Jean Chrétien

2023 Recipient of the Award for Excellence in the Cause of Parliamentary Democracy

Jean Chrétien was elected in 1963 as the Member of Parliament for Saint-Maurice—Laflèche and served in the House of Commons for more than 36 years until his retirement in 2003. Mr. Chrétien was a member of the cabinet from 1967 until 1984, serving in Finance, Justice and External Affairs, and was elected Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1990. In October 1993, Jean Chrétien was elected Prime Minister at the head of a Majority Liberal Government and was reelected in 1997 and 2000 with two more majorities. He retired as Prime Minister in 2003.

As Minister of Justice in the government of Pierre Trudeau, Mr. Chrétien helped negotiate the patriation of the Canadian constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As Prime Minister, Mr. Chrétien led the federalist forces to a victory in the Quebec separatist referendum and in 1998 produced Canada’s first budgetary surplus in nearly thirty years. Under Mr. Chrétien, Canada joined the coalition war in Afghanistan but did not join the United States in the war in Iraq. In 2003 Mr. Chrétien introduced legislation to change the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples.

Mr. Chrétien has been awarded fourteen honourary degrees from Canadian universities and was named a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2007.

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