A conspiracy theorist would have great sport with Jean Chretien's sudden intrusion into the current government's relations with China.
During his ten years in office, Mr. Chretien wasn't always the keenest of travellers. He famously skipped the funeral of King Hussein of Jordan in 1999, insisting he couldn't possibly have made it in time from his ski holiday in Whistler. He had umpteen opportunities to attend the opening of various Olympics, but rarely could seem to find the time. He didn't go to Lillehammer, didn't go to Nagano, didn't go to Sydney, didn't go to Salt Lake City. The one Games he managed to make were in Atlanta, perhaps just coincidentally the closest and easiest to reach from Ottawa.
He did show enthusiasm for trade junkets though, especially to China. As opposition leader Mr. Chretien was a bear on trade, since the Tories were in favour of freeing it up. But as Prime Minister he discovered that's how Canada's economy survives, so he was for it. Especially with China. He visited China six times while in office, led two trade junkets, and made a point of forging close ties with Chinese leaders. One of his last foreign visits in office took him to China; on his final day he made a point of meeting with China's prime minister.
After leaving office he became a consultant to powerful business interests, using the relationships he'd forged in office to open doors and grease deals. His first major foreign trip, barely two months out of office, was a high-level, low-profile visit to China organized by China International Trust and Investment Corp., a vast state-owned conglomerate with holdings across the globe. It's into steel, aviation, communications, energy --- you name it. With Mr. Chretien was André Desmarais, president of Power Corp. and a director of CITIC Pacific Ltd., CITIC's Hong Kong arm, in which Power has a big stake. Mr. Desmarais is married to Mr. Chretien's daughter.
If the Desmarais family isn't Quebec's most important, the other guys are keeping a low profile. Power Corp has major investments and interests in China. Peter Kruyt, vice president of Power Corp, is chairman of the Canada China Busness Council. Andre Desmarais is honorary chairman. His father, Paul Desmarais, is founding chairman.
Though it's not an absolute rule that former prime ministers refrain from commenting on the governments of their successors, for the most part they reserve their interjections for the most crucial of issues. Blabbing away every other Tuesday would just diminish the novelty factor and reduce the ability to deliver any real impact. Other than his well-known bitterness over the Gomery report, Mr. Chretien has been relatively quiet -- and even on Gomery he mainly had former aides and associates do the beefing.
Then on Monday he suddenly and unexpectedly declared to the Canadian Bar Association that Stephen Harper had seriously undermined relations with China by failing to attend the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing and by offering honorary citizenship to the Dalai Lama. Never mind that the Dalai Lama is one of the world's most admired people, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and that working for peace is usually considered a good thing. It doesn't take a Gomery inquiry to understand that Mr. Chretien's remarks were so heavily freighted with personal and private interests it's a wonder they even managed to struggle from his lips without collapsing to the floor in a dead heap from the sheer weight of gravity. Olympic weightlifters have had trouble cleaning and jerking half as great a load in medal competitions this week. The remarks were picked up and carried in Chinese newspapers, where they were presumably viewed with approval by the people who will make the decisions next time Mr. Chretien comes calling.
You're getting the drift here, right? Mr. Chretien has deep ties to Power Corp and the Desmarais family. Power Corp has extensive corporate interests in China. Mr. Chretien has worked to promote those interests, and suddenly pipes up, out of nowhere, to attack the government in public in the midst of the Olympics, in remarks that are sure to put him and his interests in a good light in China, possibly at the expense of Canada's own interests.
Yet when the Conservatives dared to point out this obvious conflict, Liberal worthies went down with the vapors. Bob Rae, the foreign affairs critic, deemed it "absurd," "disgraceful from top to bottom" and "guttersnipe politics." Mr. Rae's brother John is executive vice-president of Power Corp. John managed his brother's run for the Liberal leadership, and lent him most of the money he borrowed to finance it.
None of which necessarily means anything, since the Liberals are all fine, upstanding and goodhearted citizens, as they have always been, right through Mr. Chretien's term in office. Mr. Rae is an honest man and he's repaid his loans. But, given the significant role Power Corp and the Desmarais family plays in Mr. Chretien's life, and the extent of Power Corp's interests in keeping China sweet, to suggest it's "absurd" or "guttersnipe" to even mention Mr. Chretien's obvious bias — when it was Mr. Chretien who lobbed the first unexpected grenade — is a bit rich. Were the Tories supposed to simply ignore the fact Mr. Chretien has "Power Corp." all but tattooed on his forehead?
On the same page of the National Post that carried the Chretien story Thursday was another item, in which Bloc Quebecois MP Francois Legault bemoaned the deep cynicism of Canadian voters. It's difficult to sell them on anything — whether its sovereignty for Quebec or saving the environment — because they just don't want to hear it. "There's a loss in confidence in all the political class," he said.
Gee. A loss of confidence in politicians. You have to wonder where that's coming from.
