| Martin might be Liberal leader but he still gets treated like No. 2 at 18:24 on November 18, 2003, EST. |
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Prime Minister Jean Chretien and Liberal leader Paul Martin sit across from each other in the Prime Minister's office. (CP/Tom Hanson) OTTAWA (CP) - It was a moment rife with symbolism: Paul Martin waited for his chance Tuesday, then he waited some more - and some more - for his opportunity to speak. He managed a few words at a joint news conference before he was abruptly cut off by Prime Minister Jean Chretien, the man who spent so many years thwarting his aspirations. In their first formal meeting in 18 months, Chretien reminded everyone he's still the boss even if he no longer is leader of the Liberal party. Why hadn't they conversed before? "He was a backbencher," Chretien replied matter-of-factly. "There was no business to transact between him and I." When two men get together who have been uncomfortable with each other for years and say so little, each gesture, every facial _expression_ offers clues to what they're really thinking. Martin was reduced to looking like an anxious pupil in the principal's office at the start of their meeting. Chretien crossed his arms, leaned back in the big leather chair and whistled from behind the prime minister's desk that will belong to the former finance minister in three weeks. Martin sat facing him in the modest, cloth-covered chair, nervously tapping his fingers against the big desk waiting for the meeting to start. Chretien interrupted when Martin tried asking a question about the office, deciding instead to dispense some unsolicited advice on dealing with reporters. "They shout at you and try to force you to speak when you don't want to speak and you have to say no, laughing," Chretien said, lecturing in the slow, deliberate tone of a tired parent instructing a child. "The trick is you don't reply." The prime minister used that very trick during their news conference. He silenced Martin when the future prime minister started to answer a question on federal-provincial relations, virtually yanking him away from the reporters. Martin was reduced to shouting into microphones from a distance while being pulled away. "Okay, let's go," Chretien said, reaching for Martin's elbow while he attempted to hurry out a response. "Give him a break." Chretien was trying to spare his successor an uncomfortable question about whether he and Alberta Premier Ralph Klein really agreed to create a national health council. But it was a lifeline that Martin wanted to toss back. "There was an agreement," Martin hollered, as he was being shepherded away. "There was an agreement." There was some warmth and laughter during their 40-minute meeting. Chretien joked about a chandelier falling on his successor's head. "Watch out . . . I will remain prime minister," he said when someone unintendedly whacked the chandelier with a boom microphone, and it started swaying right over Martin. The prime minister quipped that the chandelier was rigged to tumble onto an unsuspecting Martin to open an avenue for another Chretien campaign. "It was all organized. The way we organized it, it was supposed to fall." The usual bombast was missing when Chretien began the news conference. He stood next to Martin almost demurely, and in a relatively tame tone of voice insisted he would not publicly offer advice to his successor. "I will observe from the sidelines. Don't call me to comment on what he (Martin) will do. I won't," Chretien told reporters. "I wish him the best of luck and my full collaboration. And I said if he feels that he wants to consult me, he will know my number. "If not, I will be a lawyer. If he needs a lawyer, he can call me." But the prime minister bristled when asked about his retirement timetable, and whether he could make any major decisions when he's no longer his party's leader. "I am the prime minister until the day I'm no more prime minister," Chretien said. Martin defended the prime minister's right to make decisions until the day he steps down. It was about all he got to say during a seven-minute news conference before being whisked away. They then went upstairs to pose stiffly with each other shaking hands for a picture that will be printed in the history books. ALEXANDER PANETTA |
© The Canadian Press, 2003 |
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