Jacques Chirac

Tuesday May 31, 2005

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 31, 2005

Chirac surveys a field of ruins as he rebuilds his Government

Jacques Chirac was hammering together a new French Government yesterday in an attempt to repair the devastation that voters wreaked on the political landscape at home and abroad when they rejected the European constitution in Sunday’s referendum.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Prime Minister, handed in his resignation at the Elysée Palace early yesterday, hours after 55 per cent of the electorate rose in revolt against the President, the Establishment and the European Union as defined in the constitutional treaty. 

M Chirac also spoke to Gerhard Schröder, the German Chancellor, and other leaders, assuring them that the vote would not halt France’s engagement in EU business and that other states must continue ratifying the treaty. 

The President, now in his eleventh year in office, had no obvious candidate for the job of giving the new impulse that he promised in response to the whipping from the electorate on Sunday. Potential prime ministers included Dominique de Villepin, 51, the Interior Minister and favourite protégé of the President, and Nicolas Sarkozy, 50, leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), the President’s party, and the chief rival to M Chirac. (Reuters)

 

Friday December 19, 2003

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 19, 2003

The religion of State

French President Jacques Chirac said today that a law is necessary to ban the Islamic headscarf and other religious insignia from the classroom.

“The Islamic veil – whatever name we give it – the kippa and a cross that is of manifestly excessive dimensions: these have no place in the precincts of state schools. State schools will remain secular. For that a law is necessary,” he told a selected audience at the Elysee palace. 

The president was giving his verdict on the findings of the so-called Stasi committee of experts which recommended last week a ban on “conspicuous” insignia in schools. 

He said the law should be in effect by the start of the next school year in September 2004. 

The president rejected a second committee recommendation under which the Muslim Eid el-Kebir and the Jewish Yom Kippur would be introduced as annual holidays in state schools. (CP)

 

Wednesday September 10, 2003

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday September 10, 2003

Clean up Crew Wanted

Washington’s planned U.N. resolution on Iraq is “some way” from meeting France’s priority of “transferring authority to an Iraqi government,” Chirac said.

Both men, speaking at a joint news conference in the eastern German city of Dresden, discussed the U.S. draft for a new U.N. resolution aimed at getting more countries to contribute troops and money to stabilize and rebuild the country.

But the draft insists the U.S. keep control of the military and political process.

France and Germany had been opposed to the war in Iraq but both countries are now willing to help bring stability to the country.

The two leaders said they would study the U.S. proposal “from a very positive point of view.” But Chirac said France may recommend changes to a proposed U.N. resolution.

“It does appear to be really rather far from the main objective, which is that of transferring political responsibility to an Iraqi government as soon as possible,” Chirac said. (Reuters)

 

Saturday August 21, 2003

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 21, 2003

Chirac and Chretien vacation together

On holiday in the Eastern Townships since Friday, French President Jacques Chirac is visiting Prime Minister Jean Chrétien in his home riding of Shawinigan.

The two will be touring an art exhibit in an old aluminium smelter that’s been converted into a museum.

Accompanied by his wife Bernadette, Chirac arrived at the airport in Trois-Rivières late Wednesday morning. The Chiracs will be visiting a sculpture exhibition at the Cité de l’Énergie museum. 

The exhibition, The Body Transformed, features more than 60 sculptures by 16 celebrated artists, including Auguste Rodin and Pablo Picasso.

Following the tour of the museum, Chirac and his wife will visit Chrétien and his wife Aline at their cottage in Lac des Piles. (CP)

 

Saturday January 25, 2003

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday January 25, 2003

Waiting to Dance

Jean Chrétien has cast doubt on whether Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction, a position that puts Canada at odds with the United States and Great Britain.

“I don’t know if Saddam has these weapons,” Mr. Chrétien said in a weekend interview with the Financial Times of London. In the interview, he took credit for convincing George W. Bush, the U.S. President, to win United Nations approval to dispatch weapons inspection teams to Iraq before launching military action.

”I said to Bush when we met in Detroit [last fall] after his Camp David meeting with Tony Blair –no argument, you must go to the UN Security Council. And he went to the Council.”

The Bush administration opted for weapons inspections on the insistence of France, Russia and China, three of the five permanent members of the Security Council who objected to military action unless there was evidence showing Iraq was a danger to the international community. The United States and Britain are the other permanent members. (CP)