Chretien Attacks Martin in His Book
| 10/13/2007 | Posted by Patti under General |
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien has come out swinging at former Prime Minister Paul Martin in his newly released book, “My Years as Prime Minister”. The two men at one time appeared to form a powerful pair in Ottawa during Chretien’s time in office. Martin as finance minister won international respect for making hard decisions which brought Canada’s soaring deficit under control and in recent years has produced surpluses. Chretien as Prime Minister backed his finance minister’s moves.
As Martin’s leadership ambitions grew, friction developed between the two. The friction ripped a gapping hole in the fabric of the Liberal party, one that is not yet repaired. By all appearances the faces may have changed in the party but the dynamics established by Chretien and Martin appear to be continuing. The rivalry and infighting which the war produced played almost as much of a role in the defeat of the Liberals under Martin as the stink of the sponsorship scandal which had been transferred from Chretien to Martin.
The sponsorship scandal was not the only stink of abuse of power that came out of the Chretien years in power. From what he’s written in his book, it appears that Chretien would have us believe that he would have received the Auditor General’s report on the scandal and then in typical fashion, would have shrugged it off expecting the issue to have just disappeared as irrelevant. That is what he claims would have happened but didn’t because Paul Martin was in too big a hurry to take office, which left Martin to deal with the fallout.
What Chretien fails to acknowledge was that Martin faced a new breed of opposition leader in Harper. Calculating, relentless and unafraid to beat hell out of the truth, Harper would not have allowed Chretien to just shrug off Fraser’s report as irrelevant. It was easier for Chretien to hand over the reigns of power to Martin ahead of the report and then lambaste him later for his ‘failings’.
I’ve always had a grudging respect for the feisty manner which Chretien made his way through 40 some odd years of political life. If what has been reported is indicative of what Chretien has written in his book, I may hesitate to read it. What I’m hearing is feisty that has become bitter and spiteful. Paul Martin reportedly has a book which will be coming out sometime next year, I hope he doesn’t take a page out of Chretien’s book.
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