Pierre Pettigrew

Pierre Stewart Pettigrew PC (born April 18, 1951) is a Canadian politician and businessman.

Pierre Pettigrew
Pettigrew in 2017
Minister for International Cooperation
In office
January 25, 1996  October 3, 1996
Prime MinisterJean Chrétien
Preceded byposition created
Succeeded byDon Boudria
Minister of Human Resources Development
In office
October 4, 1996  August 2, 1999
Prime MinisterJean Chrétien
Preceded byDoug Young
Succeeded byJane Stewart
Minister for International Trade
In office
August 3, 1999  December 11, 2003
Prime MinisterJean Chrétien
Preceded bySergio Marchi
Succeeded byJim Peterson
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
In office
December 12, 2003  July 19, 2004
Prime MinisterPaul Martin
Preceded byStéphane Dion
Succeeded byLucienne Robillard
Minister of Health
In office
December 12, 2003  July 19, 2004
Prime MinisterPaul Martin
Preceded byAnne McLellan
Succeeded byUjjal Dosanjh
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
July 20, 2004  February 5, 2006
Prime MinisterPaul Martin
Preceded byBill Graham
Succeeded byPeter MacKay
Member of Parliament
for Papineau
Papineau—Saint-Michel (1996–1997)
Papineau—Saint-Denis (1997–2004)
In office
March 25, 1996  February 6, 2006
Preceded byAndré Ouellet
Succeeded byVivian Barbot
Personal details
Born
Pierre Stewart Pettigrew

(1951-04-18) April 18, 1951
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Political partyLiberal Party of Canada
Alma mater
ProfessionBusinessman

Early life and career

Born in Quebec City, Pettigrew has a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (1972) and a Master of Philosophy degree in international relations from the University of Oxford (1976) where he studied at Balliol College.

Prior to seeking elected office, Pettigrew was director of the Political Committee, NATO Assembly, in Brussels, from 1976 to 1978, executive assistant to the Leader of the Quebec Liberal Party from 1978 to 1981 and Foreign Policy Advisor to Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, from 1981 to 1984. Pettigrew was vice-president of Samson Bélair/Deloitte & Touche in Montreal from 1985 to 1995, where he acted as a business consultant to companies with dealings in international markets.

Political career

Pettigrew served in the Liberal cabinet of Jean Chrétien in various capacities and in the government of Paul Martin as Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the 2006 federal election he was defeated as the Member of Parliament for the Montreal-area electoral district of Papineau.

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. Pettigrew previously ran for parliament in the 1984 federal election in the riding of Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup but was defeated by less than 7,000 votes by the Progressive Conservative candidate, André Plourde.

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.

Pettigrew in 2006

From 1996 to 1999, he also served as Minister of Human Resources Development. In that time, the Department of Human Resources Development represented more than half of the Canadian federal budget. Pettigrew negotiated with the provinces and the territories the National Child Benefit, the most important social program since Canada Pension Plan (1966), a 10 billions program by now. He implemented the new Employment Insurance Program which became balanced after years of deficit despite lowering the premiums. Under his watch, however, ineffective accounting practices at HRDC allegedly left millions of dollars unaccounted for. Pettigrew was fortunate to have been shuffled to the portfolio of International Trade. His successor Jane Stewart took the brunt of the "billion-dollar boondoggle" scandal.

As Minister for International Trade, he promoted free trade and always characterized the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as "a tremendous success".[1] 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 some 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, replacing Bill Graham.

On April 26, 2005, the Montreal newspaper Le Devoir reported that the trilingual Pettigrew, who speaks English, French and Spanish, would leave Canadian politics to serve as the Secretary General of the Organization of American States.[2] 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 in the 2005 OAS Secretary General election.

Pettigrew has long been rumoured to be a possible leadership candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada or as a leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec.

In 1999, Pettigrew wrote Pour une politique de la confiance (English translation: The New Politics of Confidence), a book on globalization and the art of governing.

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 paint was meant to symbolize the blood on the hands of the Canadian state due to Canada's involvement in Haiti. Pettigrew told police that he wanted full charges pressed against Engler. However, a couple of days later, Pettigrew suddenly decided to drop all charges.

Despite growing pressure, Pettigrew consistently stated that Canada would "stay the course" in Haiti.[3]

On December 28, 2005, Pettigrew was the victim of an attempted mugging while he was waiting for a train in the Montreal subway station. The accused, Frederick Estelle, has been charged with aggravated theft.[4][5]

At the 2004 election, Pettigrew was nearly defeated by a Bloc Québécois challenger – only the second time that the Liberals' hold on the riding had been seriously threatened. At the 2006 election, Pettigrew was defeated by Bloc challenger Vivian Barbot.

Post-political career

On October 23, 2006, Deloitte Canada's Managing Partner and Chief Executive Alan MacGibbon announced that Pierre Pettigrew had been appointed as Executive Advisor for the firm's international activities. Pettigrew is a member of the Inter-American Dialogue.[6]

He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Warwick in July 2008.

In August 2016, Pettigrew was appointed special envoy on the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the European Union.[7]

He currently resides in Toronto.

Electoral record

2006 Canadian federal election: Papineau
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
Bloc QuébécoisVivian Barbot17,77540.75+0.79$50,886
LiberalPierre Pettigrew16,78538.48-2.62$75,541
ConservativeMustaque Sarker3,6308.32+3.55$34,951
New DemocraticMarc Hasbani3,3587.70-1.07$2,568
GreenLouis-Philippe Verenka1,5723.60+1.03$181
Marxist–LeninistPeter Macrisopoulos3170.73+0.32
Canadian ActionMahmood-Raza Baig1850.42$2,007
Total valid votes/Expense limit 43,622100.00 $76,023
2004 Canadian federal election: Papineau
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalPierre Pettigrew16,89241.10-13.00
Bloc QuébécoisMartine Carrière16,42439.96+13.36$48,511
New DemocraticAndré Frappier3,6038.77+4.29$28,566
ConservativeMustaque Sarker1,9614.77-2.74$38,564
GreenAdam Jastrzebski1,0582.57+0.02
MarijuanaChristelle Dusablon-Pelletier4901.19-0.81
CommunistAndré Parizeau2520.61$825
IndependentJimmy Garoufalis2500.61$2,607
Marxist–LeninistPeter Macrisopoulos1690.41+0.68
Total valid votes/Expense limit 41,099 100.00$75,103
Note: Conservative vote is compared to the total of the Canadian Alliance vote and Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 election, and not the vote Sarker received as an independent candidate.
2000 Canadian federal election: Papineau—Saint-Denis
Party Candidate Votes%±%
LiberalPierre Pettigrew23,95554.10+0.20
Bloc QuébécoisPhilippe Ordenes11,77926.60-2.31
AllianceYannis Felemegos2,1144.77-8.01
New DemocraticHans Marotte1,9834.48+2.03
Progressive ConservativeEmmanuel Préville1,2152.74-10.04
GreenBoris-Antoine Legault1,1282.55
MarijuanaAntoine Théorêt-Poupart8862.00
IndependentMustaque Sarker7381.67
Marxist–LeninistPeter Macrisopoulos4821.09+0.10
Total valid votes/Expense limit 44,280100.00

Note: Canadian Alliance vote compared to the vote Felemegos received as a Progressive Conservative candidate.

1997 Canadian federal election: Papineau—Saint-Denis
Party Candidate Votes%±%Expenditures
LiberalPierre Pettigrew26,26053.90$53,271
Bloc QuébécoisMario Beaulieu14,08328.91$25,032
Progressive ConservativeYannis Felemegos6,22712.78$19,274
New DemocraticGaby Kombé1,1962.45$3,030
Marxist–LeninistPeter Macrisopoulos4810.99$0
Communist LeagueMichel Dugré4710.97$270
Total valid votes 48,718 100.00
Total rejected ballots 1,676
Turnout 50,394 75.55
Electors on the lists 66,706
Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and official contributions and expenses submitted by the candidates, provided by Elections Canada.

Notes

  1. meeting with Thomas d'Aquino at the Summit of the Americas 2001
  2. "Pettigrew quitting politics". CBC News. April 26, 2005. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  3. "Pettigrew: Canada will stay the course in Haiti". CTV News. January 3, 2006. Archived from the original on February 9, 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
  4. "Pettigrew mugged in Montreal metro". CBC News. December 30, 2005. Archived from the original on 2008-04-21. Retrieved 2007-07-29.
  5. "Bail denied for Montreal man accused of mugging Pettigrew". CBC News. December 30, 2005. Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  6. "Inter-American Dialogue | Pierre Pettigrew". www.thedialogue.org. Retrieved 2017-03-21.
  7. Zimonjic, Peter (August 24, 2016). "Pierre Pettigrew, former Chrétien cabinet minister, named CETA envoy Social Sharing Facebook Twitter Email Reddit LinkedIn Pettigrew confident EU trade deal will be signed by October; TPP another story". CBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
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