Jean Chretien Trivia Quiz

Answer: 1934

Jean Chrétien was born on the eleventh of January. His mother and father were Wellie Chrétien and Marie Boisvert of Shawinigan, Quebec. Jean was the eighteenth child of the Chretien family.

Answer: Laval University

Jean was in the graduating class of 1959. He joined a Shawinigan Legal firm. Many former Canadian prime ministers practiced law before entering politics.

Answer: Aline Chaîné

Aline Chaîné and Jean Chretien wed on the tenth of September, 1957. The couple had two sons (Hubert Chrétien and Michel Chrétien) and one daughter (France Chrétien).

Answer: 1963

At the age of 29, Chretien was elected in to the Canadian House of Commons as a Liberal from the riding of Saint-Maurice-Laflèche. He represented this Shawinigan-based riding for 33 years.

Answer: Governor General to the Queen

In 1965, Jean Chretien was Lester B. Pearson's Parliamentary Secretary. Chretien was also selected as Minister of National Revenue in 1968 by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and he was Secretary of State for external affairs in 1984. Other ministries besides these that he was involved in are: Indian Affairs and Northern Development; President of Treasury Board; Industry, Trade and Commerce; Finance; Justice and Attorney General; Energy, Mines and Resources.

Answer: Yes

In June 1984, Jean Chrétien lost the Liberal leadership race to John Turner. In 1986, he left politics to practice law and write his autobiography.

Answer: Straight from the Heart

Jean Chretien wrote "Straight From the Heart" before he even became prime minister. He wrote it during his break and it spoke of how he succeeded against all odds. The book is popular, and has sold over a hundred thousand copies.

Answer: Paul Martin

When John Turner resigned as Liberal Party leader on the 24th of June in 1990, the day after the Meech Lake accord failed, some thought that Paul Martin was Turner's obvious heir, but after some heated political debates Jean Chretien defeated Martin on the ballot. Fernand Robichaud, the Liberal incumbent to Beausejour, stood down so that Chretien could take his seat and return to the house of commons.

This practice is traditional when a newly elected party leader does not have a seat in Parliament.

Answer: 1993

As Liberal leader, Jean Chretien ran against Kim Campbell in the 1993 election. Kim Campbell had little chance of winning due to the enormous amount of damage done to the Conservative Party's reputation by Brian Mulroney. Therefore, on October 25th, the Liberals were elected to a majority, winning 177 seats.

This was the third-best performance in the history of the Liberal Party. Finally, at the age of 59, Jean Chretien became Prime Minister of Canada.

Answer: 20

Jean Chretien was the twentieth prime minister and the seventh Liberal prime minister. He was the first Liberal leader to win an election since Pierre Elliot Trudeau in March of 1980.

Answer: The Quebec Referendum

The Quebec referendum (1995) was the second referendum in the history of Canada to question voters in Quebec whether they should leave from Canada in order to become an independent state. The first referendum had been held in 1980 and the Federalist side had won by 20%. Unfortunately for Chretien the 1995 Quebec referendum (October 30th) was extremely close.

The final result was: 50.6% "No" to 49.4% "Yes". Some called this too closes a call, and there was quite a bit of negative criticism concerning Jean Chretien.

Answer: 2

Chretien was re-elected with a 4 seat majority June 2nd, 1997. He was also re-elected November 27, 2000 to an even greater majority. This time the Liberal Party held 172 of 301 seats.

Answer: No

Jean Chretien won three federal elections for the Liberals with a majority. When Chretien retired, he retired undefeated as Liberal Party leader.

Answer: December 12th, 2003

In January of 2003, Chretien announced that he was not going to be Liberal leader for another election. On November 13th, at the 2003 Liberal leadership convention, he gave his final goodbye to the Liberals which he had led through three elections. Paul Martin was elected his successor as leader of the Liberal Party.

This meant Martin was Canada's next prime minister. On December 12, Chrétien formally handed his power over to Paul Martin.

Answer: Sponsorship Scandal

The sponsorship scandal is an ongoing scandal that was a result of a sponsorship program by the federal government in the province of Quebec. The program began as an effort to raise awareness of the efforts of the federal government to develop further the many industries of Quebec.

This action was to counter the actions of the Parti Québécois (separatist party). The scandal was uncovered in 2004. Some of the funds, meant for government advertisement in Quebec, had been illegally relocated so that the money was donated back to the Liberal Party. Jean Chrétien made a testimony for the Gomery commission in regard to the sponsorship scandal in 2005.