Editing Jean Chrétien (section)

===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>