OTTAWA (voa) – Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien has announced he will not run for a fourth straight term in office.
At a meeting of parliamentarians from his Liberal party in Quebec Wednesday, supporters watched tearfully as the 68-year-old Mr. Chretien announced: “I will not run again.”
The prime minister said he and his wife Aline, had decided two years ago that he would step down. His current term ends in February of 2004.
Mr. Chretien has been Canada’s prime minister since 1993.
Media reports say the Liberal party’s most likely candidate for the next elections is former Finance Minister Paul Martin. Mr. Martin resigned from the cabinet in June after Mr. Chretien hinted he might seek a fourth term.
Chicoutimi, Québec (August 21, 2002) — Ladies and gentlemen. I entered public life for one reason and one reason only. To serve our country. To make it a better place.
Our responsibility, all of us, each and everyone of us, is to focus on our agenda. To implement our commitment to Canadians. In short, to govern.
This summer we have not been focused on governing. We are not doing our job. Canadians don’t like that. Liberals don’t like that.
None of us in this room is comfortable. I certainly am not.
Aline has always been by my side. I have always called her my Rock of Gibraltar.
Two years ago, we agreed that I would not seek a fourth mandate. Indeed, shortly after the last election, we took an option on an apartment in Ottawa. That we would live in when I had finished my work.
It was my view that it would not be in the best political interests of the Liberal Party for me to signal my intentions publicly until later in our term.
Over the course of the summer, I have spoken to many of you. Some have asked me to run again. Some have told me not to run. All have told me to finish the job we were elected to do.
You have also told me to make my intentions known publicly as soon as possible. I have heard you.
Last night I spoke about my duty to the country, to the Liberal Party and to the office of Prime Minister.
For 40 years the Liberal Party has been like family to me. Its best interests are bred in my bones. I have reflected on the best way to bring back unity. To end the fighting. To resume interrupted friendships.
I have thought about how much time it will take to finish the job we were elected to do. To complete the agenda for governing which I set out last night. For children in poverty. For aboriginals. For health. For the environment. For urban infrastructure. For public sector ethics.
I have taken into account my duty to protect for my successors the integrity of the office I hold from the Canadian people. An office that is non negotiable.
Here is my conclusion.
I will not run again.
I will fulfil my mandate and focus entirely on governing from now until February 2004. At which time my work will be done and at which time my successor will be chosen.
This will be after 3 of the Opposition parties have chosen their new leaders. So Liberals will know what they are facing.
And it will be early enough to give a new Prime Minister all the necessary flexibility to choose the date of the next election.
Everything we have achieved since we formed the government has been because of the unity of our caucus. I owe a debt of gratitude to each and everyone of you. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
But our journey is not over. We have a lot of work to do together for Canada over the next 18 months. I will need all of you to complete our work.
And then at the age of 70, I will look back with great satisfaction as I take my rest secure in the knowledge that the future of Canada is unlimited.
The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien was born in Shawinigan, Québec on January 11, 1934, the son of Wellie Chrétien and Marie Boisvert-Chrétien.
After attending schools in Shawinigan, Joliette and Trois-Rivières, he studied law at Laval University.
He was called to the Bar in 1958, and joined the law firm of Chrétien, Landry, Deschênes, Trudel and Normand, in Shawinigan. He served as Director of the Bar of Trois-Rivières in 1962-63.
Mr. Chrétien was first elected to the House of Commons in 1963 representing the constituency of Saint-Maurice–Laflèche. He was re-elected in 1965.
In July 1965, he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson and in January 1966, to the Minister of Finance. On April 4, 1967, he became Minister of State attached to the Minister of Finance and on January 18, 1968, he was appointed Minister of National Revenue.
He was returned to the House in the June 25, 1968, election, representing the new constituency of Saint-Maurice. On July 6, 1968, he was sworn in as Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and remained in that post until August 8, 1974, when he was appointed President of the Treasury Board subsequent to his re-election one month earlier.
He was appointed Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce on September 14, 1976, and one year later, on September 16, 1977, became Minister of Finance. He held that Cabinet post until June 4, 1979. Mr. Chrétien was returned to the House of Commons for a sixth consecutive term in the May 22, 1979, election.
After being re-elected with an unprecedented majority on February 18, 1980, he was appointed Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and Minister of State for Social Development on March 3, 1980. At this time, Mr. Chrétien was given the additional task of Minister responsible for constitutional negotiations. On September 10, 1982, he was appointed Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources.
On June 16, 1984, Mr. Chrétien was a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for External Affairs on June 30, 1984. In the September 4, 1984, election, he was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Saint-Maurice and as a member of the Opposition was appointed Critic for External Affairs.
Mr. Chrétien resigned from the House of Commons on February 27, 1986.
From March 1986 to June 1990 he was a Counsel with the law firm of Lang Michener Lawrence and Shaw with offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. He was also a Senior Advisor with Gordon Capital Corporation in Montreal.
On June 23, 1990, Mr. Chrétien was elected Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
He was elected Member of Parliament in the December 10, 1990, by-election in the riding of Beauséjour (New Brunswick). He was sworn in as Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons on December 21, 1990.
He was re-elected Member of Parliament for the riding of St-Maurice on October 25, 1993, when his party won a majority of seats in the House of Commons. He was sworn in as Prime Minister of Canada on November 4, 1993.
As Prime Minister, he was re-elected Member of Parliament for the riding of St-Maurice on November 27, 2000 with his party winning a third consecutive majority of seats in the House of Commons.
In 1981, he received an Honourary Degree of Laws from Wilfrid Laurier University. He also received an Honourary Doctorate of Laws, in 1982 from Laurentian University of Sudbury and the University of Western Ontario; in 1986, from York University Glendon College in Toronto; in 1987, from the University of Alberta in Edmonton; and in 1988, from Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. In 1994 he received an Honourary Doctorate from the University of Ottawa, and in 1996 from Meiji University in Tokyo, Japan; and in 1999 from both the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland and Michigan State University; and in 2000, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Memorial University in St. John’s.
Mr. Chrétien married Aline Chaîné of Shawinigan in 1957. They have three children: France, Hubert and Michel.
