Editing Jean Chrétien (section)

==Early political career==
[[File:Jean Chrétien portrait 1960s.jpg|left|thumb|Jean Chrétien as [[Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (Canada)|minister of Indian affairs and northern development]] in 1968]]
Chrétien practised law at the Shawinigan firm of [[Alexandre Gélinas]] and Joe Lafond<ref>Martin, ''Chrétien'', pp. 104–05.</ref> until he was first elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] as a Liberal from the riding of [[Saint-Maurice–Laflèche]] in the [[1963 Canadian federal election|1963 election]]. He represented this Shawinigan-based constituency, renamed [[Saint-Maurice (federal electoral district)|Saint-Maurice]] in 1968, for all but eight of the next 41 years. The [[Social Credit Party of Canada|Social Credit Party]] had won the district in the 1962 election, and Chrétien won the Liberal nomination for the 1963 election as the previous Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) decided to retire.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 124–125.</ref> Chrétien won the election by portraying the incumbent Social Credit MP, [[Gérard Lamy]], as a "buffoon" who made French-Canadians look stupid.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 131.</ref> Early in Chrétien's career, [[Dalton Camp]] described him as looking like "the driver of the getaway car", a condescending assessment which stuck with him, and which journalists and others often cited throughout his career, usually considering his eventual success. The only committee assignment he requested, and obtained, during his first term was to the Finance Committee.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

Shortly before the [[1965 Canadian federal election|1965 election]], Chrétien very briefly served as [[parliamentary secretary]] to Prime Minister [[Lester B. Pearson]].<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 163">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 163.</ref> When Pearson recruited his "Three Wise Men" ([[Jean Marchand]], [[Gérard Pelletier]], and [[Pierre Trudeau]]) into the cabinet, Chrétien was disappointed at being bypassed, telling Pearson he deserved to be promoted to the cabinet.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 163"/> Starting in 1966, he served for a more substantial period of time as parliamentary secretary to [[Minister of Finance (Canada)|Minister of Finance]] [[Mitchell Sharp]]. Sharp was to serve as Chrétien's mentor and patron, helping him rise through the ranks.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 183.</ref>

In 1967, Chrétien visited western Canada for the first time, which he was curious to see.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 177.</ref> In [[Vancouver]], he declared in a speech about the demands for more powers for Quebec being made by Union Nationale Premier [[Daniel Johnson Sr.|Daniel Johnson]] that "those who are in favour of a special status [for Quebec] are often separatists who don't want to admit they are separatists", which caused an uproar in Quebec, with Johnson saying he just wanted more powers for Quebec, not independence.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 177–178.</ref> When, in a speech during a visit to Montreal for [[Expo 67]], French President [[Charles de Gaulle]] said "''[[Vive le Québec libre]]!''" ("Long Live A Free Quebec!") and compared the [[Quiet Revolution]] to the liberation of France from the [[Nazi]]s, Chrétien demanded during a cabinet meeting that the government order de Gaulle to leave Canada.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 179.</ref>

===Joins cabinet===
Chrétien was appointed minister without portfolio in April 1967 and then [[Minister of National Revenue (Canada)|minister of national revenue]] in January 1968, making him a junior minister in the cabinet. During the [[1968 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|1968 Liberal leadership race]], Chrétien fought hard on behalf of his mentor Sharp, who aspired to lead the Liberal Party.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 184–185">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 184–185.</ref> When Sharp withdrew from the race, Chrétien followed Sharp in swinging his support behind the man who eventually won the race, Pierre Trudeau.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 184–185"/>

[[File:Trudeau, Turner, Chretien, and Pearson.jpg|thumb|left|Chrétien, second from right as a minister in [[Lester Pearson]]'s Cabinet in 1967. From left to right, [[Pierre Trudeau]], [[John Turner]], Chrétien, and Pearson. All four men served as Prime Ministers of Canada.]] After the [[1968 Canadian federal election|June 1968 election]] that gave the Liberals a majority government, Trudeau appointed Chrétien [[Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (Canada)|minister of Indian affairs and northern development]]. Trudeau and Chrétien were never close, as the gulf between the intellectual Trudeau and the decidedly non-intellectual Chrétien was too wide, but Trudeau did value Chrétien as an extremely loyal and competent minister, and as a "tough guy" trouble-shooter who could handle difficult assignments.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man'', Toronto: Viking, 2003 pp. 280–281.</ref> Trudeau and his intellectual advisors in the [[Office of the Prime Minister (Canada)|Prime Minister's Office]] (PMO) held Chrétien in contempt as someone who spoke French with a working-class accent and whose manners were unpolished, but they appreciated his toughness and ability to get things done.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 222.</ref>

While at Indian Affairs, Chrétien introduced the [[1969 White Paper]], a proposal to abolish [[Canadian Aboriginal law|treaties between Canada and First Nations]] and related legislation including the ''[[Indian Act]]''. Critics charged that the goal was to assimilate First Nations people into the general Canadian population.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 196–197.</ref> First Nations groups widely opposed the White Paper, and it was later abandoned. It was the 1969 White Paper that first brought Chrétien to widespread public attention in [[English Canada]]. At a press conference announcing the White Paper, Chrétien openly clashed with Indian activists with one First Nations woman asking Chrétien, "When did we lose our identity?", to which he replied: "When you signed the treaties", which prompted boos and jeers.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 198">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 198.</ref> Another woman from the Iroquois reserve at Brantford asked Chrétien, "How can you come here and ask us to become citizens, when we were here long before you?", noting the Crown had granted the Grand River valley to [[Joseph Brant]] in 1784, to which Chrétien had no reply.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 198"/> [[Cree]] activist [[Harold Cardinal]] attacked Chrétien and Trudeau for the White Paper in his bestselling 1969 book ''The Unjust Society'', accusing them of "[[cultural genocide]]" against the First Nations.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 199.</ref> To counteract such criticism, Chrétien adopted an [[Inuit|Inuk]] boy from a local orphanage during a 1970 visit to the [[Northwest Territories]].<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 202.</ref> As Indian Affairs minister, Chrétien fell in love with the far north of Canada, whose beauty moved him, and he vacationed in the north every summer during his time while holding the Indian Affairs portfolio.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 211.</ref>

During the [[October Crisis]] of 1970, Chrétien told Trudeau to "act now, explain later" when Trudeau was hesitant to invoke the ''[[War Measures Act]]''. Eighty-five percent of Canadians agreed with the move. In the [[1972 Canadian federal election|1972 election]], Chrétien, who was frightened by a near-defeat in 1968, had a friend. Antonio Genest, win the Progressive Conservative (PC) nomination and then run a deliberately inept campaign in order to ensure his re-election.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 228–230.</ref> [[Robert Bourassa]], the Liberal premier of Quebec, was a nationalist who frequently pressed for more devolution of federal powers to his province, making him Trudeau's ''bête noire'', with the two men openly feuding.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 224">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 224.</ref> In 1971, when the Bourassa government began the [[James Bay Project]] to develop hydroelectric dams on rivers flowing into [[James Bay]], which was opposed by the local Cree bands who claimed the land slated for development, Chrétien intervened on the side of the Cree.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 224"/> In a speech Chrétien said Bourassa "could go to hell", stated he did not have the right to build on or flood the land claimed by the Cree, and hired lawyers to argue for the Cree in the courts.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 224"/> In November 1973, a judge ruled for the Cree, but a few days later the appeals court ruled for Quebec.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 224"/>

In 1974, Chrétien was appointed [[President of the Treasury Board]], and beginning in 1976, he served as [[Minister of Industry (Canada)|Minister of Industry, Trade and Commerce]]. At the Treasury Board, Chrétien become known as "Doctor No", as he refused in a brusque manner requests from other ministers for more money for their departments.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 238–239.</ref> The 1970s were a time of rapid inflation, and Chrétien often clashed with public sector unions who demanded wage increases.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 240.</ref> At a time when deficits were rising and the Trudeau government was widely seen as drifting, Chrétien's "tough guy" image won him widespread attention, with many in the media portraying him as one of the few people in the Trudeau cabinet willing to make tough decisions.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 242.</ref> As industry minister, Chrétien was in charge of the Trudeau government's efforts to "diversify" the economy by trading more with Asia and Europe and less with the United States.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 246">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 246.</ref> Chrétien often complained the high Canadian dollar hindered his efforts to "diversify" trade, and he became known for his belief in the value of a low dollar.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 246"/> As industry minister, Chrétien moved to the left, being known for his populist policies, imposing tariffs on clothing made abroad to encourage more production in Canada, and having the government fund the development of the [[Canadair Challenger|Challenger]] aircraft.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 247.</ref>

===Minister of finance===
In 1977, following the resignation of Finance Minister [[Donald Stovel Macdonald|Donald MacDonald]], Chrétien succeeded him. He was the first [[francophone]] minister of finance, and remains one of only three francophones to have held that post. Chrétien's time at Finance highlighted his "enforcer" status, namely as someone who often helped to execute Trudeau's policies, but who rarely helped Trudeau to make policy.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 262-266">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 262–266.</ref> During his time at Finance, Trudeau completely excluded Chrétien from any role in making financial policy, instead expecting Chrétien to simply carry out the policies that he and his advisors at the PMO had decided beforehand without consulting Chrétien at all.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 262-266"/> 

Trudeau was extremely close to the West German Chancellor [[Helmut Schmidt]], and during the [[4th G7 summit|1978 G7]] summit in Bonn, Trudeau had extensive discussions with his friend Schmidt about how best to win re-election in 1979.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 264.</ref> Schmidt suggested to Trudeau that he respond to criticism of the deficits he had been running by bringing in some big cuts to spending, an idea that Trudeau took up.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 262.</ref> In 1978 Trudeau announced in a press statement $2&nbsp;billion in cuts without bothering to inform Chrétien beforehand about what he had decided to do, leaving his finance minister looking clueless in the resulting press interview.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 265-266">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 265–266.</ref> Chrétien found this experience so humiliating that he seriously considering resigning in protest.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 265-266"/> Chrétien was especially humiliated by the fact that Chancellor Schmidt was better informed of about what was going to happen than he was, which underlined that he was not a member of Trudeau's inner circle.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 265-266"/> 

Chrétien presented the two federal budgets to the House floor in 1978, one in [[April 1978 Canadian federal budget|April]] and the other in [[November 1978 Canadian federal budget|November]].
[[File:Jean Chrétien1.jpg|thumb|Chrétien in 1980]]

===Major role in referendum campaign===
The Liberals lost the [[1979 Canadian federal election|federal election of May 1979]] to a minority [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] government led by [[Joe Clark]]. However, the PC government fell when the House of Commons failed to approve [[1979 Canadian federal budget|its budget]] in December, triggering the [[1980 Canadian federal election]] in February. Trudeau had originally resigned the Liberal leadership after his 1979 election loss, but no leadership election had taken place to choose his successor before the fall of the Clark government; this allowed him to rescind his resignation and lead the Liberals to victory with a majority government.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

Trudeau appointed Chrétien as [[Minister of Justice (Canada)|Minister of Justice and Attorney General]]. In this role, Chrétien was a major force in the [[1980 Quebec referendum]], being one of the main federal representatives "on the ground" during the campaign. His fiery and emotional speeches would enthrall federalist crowds with his blunt warnings of the consequences of separation. During the referendum, Chrétien fiercely fought behind the scenes with the leader of the Quebec Liberals, [[Claude Ryan]], who served as the chairman of the ''non'' committee, about the best course to follow, with Ryan favouring a more Quebec nationalist message as opposed to Chrétien's unabashed Canadian nationalist message.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 281–282.</ref> Chrétien delivered an average of six or seven speeches a day during the 1980 referendum all across Quebec and always managed to work in a local reference in every speech.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 286.</ref>

===Patriation of the Constitution===
Chrétien also served as minister of state for social development and minister responsible for constitutional negotiations, playing a significant role in the debates leading to the [[patriation]] of the [[Constitution of Canada]] in 1982. On September 28, 1981, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government could patriate the [[British North America Acts]] without the consent of the provinces, but also ruled this would be "odious".<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 302.</ref> Chrétien informed the premiers opposing patriation that Ottawa would unilaterally patriate the Constitution, but was willing to talk at a final conference.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 302–303.</ref> During the resulting First Ministers conference in November 1981, two of the premiers, [[Allan Blakeney]] of [[Saskatchewan]] and [[Sterling Lyon]] of [[Manitoba]], made it clear that their principal objection to the proposed [[Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms]] was that it undermined the ancient British tradition of [[Parliamentary sovereignty|parliamentary supremacy]].<ref name="Siddiquic">{{cite news|last=Siddiquic|first=Haroon|title=Canada's cherished Charter could not have happened without "kitchen accord"|work=Toronto Star|date=April 15, 2012|url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/2012/04/15/canadas_cherished_charter_could_not_have_happened_without_kitchen_accord.html|access-date=November 29, 2015}}</ref> Ever since the [[Glorious Revolution of 1688]], the principle had always been that Parliament was the supreme lawmaking body in the land, and both Blakeney and Lyon were concerned that the Charter would give too much power to the courts.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

Chrétien was the chief negotiator of what would be called the "[[Kitchen Accord#The Kitchen Accord|Kitchen Accord]]", an agreement which led to the agreement of nine provinces to patriation. In the Kitchen Accord, Chrétien, along with Attorneys-General [[Roy McMurtry]] of Ontario and [[Roy Romanow]] of Saskatchewan, devised the compromise of [[Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|Section 33]], the so-called "notwithstanding clause", allowing Parliament and provincial legislatures to overrule the courts in Charter cases.<ref name="Siddiquic"/> Chrétien remembered that Trudeau "hated" the idea of Section 33 and that he had to tell him: "Pierre, if you don't take the notwithstanding clause, you don't have the Charter."<ref name="Siddiquic"/> Trudeau only accepted Section 33 when Ontario Premier [[Bill Davis]], one of only two premiers supporting the federal government ([[Richard Hatfield]] of [[New Brunswick]] being the other), phoned him to say he would not support Trudeau in London if Trudeau did not accept Section 33, which Chrétien remembered changed Trudeau's attitude completely.<ref name="Faguy">{{cite web|last=Faguy|first=Yves|title=Interview with Jean Chrétien|work=The National|date=March 2012|url=http://www.nationalmagazine.ca/Articles/May-2012/Interview-with-Jean-Chretien.aspx|access-date=November 29, 2015|archive-date=October 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010054514/http://www.nationalmagazine.ca/Articles/May-2012/Interview-with-Jean-Chretien.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> In a 2012 interview, Chrétien defended the controversial Section 33, saying: "Because some would argue that in a society the elected people have to be supreme — not judges — and I subscribe to that. Look at what happened in the United States where the judges reign according to their so-called philosophy. That is not the tradition here."<ref name="Faguy"/> All of the English-speaking premiers accepted the compromise of Section 33, but Quebec Premier [[René Lévesque]] did not. Chrétien's role in the dealings would not be forgotten in his native province of Quebec (although the [[Supreme Court of Canada]] ruled that Quebec was bound by it). One of Trudeau's aides, [[Barry Strayer]], later said about Chrétien's role in the constitutional battle: "He was able to contemplate compromises that Trudeau would not have been able to. Everybody saw him as a honest broker. Without him you could argue it would not have happened."<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 306.</ref>

===Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources===
In 1982, Chrétien was appointed [[Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources (Canada)|Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources]], putting him in charge of enforcing the [[National Energy Program]] (NEP), which helped to make him a hated figure in Alberta.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 314–315.</ref> Chrétien himself was doubtful about the value of the NEP, saying at the time of his appointment as Energy Minister that, "We've got to back off on the NEP without destroying our credibility," but upon learning that Trudeau and his right-hand man, Finance Minister [[Marc Lalonde]], were in favour of continuing the NEP, Chrétien decided to fall in line rather than risk his chances of one day winning the Liberal leadership.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 314–316.</ref> Chrétien's battles with Alberta Premier [[Peter Lougheed]] over the NEP helped to confirm his disdain for provincial politicians, whom he saw as petty people only interested in their own provinces at the expense of the nation.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 318.</ref>

=== 1984: First leadership bid and relationship with Turner ===
[[File:Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau 1975 (UPI press photo) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|150px|When Prime Minister [[Pierre Trudeau]] announced his retirement in 1984, Chrétien ran for the leadership of the Liberal Party by portraying himself as the candidate who would best continue Trudeau's policies and defend his legacy.]]
After Trudeau announced his retirement as Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader in early 1984, Chrétien was one of the candidates seeking to replace him as leader. The experience was a hard one for Chrétien, as many of his longtime Cabinet allies supported the bid of [[John Turner]], who was viewed as more electable, much to Chrétien's intense disappointment.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 333.</ref> During the leadership race in the spring of 1984, Chrétien ran as the defender of the Trudeau era and promised to continue all of Trudeau's policies, unlike Turner, who promised a break with Trudeau.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 331–332.</ref> During the leadership race, Chrétien presented himself as a folksy leftish populist and mocked Turner as a right-wing [[Bay Street]] snob who was out of touch with ordinary people.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 332">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 332.</ref> Chrétien opposed Turner's claim that the national deficit was not a problem, arguing in a speech, "We have to use the deficit to keep the dignity of our people."<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 332"/> Chrétien attracted larger and more enthusiastic crowds than anything that Turner ever managed, but most of the Liberal Party establishment had rallied to Turner when he announced his candidacy in March 1984, which proved to be an insurmountable handicap for Chrétien.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 331–336.</ref> Chrétien was thought to be a [[dark horse]] until the end but lost on the second ballot to Turner at the [[1984 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|leadership convention]] that June. Liberal Party president [[Iona Campagnolo]] introduced Chrétien as "Second on the ballot, but first in our hearts." Turner appointed Chrétien [[Deputy Prime Minister of Canada|Deputy Prime Minister]] and [[Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)#Secretaries of State for External Affairs (1909–1993)|Secretary of State for External Affairs]].{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

After winning the leadership race, Turner wanted to reconcile with Chrétien and lead a united party into the coming [[1984 Canadian federal election|general election]], and so asked Chrétien what terms he would accept.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 339–340">Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 339–340.</ref> Chrétien, angry about losing the leadership race, asked for terms he knew Turner could never give him, demanding to be appointed [[Quebec lieutenant]], with control of patronage and organization in Quebec. However, Turner had already promised the position to [[André Ouellet]] in exchange for support in the leadership race.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence pp. 339–340"/><ref name="Simpson pp. 15-28">Simpson, Jeffery "The Vincible Liberals" pp. 15–28 from ''The Canadian General Election of 1984: Politicians, Parties, Press and Polls'' edited by Alan Stewart Frizzell & Anthony Westell, Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1985 p. 23.</ref> As a result, Turner compromised by creating a troika of Chrétien, Ouellet, and Lalonde to run Liberal operations in Quebec.<ref name="Simpson pp. 15-28"/> The troika was a sham, and during the 1984 election, its three members spent more time feuding with one another than in combating the Progressive Conservatives.<ref name="Simpson pp. 15-28"/>

Chrétien's demand for the Quebec lieutenancy was not his only issue with Turner, as he almost immediately clashed with the Prime Minister over the calling of an early election. As the last general election had been held in February 1980, the next general election could be held no later than February 1985. Chrétien advised Turner not to ask the [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]] to dissolve Parliament, but to instead keep it in session during the fall of 1984 to give the government a record to run on in a winter election in early 1985.<ref>Weston, Greg ''Reign of Error'', Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1988 p. 73.</ref> Turner disregarded Chrétien's advice, believing that a boost in the polls after he assumed the premiership in late June 1984 justified asking for Parliament to be dissolved, and for an election to be held in September 1984.<ref>Weston, Greg ''Reign of Error'', Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1988 pp. 73–75</ref>