Editing Jean Chrétien (section)

==Legacy==
[[File:Jean Chrétien wax figure - Royal London Wax Museum (5034822983).jpg|thumb|250px|Wax figure of Chrétien at the Royal London Wax Museum]]
Chrétien was ranked the 9th greatest prime minister in a survey of Canadian scholars in 1999, which appeared in ''Prime Ministers: Ranking Canada's Leaders'' by [[J.L. Granatstein]] and [[Norman Hillmer]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Granatstein |first=Jack Lawrence |url=https://openlibrary.org/books/OL123777M/Prime_ministers |title=Prime Ministers: Ranking Canada's Leaders |publisher=HarperCollins |others=Norman Hillmer |year=1999 |isbn=0-00-200027-X |edition=1st |location=Toronto |pages=214 |ol=123777M |language=English |oclc=41432030}}</ref> ''[[Maclean's]]'' has consistently ranked Chrétien in the top ten on their assessments of Canadian prime ministers; he was ranked 9th greatest in 1997, 6th greatest in 2011 and 7th greatest in 2016.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

Writing in ''Policy Options'', historian and author [[Bob Plamondon]] pointed out that "After demonizing Chrétien, Quebec nationalists could not reconcile themselves to the reality that he gave their province new tools to protect the French language and culture. Canada had not been as united in the previous 50 years as when Chrétien left office. Economists were left to wonder how Chrétien turned around the national finances without triggering a recession. Canadians said in a survey that staying out of Iraq was the country's greatest foreign policy achievement. University presidents still marvel at how Chrétien rebuilt Canada's intellectual infrastructure, turning a brain drain into a brain gain."<ref name=GoodKind>{{Cite web|url=https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/january-2018/jean-chretien-the-good-kind-of-populist/ |title=Jean Chrétien, the good kind of populist |last=Plamondon |first=Bob |date=2018-01-17 |website=Policy Options |access-date=December 29, 2021}}</ref>

Historian [[Michael Bliss]] wrote that Chrétien was "moderately competent and only moderately corrupt."<ref name=GoodKind/> Bliss also wrote, "Jean Chrétien's career shows how much can be accomplished in Canadian politics by someone who is ambitious, hard-working, and has good luck — even if they speak English with a very thick accent."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bliss |first1=Michael |title=#23 Jean Chrétien: The Lucky Prime Minister |url=http://www.echoworld.com/canexp/tce23.html |website=Echoworld |access-date=December 29, 2021}}</ref>