Editing Jean Chrétien (section)

===1990: Returns to politics and wins Liberal leadership===
[[File:Paul martin 2004.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Paul Martin]] was Chrétien's main opponent for the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1990. The campaign between them started a political rivalry that would endure throughout and beyond Chrétien's premiership.]]
At a press conference in Ottawa on January 23, 1990, Chrétien declared that he would run for the Liberal Party leadership and proudly stated that the day would be remembered as the beginning of the "Chrétien era" in Canada.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man: The Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien'' Toronto: Viking Canada, 2003 p. 10.</ref> Chrétien's principal opponent in the contest, [[Paul Martin]], was generally seen as the ideological heir to Turner, while Chrétien was seen to be the ideological heir to Trudeau. The fact that most of the Liberals who had supported Turner in the 1980s supported Martin in 1990 confirmed Chrétien's disdain for Martin, whom he saw as a Bay Street "big shot" like Turner.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man'', Toronto: Viking 2003, p. 11.</ref>

The most controversial issue facing Canada during the first half of 1990 was the [[Meech Lake Accord]], a set of proposed constitutional amendments that would have seen a significant devolution of federal powers to the provinces and included a clause that would have recognized Quebec as a "[[distinct society]]" within Canada. Chrétien had announced in a January 1990 speech that he was an opponent of Meech Lake but stated that he would support the accord with amendments, such as scrapping the controversial "distinct society" clause as written; having the preamble to the constitution instead declare that Quebec was a "distinct society"; and adding a new clause saying if any conflict arose between the constitutional recognition of Quebec as a "distinct society" and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the latter would always prevail.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 15">Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man: The Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien'' Toronto: Viking Canada, 2003 p. 15.</ref> The "distinct society" clause theoretically could have been the basis of a wide-ranging devolution of federal power, since the clause might have empowered the Quebec government to pass any law short of secession to protect the "distinct society". This made the clause very popular in Quebec, but aroused passionate opposition in English Canada. In a much-discussed essay, Trudeau had warned that giving Quebec the constitutional right to be a "distinct society" would mean that Quebec could quite legally start to expel its anglophone minority. Chrétien's proposed amendments would have meant that the constitution would have recognized Quebec as a "distinct society" but effectively gutted any attempt to use that to grant any special powers to Quebec.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 15"/> In private, Chrétien opposed Meech Lake, but as the accord was extremely popular in Quebec, running as an out-and-out opponent of Meech Lake was judged to be too risky politically, causing him to conditionally oppose the accord in public.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man: The Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien'' Toronto: Viking Canada, 2003 pp. 15 & 21.</ref> Meech Lake placed Chrétien in a difficult position, as it was very popular in Quebec and loathed by the Trudeau wing of the Liberals; Chrétien needed the support of both entities in the leadership race.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man: The Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien'' Toronto: Viking Canada, 2003 p. 21.</ref> He tried to avoid talking about Meech Lake as much as possible, which was a minefield issue for him; he instead stuck to generalities about national unity.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man: The Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien'' Toronto: Viking Canada, 2003 pp. 20–21.</ref> Martin, by contrast, had declared himself an unconditional supporter of Meech Lake as it was; he was also quite willing to talk about his support.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man: The Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien'' Toronto: Viking Canada, 2003 p. 20.</ref>

Chrétien's key campaign man was [[Jim Karygiannis]], who specialized in signing up immigrants to serve as Chrétien delegates. He signed 9,500 immigrants as Chrétien delegates between January and June 1990. In large part because of Karygiannis and his team, Chrétien had by late April 1990 signed up 1,500 delegates, which made him the clear front-runner compared to Martin's 500 delegates.<ref name="Martin-p19">Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man: The Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien'' Toronto: Viking Canada, 2003 p. 19.</ref>

A key moment in the leadership contest took place at an all-candidates debate in Montreal on June 2, 1990. The discussion quickly turned to the Meech Lake Accord, which had emerged as the major policy issue dividing Chrétien and Martin. Martin attempted to force Chrétien to abandon his nuanced position on Meech Lake and speak out either for or against it, saying that Chrétien's position of opposing Meech Lake as it was, but being willing to support it with amendments, was trying to have it both ways.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man: The Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien'' Toronto: Viking Canada, 2003 pp. 22–23.</ref> When Chrétien refused to endorse Meech Lake as it was, young Liberal delegates crowding the hall began to chant ''vendu'' ("sellout" in French), "you're selling out to the Anglos," and "[[Judas Iscariot|Judas]]" at Chrétien.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man: The Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien'' Toronto: Viking Canada, 2003 p. 23.</ref> One of Chrétien's aides frantically asked that Martin "get the fuck out there and do something," as the Young Liberals continued shouting abuse at Chrétien to his clear discomfort, only to be told that the Quebec youth were "hotheads" whom nobody could control.<ref name="Martin-p24"/> Privately, Chrétien was deeply enraged by the incident, claimed that the delegates shouting ''vendu'' at him were actually Martin supporters from Toronto, and charged that their poor French had betrayed that they had not been from Quebec.<ref name="Martin-p24">Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man: The Defiant Reign of Jean Chrétien'' Toronto: Viking Canada, 2003 p. 24.</ref> Martin denied involvement in "coordinating" any response from the floor or a similar outburst by his supporters at the convention.<ref name="Martin-p24" /> Ultimately, Chrétien defeated Martin for the leadership on the first and only ballot, but his position on Meech Lake had irreversibly damaged his reputation in his home province.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}