Editing Jean Chrétien (section)

=== Foreign policy ===

[[File:Jesse Flis, Bishop Georgije, Jean Chrétien and Patriarch Pavle.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Chrétien with Bishops and [[Pavle, Serbian Patriarch|the Patriarch]] of the [[Serbian Orthodox Church]], 1994.]]

==== Canada in the Yugoslav Wars ====

In 1999, Chrétien supported Canada's involvement in the [[NATO|North Atlantic Treaty Organization]] (NATO) [[NATO bombing of Yugoslavia|bombing campaign]] of [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] over the issue of [[Kosovo]], even through the operation was unsanctioned by the [[United Nations Security Council]].  There had been an Anglo-American resolution asking for the Security Council's approval of the NATO bombing, but it was vetoed by [[Russia]]. The idea of bombing Yugoslavia caused some discomfort within the ranks of the Liberal party as the NATO campaign effectively meant supporting Kosovo separatists against a government determined to prevent Kosovo's secession from Yugoslavia. Chrétien was personally uncomfortable with the idea of bombing Yugoslavia, but supported the war because he valued good relations with the United States far more than he cared about Yugoslavia.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 217">Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man'', Toronto: Viking, 2003 p. 217.</ref> Chrétien's foreign minister at the time, [[Lloyd Axworthy]] justified Canada's involvement in the bombing of Yugoslavia on the grounds that allegations of massacres against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo made the use of force legitimate on humanitarian grounds, even without the approval of the UN Security Council.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 217"/> Likewise, Chrétien was later to tell Lawrence Martin that it was far better to intervene in the internal affairs of Yugoslavia to stop human rights violations in the Kosovo region by Serbian forces than to do nothing.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 217"/>

==== China ====

Chrétien was known to be a [[Sinophile]] and an admirer of the [[China|People's Republic of China]]. In November 1994, he led the first of four [[Team Canada Mission|"Team Canada"]] trade missions comprising himself and nine premiers to China (Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau having declined to go), which had as their stated objective increasing Sino-Canadian trade. The Team Canada mission was meant to be the beginning of the export offensive that would stimulate the economy out of the recession, and also to achieve Chrétien's goal going back to the 1970s of a Canadian economy less dependent on trade with the United States.<ref>Jeffrey, Brooke ''Divided Loyalties'' Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010 pp. 246 & 251.</ref><ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man'', Toronto: Viking, 2003 p. 93.</ref> Under his leadership, China and Canada signed several bilateral relations agreements. The Team Canada missions attracted criticism that Chrétien seemed concerned only with economic issues, that he rarely raised the subject of China's poor human rights record, and that on the few occasions that he did mention [[human rights in China]] he went out of his way to avoid offending his hosts.<ref name="Evertt-p9-48">Evertt, Robert "The Federal Government, Politics and National Institutions" pp. 9–48 from ''Canadian Annual Review of Politics And Public Affairs, 2001'' edited by David Mutimer, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007 p. 37.</ref> Moreover, Chrétien attracted criticism for presenting the case for improved human rights in purely economic terms, arguing that a better human rights record would allow China to join the WTO and thus sell more goods to the West. Chrétien argued that there was no point in criticizing China's human rights record because the Chinese never listened to such criticism, and instead were greatly annoyed about being lectured by Western leaders about their poor human rights record.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 310">Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man'', Toronto: Viking, 2003 p. 310.</ref> Given that Canada could not really do anything to change the views of China's leaders about human rights, Chrétien contended that the best that could be done was to improve Sino-Canadian economic relations while ignoring the subject of human rights.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 310"/>

==== United States ====
[[File:APEC Summit 1993 - Jean Chrétien and Bill Clinton shaking hands.jpg|thumb|Chrétien shaking hands with US President [[Bill Clinton]], at the 1993 [[Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation|APEC]] Summit.]]
{{See also|Canada–United States relations}}
Chrétien phoned U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]] in November 1993 to ask him to renegotiate aspects of NAFTA.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 79">Martin, Lawrence ''Iron Man'', Toronto: Viking, 2003 p. 79.</ref> Clinton bluntly refused, saying that it had been extremely difficult to get Congress to ratify NAFTA, and if NAFTA was renegotiated, then he would have to submit the renegotiated treaty again for ratification, which was not something that he was going to do just for the sake of Chrétien.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 79"/> Clinton informed the prime minister that he could either scrap NAFTA or accept it as it was, and that the most he could offer were a few cosmetic concessions like writing a letter saying the United States was not interested in taking over Canada's energy and water.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 79"/> Chrétien chose the latter, and sought to portray Clinton's letter as a major American concession that constituted a renegotiated NAFTA, though in fact Clinton's letter was not legally binding and meant nothing.<ref name="Martin, Lawrence p. 79"/> Only treaties ratified by Congress are legally binding on the U.S. government and presidential letters impose only a moral obligation, not a legal one, on the U.S government.<ref>Brogan, Patrick ''The Fighting Never Stopped'', New York: Vintage Books, 1989 p. 283.</ref>

Following the [[September 11 attacks]], Canadian forces joined with a multinational coalition to pursue [[al-Qaeda]] in [[Afghanistan]]. U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] had also commended how Canada responded to the crisis. Among them included [[Operation Yellow Ribbon]] and the memorial service on [[Parliament Hill]] three days after 9/11. In January 2002, Chrétien together with the Defence Minister [[Art Eggleton]] were accused of misleading Parliament. When asked in Question Period if Canadian troops had handed over captured Taliban and al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan to the American forces amid concerns about the treatment of POWs at [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp|Guantanamo Bay]], Chrétien stated this was only a "hypothetical question" that could not be answered as the Canadians had taken no POWs.<ref name="CBC News">{{cite news | title = Eggleton confirms JTF2 has taken prisoners in Afghanistan | publisher = [[CBC News]] |date= January 30, 2002 | url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/eggleton-confirms-jtf2-has-taken-prisoners-in-afghanistan-1.313599 | access-date = February 17, 2021}}</ref> Critics of the government, such as Joe Clark, then pointed out that in the previous week, ''The Globe & Mail'' had run on its front page a photo of Canadian soldiers turning over POWs to American troops.<ref name="CBC News" /> Eggleton claimed that he had only learned of the policy of handing over POWs several days after the photo had appeared in ''The Globe and Mail''.<ref name="CBC News" /> When pressed by opposition critics about his apparent ignorance of what was Canada's policy on turning over POWs captured in Afghanistan, Eggleton then claimed that he had not only forgotten that he had been briefed by senior bureaucrats that Canadian Forces were to hand over POWs to the Americans, but that he had also forgotten to inform the Cabinet.<ref name="Globe and Mail">{{cite news | title = The further shuffle Mr. Chrétien forgot | work = The Globe and Mail |date= May 28, 2002 | url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/the-further-shuffle-mr-chretien-forgot/article754992/ | access-date = February 17, 2021 | location=Toronto}}</ref>

One year after the 9/11 attacks, Chrétien gave controversial remarks about what led to the attacks, suggesting they were a reaction to Western foreign policy. During the 2002 CBC interview, Chrétien said "I do think that the Western world is getting too rich in relations to the poor world. And necessarily, we're looked upon as being arrogant, self-satisfied, greedy and with no limits. And the 11th of September is an occasion for me to realize it even more. When you are powerful like you are, you guys, it's the time to be nice. And it is one of the problems—you cannot exercise your powers to the point of humiliation of the others. And that is what the Western world—not only the Americans but the Western world—has to realize." The comments were condemned by the new Official Opposition leader and the new Canadian Alliance leader, [[Stephen Harper]], who charged Chretien with [[victim blaming]], while the leaders of the New Democratic Party and Progressive Conservative Party did not interpret Chrétien's comments as critical of the United States.<ref name="Macleans">{{cite news | title = Poverty, terrorism and 9/11 | work = Macleans |date= September 9, 2011 | url = https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/poverty-terrorism-and-911/ | access-date = January 24, 2020}}</ref><ref name="CBC">{{cite news | title = PM slammed, defended for 9/11 remarks | work = CBC |date= September 13, 2002 | url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/pm-slammed-defended-for-9-11-remarks-1.313414 | access-date = January 24, 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Chrétien and Bush shaking hands Sept 9 2002.jpg|left|thumb|250px|President [[George W. Bush]] and Jean Chrétien address the media before a 2002 bilateral meeting.]]

==== Refusal to join the Iraq War ====

Chrétien's government did not support the US-led [[2003 invasion of Iraq]]. His reasoning was that the war lacked UN Security Council sanction; while not a member of the Security Council, Canada nevertheless attempted to build a consensus for a resolution authorizing the use of force after a short (two- to three-month) extension to UN weapon inspections in Iraq. Critics also noted that, while in opposition, he had also opposed the first US-led [[Gulf War]], which had been approved by the UN Security Council and in 1999 supported NATO air strikes against Serbia, which had no Security Council approval. In order to avoid damaging relations with the United States, Chrétien agreed to another and larger deployment of Canadian troops to Afghanistan on February 12, 2003, in order to prove that Canada was still a good American ally, despite opposing the upcoming Iraq war.<ref>{{cite news | last = Spector | first = Norman | author-link = Norman Spector | title = Jean Chrétien's war | work = The Globe and Mail |date= July 16, 2009 |url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/jean-chretiens-war/article787932/ | access-date = August 24, 2013 | location=Toronto}}</ref> Canada sent 2,000 soldiers to Afghanistan in the summer of 2003.<ref name="http">{{cite news | title = Chrétien's government rejected military's advice on Afghan deployment: ex-army chief | publisher = [[CBC News]] |date= October 18, 2006 | url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/chr%C3%A3-tien-government-rejected-military-s-advice-on-afghan-deployment-ex-army-chief-1.606203 | access-date = August 24, 2013}}</ref> Twenty years later, in a French-language interview, Chretien recalled the personalities and events that led up to his refusal. At the time some in the business community were petrified that the US would look elsewhere for Canadian products; 85% of Canadian trade was with the US.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}