it is me."

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