Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 26, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba B2 the Federal election Winnipeg free november 2000 Chretien Little Guy with an Iron will Sweet As Tough As nails pms a study in contrasts by Paul Samyn aboard the Liberal Campaign Jet Jean Chretien is in a Good mood As he makes his Way to the Back of the plane where the reporters Are the prime minister has just led those aboard his Campaign Jet in a rousing version of Happy birthday for one of the journalists who has turned Chretien is All smiles As he arrives bearing a slice of but instead of returning to his specially partitioned off seat at the he stays to and As he laughs and telling stories about How president Bill Clinton loves crosswords and teasing reporters about naming them to the the Little Guy from Shawinigan slowly Folksy Hes funny and Sweet and sin nothing like that haughty Hyde who rules the leading reporters to Christen his Boe ing 737 Campaign plane so what Are voters to make of this Man who appears poised to do what no one has done since the second world War win three straight majority governments is he still that smal town boy who canadians took straight to their hearts so Many years ago or has he become a corrupt and callous dictator As the opposition charges a politician who lives for Power and has no compunction about wielding it to Reward his friends or Pepper Spray or he is the country bumbling a Leader past the Best before Date who makes us the answer is that Jean Joseph Jacques Chretien is All of and a far More Complex Man than meets the All of which May go a Long Way to explaining Why he May just be the country most successful politician one provincial official who has dealt with Chretien both As prime minister and during his Many incarnations As a Cabinet minister says there Are Many layers to layers which he Only reveals As he deems the first one is the your Basic care the one most canadians has tins a in just a country boy said the longtime but if you get him behind closed Fred Chartrand Canadian press prime minister Jean flanked by ramp is greeted by supporters during a Liberal party rally in Sault a different Chretien the next level is a Tough after one who can be extremely then an even tougher and at the top a political mind which May be As Sharp and smart As anyone who have Ever lived in 24 sus sex behind the scenes he can be very toughness has been a hallmark of Chretien life since his Early Days in the processing town of Shawinigan where he sometimes used his fists to make his Chretien was not gifted with any undue amount of Lawrence Martin wrote in his Chretien Biog a but he had the Quality from which leadership often takes its he it was emblazoned on perhaps it was the influence of a father who was never Quick to show his love for him which helped Stoke his i started very Young to get inter ested in began Chretien in a surprisingly tender revelation to Cape Breton High school students last but it was my he tried to train me As a politician As a so when i was 12 or going in the Hall placing chairs when there was a distributing pamphlets and putting up posters on the by was arguing in the Pool Hall next door about a politician i wanted to be an he said no not an you will be not be you have to be a in those Days kids listened to their fathers and i guess i became a Politi but even after achieving his fathers Praise was always in Short sup ply he was of the old he never had a i was never Good he would Call me and Why this Why is that but i knew when he was talking with his friends he found me very he had to Challenge me like a hockey coach All the now at the age of Chretien has spent 37 years of his in the blood sport his father trained him he first came to the House of commons when Juk was in the White eleven elections and eight presidents Chretien is still the member for Saint its almost As if he knows no other life other than the thrust and Parry of Public which May explain Why he is running again in an election which no Liberal really wanted and which Many of his caucus wish was being led by finance minis Ter Paul and in what May be his most person al Campaign All of his faces have been on the elementary Chretien has been in abundant mangling punchlines and proving he still int fluent in either official at the next tougher he has made sure to give As Good As he gets in a Campaign which has turned deeply at his emotional he has talked about his political scars and the Hurt he Felt Over attacks on his attacks he said had sullied his fathers Good there is his keen sense of the Public mood and savvy to Call an elec Tion now because he knew the time was Ripe to again experience what no one expected he Ever would this is going to be my 12th elec Chretien told High school Stu dents in Southern Public service is the great moment for any is when the peo ple go to the polling station and they vote for you and suddenly you realize the majority of the people in the District want you to go speak for them on parliament there is nothing that can beat undermining Alliance in Ontario could be rebirth of tories Clark congeniality or Pivotal vote splitter by David Kuxhaus and Helen falling Calgary giant posters of a jowly Joe grinning somewhat sheep Are slapped on the Walls of his Calgary Centre constituency not just another pretty reads the caption you cant help but its in a goofy kind of yet at the same somewhat Dis Clark after a former prime albeit for Only nine when he left shortly before the party imploded under Kim Camp he was regarded As an elder having performed admirably on the foreign affairs Hes Back Hes at funny glasses and jogging Down 12th Avenue new in Calgary on a saturday there he goes knocking on stuffing pamphlets in hop ing that somehow he can resuscitate Canadas oldest political which is mired in debt and swimming at the Bot Tom of the and yet theres the and there he is telling reporters that his party can form the next were going to catch declares at age Clark became the youngest prime minister in Canadian history and the first native born West Erner to inhabit 24 his tories won a minority with 36 per cent of the popular vote in 1979 but Clark vowed to govern like he had a he allowed his government to be Defeated on a budget calling the opposition Bluff in the belief hed be he and then along came Brian and Clark Drift 4 de to the but then two years ago he came winning the leadership but generating Little excitement tory senator Norm Atkins says that Clark probably should have got into the House of commons that Way people would have been Able to see him in despite All this in this election Clark has shone from the moment he triumphed in the Evoh you televised eng average 60age observers male mows Leader Winston Clark Shtar self con Tidence that is a Between voting for some woman father and getting an asset in the heat of its entirely possible that Joe Clark is exactly the right Guy to be Lead ing the party in a total lost cause charge of the Light brigade Type said Heather a University of Windsor political this past two of Clarks Quebec maps defected to the liberals and now the conservatives stand to lose official party status if they dont hold on to almost All their remaining yet Clark insisted on campaigning across the country As if the tories could form a instead of focusing on key Macivor Clark is clearly enjoying himself on the Campaign Trail in a Way that eludes the other party he insists on being himself and his handlers let him the result is a disarming Humour that comes easily now but that was not evident a few decades Aaron coordinator of the conservative Campaign in Manitoba noted he used to take himself very the other advantage Clark has is that people like people like Heather who met Clark on a saturday morning Early in the Campaign when he stopped by a local Cal Gary Community he seems like a Nice said As she sold cookies at a but who runs her own consult ing said its time for new too honest Hes too said lome a retired Calgary Joe Clark knows More about politics than any other politician out people also like Clarks who charms supporters in a Way her Maureen never at a Souris Campaign where Farmers gathered around a Coffee urn to keep warm on a bitterly cold Catherine offered to lend one Man her Lavender no not the right look she catherines Blond Good looks have stirred up a feeding frenzy among Media but Macivor doubts Clarks daughter will have any Impact on even your average 18yearold male knows the difference Between voting for some woman father and getting a Date with whose tour for a recently released Book on science policy coincided with the Start of the election often campaigns on her she was knocking on doors in Clarks Cal Gary Centre Riding the last time her husband was in i w Drift i Iii Iii ii i Iii lit Iii 111 Iii Iii Iii i til i til v ii ill Iii ii ii Iii ii i Iii daughter Catherine and aide Bui King Campaign in even when they appeared As a family at the provincial tory convention in Mcteer headed off in a Dif Ferent direction from her husband and daughter to work the if you work As a doubles you can Coyer twice As Many Macl Yor Clarks platform billion in tax cuts Over five years married with about billion in new not create much of a splash when it was first those who have studied the platform give mixed reviews the agriculture proposals Are detailed and but the debt reduction schedule sounds almost impossible to there Are hints Here of Clarks personality yet oddly out of Clark has already exceeded expectations in this if the conserva Tives win enough support in Ontario to keep the Alliance Clark will be on his Way to reestablishing the tories As a viable National Macivor then he May not even win his own seat in the House of who have thought Good old Joe would leave us in such v ;