Editing Jean Chrétien (section)

==Early life, family, and education==
Chrétien was born on January 11, 1934, in [[Shawinigan|Shawinigan Falls]], [[Quebec]], as the 18th of 19 children (10 of whom did not survive infancy),<ref name=L&T>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/lifeandtimes/chretien.html |title=The Life and Times of Jean Chrétien |access-date=January 29, 2007 |year=2003 |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214222518/http://www.cbc.ca/lifeandtimes/chretien.html |archive-date=December 14, 2006 }}</ref> of Marie (née Boisvert, 1892–1954) and Wellie Chrétien (1887–1980).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Généalogie Willie Chretien |url=https://www.nosorigines.qc.ca/GenealogieQuebec.aspx?genealogie=Chretien_Willie&pid=5430 |access-date=April 15, 2023 |website=www.nosorigines.qc.ca}}</ref> His younger brother is the [[neuroendocrinology]] researcher [[Michel Chrétien]]. The working-class Chrétien family was poor, and Chrétien had to wear hand-me-down clothes.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 27">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will To Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 27.</ref> Chrétien's parents wanted their children to escape a working-class life in Shawinigan by attending a [[classical college]].<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 27"/> Chrétien's father made him read the dictionary as a young boy. Chrétien's older brother Maurice won a scholarship at the insurance company he was working for, which allowed him to attend medical school, and with the profits from his medical practice, was able to assist his younger siblings to attend the classical colleges.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will To Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 28–29.</ref> Wellie Chrétien was a staunch Liberal who once got to shake hands as a young man with his hero, [[Wilfrid Laurier|Sir Wilfrid Laurier]].<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 44">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will To Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 44.</ref> The local parish priest, Father Auger, a supporter of the [[Union Nationale (Quebec)|Union Nationale]] who hated all Liberals as "ungodly", spread malicious rumours about the Liberal Chrétien family, saying he would never let a teenage girl go on a date unchaperoned with any of the Chrétien boys, which caused the young Jean Chrétien to have troubled relations with the Catholic church.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 89">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will To Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 89.</ref>

During [[World War II]], the Canadian nationalist Wellie Chrétien had attracted much public disapproval by being a staunch supporter of the war effort, and especially by being one of the few French-Canadians in Shawinigan willing to publicly support sending the conscripts (known as "Zombies") to fight overseas.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will To Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 25 & 44.</ref> Under the 1940 ''[[National Resources Mobilization Act]]'', the federal government could conscript Canadians only for the defence of Canada, and until late 1944, only volunteers went to fight overseas. In 1940s Quebec, where many French-Canadians were opposed to Canada fighting in the war, and especially to sending the "Zombies" overseas, this made Wellie Chrétien and his family outcasts.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 44"/> Furthermore, during the [[Grande Noirceur]] ("''Great Darkness''") when Quebec society was dominated by the corrupt Union Nationale patronage machine, the Chrétien family were excluded because of Wellie Chrétien's support for the war.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will To Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 26.</ref> The Union Nationale Premier [[Maurice Duplessis]] had been an outspoken opponent of Canadian participation in World War II. Until 1964, Quebec had no public schools, and Chrétien was educated in Catholic schools. Chrétien disliked the Catholic priests who educated him and in turn was disliked by them with one of Chrétien's former teachers, Father François Lanoue, recalling that Chrétien was the only student he ever grabbed by his ears, as he was too unruly.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will To Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 34–35.</ref> In an interview, Chrétien called his education "unnatural", as he recalled an extremely strict regime where the priests beat anyone bloody who dared to question their authority while teaching via rote learning.<ref name="ReferenceD">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will To Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 56.</ref> One of Chrétien's classmates recalled "We didn't have the right to have feelings or express them".<ref name="ReferenceD"/>

Chrétien got his early schooling at a private boys' school in [[Joliette]].<ref name="ReferenceA">"Straight From The Heart", by JC, 1985</ref> He then attended [[Séminaire Saint-Joseph de Trois-Rivières]]. He obtained excellent grades and then studied law at [[Université Laval]], the training ground of the French-Canadian elite.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 74–75.</ref> Despite the thuggish image that he cultivated at Séminaire Saint-Joseph, Chrétien's grades were high, with an education that focused mostly on Catholic theology, the classics, philosophy, and French. When Chrétien graduated from Séminaire Saint-Joseph, Duplessis came to address the class and upon meeting Chrétien asked him if his grandfather was François Chrétien, who once served as mayor of St-Étiene-des-Grès, and if his father was Wellie Chrétien. Upon receiving affirmative answers to both questions, the premier said with disgust, "Then you're a damn ''rouge''".<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 58.</ref>

Later at Laval, Chrétien protested the fact that the law faculty gave the ''Revised Statutes of Quebec'' free to Union Nationale students while Liberal students had to pay $10 for it, which led him and another student whose family was well connected to meet Duplessis in his office.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 76.</ref> Duplessis told Chrétien the Union Nationale only rewarded those who had "faith", and if he wanted the book for free, then he should have had "faith", noting that there were no "rights" in Quebec as he was "Le Chef" ("''the boss''").<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 77.</ref> At Laval, Chrétien became active in the Young Liberals, becoming president as no one else wanted the job as most students were too frightened to antagonize the Union Nationale.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 94.</ref> In 1958 he attended the Liberal convention in Ottawa that chose Lester Pearson as the party's leader, and where Chrétien supported [[Paul Martin Sr.]]<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 93.</ref>

Chrétien later drew attention to his humble origins, calling himself "le petit gars de Shawinigan", or the "little guy from Shawinigan".<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/31/world/torn-hometown-resents-the-premier.html |title=Torn Hometown Resents the Premier |last=Wren |first=Christopher S. |work=The New York Times |date=1995-10-31 |accessdate=2024-05-18}}</ref> In his youth he suffered from an attack of [[Bell's palsy]], permanently leaving one side of his face partially paralyzed.<ref>{{Cite news|publisher=[[BBC]]|date=November 28, 2000|title=Jean Chretien: Veteran fighter|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1042917.stm|access-date=November 7, 2020}}</ref> Chrétien used this in his first Liberal leadership campaign, saying that he was "One politician who didn't talk out of both sides of his mouth." He is also deaf in one ear.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gray|first=Jeff|title=Jean Chrétien: Ambition or arrogance?|url=http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/series/election/leaders/chretien.html|access-date=November 1, 2012|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|location=Toronto|archive-date=January 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140125064945/http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/series/election/leaders/chretien.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On September 10, 1957, he married [[Aline Chrétien|Aline Chaîné]], whom he had met when he was 18 and she was 16. They had three children: France (b. 1958), Hubert (b. 1965) and Michel (b. 1968), who was adopted in 1970. [[France Chrétien Desmarais]], who is a lawyer, is married to [[André Desmarais]], the son of [[Paul Desmarais, Sr.]], and the president and co-chief executive officer of his father's company, [[Power Corporation of Canada|Power Corporation]], based in Montreal, Canada. Reflecting Chrétien's poor relations with the Catholic church, the local priest in Shawinigan, Father Auger, refused to marry Chrétien in his church, saying only ''bleus'' (blues, i.e. Union Nationale supporters) were welcome in his church and ''rouges'' (reds, i.e. Liberals) were not.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 89"/>