Canadian PM's comments

[RACooper]

Has anyone down in the Us has heard the Canadian Prime Minister's comments regarding Sept.11th and his speach to the UN? If so I'd love to here your thoughts.

[DWAlphaGam]

Nope. Can you fill us in on what he said? Thanks.

[RACooper]

Basically he stated that western arogance and greed were alientating the developing world, resulting in resentment and anger.

He then went on to say that the results of this is a rise in terror attacks against developed nations.

[RACooper]

Here is some of the text:

Chrétien interview on Sept. 11
CBC News Online | Sept. 16, 2002


The following is the most controversial segment of Peter Mansbridge's interview with Prime Minister Jean Chrétien for the documentary Untold Stories.

Peter Mansbridge: By the end of the day, what were you thinking about in terms of how the world had changed?

Prime Minister Chrétien: But I've said that it is a division in the world that is building up. And I knew that it was the inspiration of it. For me, I think that the rest of the world is a bit too selfish, and that there is a lot of resentment.

I felt it when I dealt with the African file for the Summit of the G8. You know, the poor, relatively, get poorer all the time. And the rich are getting richer all the time. You know, now we see the abuse of the system with problems in the United States at this moment with the corporate world, you know. When you think that, you know, you have to let go somebody in the Cabinet because perhaps relatively very minor things…of guidelines. And there was billions of dollars that were basically stolen from the shareholders.

And we have to you know solving the problems when you read history. Everybody don't know when to stop. There is a moment, you know, when you have to stop. There is a moment when you have very powerful (inaudible).

I said that in New York one day. I said, you know talking, it was Wall Street, and it was a crowd of capitalists, of course, and they were complaining because we have a normal relation with Cuba, and this and that, and, you know, we cannot do everything we want. And I said...if I recall, it was probably these words: "When you're powerful like you are, you guys, is the time to be nice."

And it is one of the problems. You know, you cannot exercise your powers to the point that of humiliation for the others. And that is what the Western world, not only the Americans, the Western world has to realize, because they are human beings too, and there are long-term consequences if you don't look hard at the reality in 10 or 20 or 30 years from now. And I do think that the Western world is going to be too rich in relation to the poor world. And necessarily, you know, we look upon us being arrogant, self-satisfying, greedy and with no limits. And the 11th of September is an occasion for me to realize that it's even more."

[Optimist Prime]

Well, he pretty much hit the nail on the head.

[librasoul22]

Exactly.

[lifesaver]

I thought Celine Dion was the Prime Minister of Canada.

Thats so cute, ya'll have a government. Awww, good for ya'll. I thought the queen ran canada. Kinda like my aunt does with her summer home. Ya know, a little hobby. huh.


Just kidding kids.

[Rudey]

I actually know the Prime Minister. I met him at the local public library while he was taking ESL classes.

-Rudey
--But then he said he had to go back to his igloo or the Mounties would get pissed.

[DeltAlum]

Maybe the PM's comments were a bit oversimplified -- although true to some extent.

They overlook the religious differences and the fact that some of our biggest detractors are some of the richest oil producing countries in the world.

That is not to say that his comments shoud not be considered.

[bcdphie]

Damn transcript is just like watching him on tv - I still can't understand him.

Quick bring in Paul Martin now!! I can't wait til Feb 03...