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THE CONVICTIONS OF JEAN CHRÉTIEN
By Bernard Bujold -
The former Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien, completely seduced the guests and the host of the show Tout le monde en parle (Sunday, October 21, 2018).
Chretien was in an extraordinary and flamboyant form as in the good old days.
He was coming to tell a few anecdotes about his new book, MY STORIES.
I met the character a few times when we were both in politics, me with Brian Mulroney (1984), and he was always good company. Obviously, we do not have the same political convictions.
His book is very interesting for the anecdotes. For my comfort, I skipped the passages where he speaks against Donald Trump...
I always liked Chrétien's humor, which makes me think as the French side of Donald Trump in English. Both have this comboy allure, which makes them friendly.
But the discovery of the book is that Jean Chrétien claims to have been inspired during his entire political career and for his particular oratorical style by 3 politicians all from Shawinigan:
1. Maurice Duplessis who he met when he was a teenager and he attended the same college attended by Duplessis;
2: Camille Samson who had been a school colleague with his wife Aline also from Shawinigan and who worked later with Chrétien during the referendum;
3. Rėal Caouette also from Mauricie.
Jean Chrétien's book is easy to read because each chapter is short and tells an anecdote about a subject or a character.
A fact to note: Christian does not pronounce once the name of Paul Martin in his book... And when we do not pronounce the name of someone it's because we hate him...
Jean must not really hate Donald Trump because he names him several times... I would rather say that Chretien criticizes Donald because it makes a good media line for his book.
Some will say that Jean Chrétien does not listen to opinions contrary to his! In fact Christian has deep convictions and they believe in it!
Happiness in life is to have beliefs and to believe in them, whether sporting, political or religious. Unhappy is the man or the woman without deep conviction. A life without conviction is a failed life...
I invite you to read the book. It's really well written and entertaining, especially for us who knew him.
The conclusion: Jean Chrétien is an intellectual who adopted a popular style because it worked. The same thing with Donald, Duplessis, Samson or Caouette!
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