Pierre Pettigrew

From Freepedia

The Honourable Pierre Stewart Pettigrew, PC , MP (born in Quebec City on April 18, 1951) is a Canadian politician. He is currently serving in the Liberal cabinet of Paul Martin as Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, after having been re-elected as the Member of Parliament for the Montreal-area electoral district of Papineau.

Pettigrew has a BA in Philosophy from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (1972) and an MPhil in International Relations from Oxford University (1976).

Following the 1995 Quebec referendum Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was committed to bringing in more star candidates from Quebec to his cabinet. He thus appointed Pettigrew and Stéphane Dion to cabinet, even before they were in the house.

André Ouellet was made head of Canada Post, opening the riding of Papineau—Saint-Michel. Pettigrew was elected to Parliament in a March 25, 1996 by-election. He was re-elected in 1997 and 2000, representing the new riding of Papineau—Saint-Denis. In 1996 he became Minister for International Cooperation and Minister responsible for La Francophonie.

As Minister for International Trade, he was a tireless promoter of free trade and always characterized NAFTA as "a tremendous success" and a model to expand upon. He was a key participant in the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade talks, claiming that Canada's main goal of lowering agricultural subsidies would be of great benefit to the world's poorer nations. At the 2003 WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancún, Pettigrew played an aggressive role as chair of the working group on the Singapore issues, controversial sectors of proposed liberalization which were bitterly opposed by developing nation delegates, not to mention masses of protesters outside of the gates where the meetings were held. He also championed the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and in the period leading up to the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001, he spearheaded a campaign to allay growing public suspicion of the deal by promising the eventual release of the draft negotiating texts. After a delay due to translating the texts into the Portuguese language, the texts were made publicly available July 3, 2001. Throughout his mandate at International Trade, he was heavily embroiled in the US - Canada softwood lumber dispute.

On December 12, 2003, he was appointed Minister of Health and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs by newly-appointed Prime Minister Paul Martin. On July 20, 2004, he moved to his long-desired portfolio of Foreign Affairs minister, displacing Bill Graham.

On April 26, 2005, the Montreal newspaper Le Devoir reported that Pettigrew would leave Canadian politics to serve as the Secretary General of the Organization of American States. [1] The newspaper suggested that Pettigrew had sufficient support among OAS members to win the job, although officially Canada supported the election of Luis Ernesto Derbez of Mexico. See OAS Secretary General election, 2005.

Pettigrew has long been rumoured to be a possible leadership candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada or as a leader of the more Quebec-nationalist Parti libéral du Québec.

In 1999, Pettigrew wrote Pour une politique de la confiance, its English translation The New Politics of Confidence. It reviewed poorly, but does contain insights into Pettigrew's belief that the Canadian federal model benefits Quebec and is an example for the world.

Pettigrew is perhaps best known among the general public for his attention to his appearance: he is always immaculately dressed and every year is judged to have the best hair among male MPs. He also had plastic surgery on his nose during the 1990s, which reduced its size.

Pettigrew has been criticized for taking his chauffeur, Bruno Labonté, along with him at taxpayers' expense when he went on international trips as Minister for International Trade in 2001 and 2002. Labonté was not required to work as a chauffeur on the trips; Pettigrew claims that Labonté provided communications and logistical assistance and acted as a personal security adviser, even though security is usually provided in such circumstances by the RCMP or local embassies. In the first trip they went to Paris, Brussels and Madrid, and in the second trip they went to Mexico and Peru. The total cost of bringing his chauffeur was about $10000.[2] The mysterious circumstances of Labonte's presence has led many conservatives to allege that Pettigrew is a homosexual on Canadian conservative blog sites. However, the allegations have not yet been proven. [3]

On June 17, 2005 an incident occurred at a conference in Montreal regarding the subject of Haiti, at one point during the conference, Pettigrew was splashed with a red substance by Yves Engler, a political activist associated with the group Haiti Action Montreal. As Engler threw the red substance on Pettigrew, he shouted "Pettigrew lies, Haitians die". Engler claimed that the red substance was meant to symbolize the blood on the hands of the Canadian state due to Canada's involvement in the occupation of Haiti and the resulting mass murders of Haitian civilians calling for the return of their elected president Jean Bertrand Aristide. Pettigrew told police that he wanted full charges pressed against Engler. However, a couple of days later, Pettigrew suddenly decided to drop all charges. This led to speculation that Pettigrew was pressured by the Prime Minister to drop the charges in order to avoid a trial and the resulting media coverage that would come with it.

In an odd coincidence, his name is highly similar to that of Peter Pettigrew, an infamous character in the Harry Potter series of novels; "Pierre" is the French form of "Peter".

27th Ministry - Government of Paul Martin
Cabinet Posts (3)
Preceded by: Bill Graham	Minister of Foreign Affairs (2004-)	Succeeded by: (incumbent)
Preceded by: Anne McLellan	Minister of Health (2003-2004)	Succeeded by: Ujjal Dosanjh
Preceded by: Stéphane Dion	Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs (2003-2004)	Succeeded by: Lucienne Robillard
Special Cabinet Responsibilities
Preceded by: ?	Minister responsible for Official Languages (2003-2004)	Succeeded by: Mauril Bélanger
26th Ministry - Government of Jean Chrétien
Cabinet Posts (3)
Preceded by: Sergio Marchi	Minister for International Trade (1999-2003)	Succeeded by: Jim Peterson
Preceded by: Doug Young	Minister of Human Resources Development (1996-1999)	Succeeded by: Jane Stewart
Preceded by: Position created	Minister for International Cooperation (1996)	Succeeded by: Don Boudria
Special Cabinet Responsibilities
Preceded by: Position created	Minister responsible for La Francophonie (1996)	Succeeded by: Don Boudria

External links

• No Thank You, Pierre Pettigrew
• Official Biography
• Anti-Pettigrew Page
• Indymedia article about the red paint incident
• Political Biography from the Library of Parliament