It’s been 30 years since Liberal Jean Chretien was elected prime minister. In an English-language exclusive interview with CTV News’ Vassy Kapelos marking the anniversary of his election, Chretien discusses why he thinks debate in the House of Commons has become ‘dull as hell.’ The former prime minister also dives in to how he’d ‘confront’ the current Quebec tuition debacle. Read the full transcript.
The headline is the least interesting part of the interview. Basically, everything is so curated and pre-planned, it’s hardly a debate. The politicians are playing to TV.
His thoughts on decision making, national unity, and the state of the country were more interesting to me. Especially when he broke out of a partisan mindset. Particularly when he hints how media has become lazy in searching social media and blowing things up from a relatively minor part of the population, rather than doing journalistic work. When he was PM, those discussions happened in the community bar. If you weren’t present, you missed the discussion entirely.