Former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien, left, at a conference hosted by the University of Calgary. He attended 11 G7 summits during his time as prime minister and finance minister.Sarah B Groot/The Globe and Mail
Jean Chrétien says U.S. President Donald Trump is a “bully” who will likely try to do something “crazy” to capture headlines at the G7 summit in Alberta, but his advice to Prime Minister Mark Carney is to stay above the fray.
Mr. Chrétien, who as prime minister in 2002 hosted a summit for what was then the G8, also in the Kananaskis region of Alberta, said Mr. Carney should stay focused on the work at hand.
“If he has decided to make a show to be in the news, he will do something crazy. So let him do it,” Mr. Chrétien said of Mr. Trump at an event in Calgary on Thursday.
“Just move on with the discussion is the way to handle that. He tends to be a bully once in a while. And don’t lose your cool when you have a bully, unless you grab him by the neck,” he added, an apparent reference to his chokehold on a protester in 1996 when he was prime minister.
Mr. Chrétien, who participated in a wide-ranging discussion during a G7-themed event at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, attended 11 such summits during his time as prime minister and finance minister.
He said Canada’s role at these meetings is to remain useful to everyone and build bridges – but be low-key and modest about it.
Mr. Carney has been criticized for his decision to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit. Canada-India relations have been strained since then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood in Parliament in September, 2023, and alleged that agents of India were responsible for murdering a Sikh activist in B.C.
But Mr. Chrétien said Mr. Carney was right to invite his Indian counterpart.
“It’s always good to talk,” he said. “You cannot always go on your high horse for every problem you’re confronted with. So I think the invitation to Mr. Modi, it’s a good one.”
Mr. Chrétien recalled that his decision to hold the 2002 G8 summit in picturesque Kananaskis, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, was intended to save money.
He said he called then-U.S. President George W. Bush first to explain that every country would have to limit its number of attending officials to 40 – rather than the 1,000 or so with which the United States would normally show up.
That year, organizers had to kill a bear in the vicinity, and some protesters mooned the world leaders, but aside from that Mr. Chrétien remembered it as a peaceful, successful event.
And he believes this year’s event will also be a success, particularly given Mr. Carney’s CV and his time as governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England.
“I think he has selected the real subjects that need to be discussed,” Mr. Chrétien said.
The only problem will be the unpredictability of Mr. Trump, he added, but he thinks there is a good chance that other leaders around the table won’t be reluctant to tell him he’s on the wrong track.
Emphasizing the importance of dialogue, Mr. Chrétien said one reason he believes this year’s summit will be a success is the underlying tenet of the G7: bringing together a small group of political leaders to speak their minds frankly and arrive at solutions to problems facing the world.
But it’s also a chance for Canada to promote the fact it has everything going for it – energy, resources, land – and is in decent economic shape, he said.
Mr. Chretien had advice for Mr. Trump, too.
“Stop that nonsense” about making Canada the 51st state of America, he said.
“We’re an independent country. The last time they wanted to take over Canada, it was in 1812, and we burned the White House.”