The 18th of 19 children of a working-class family, Chrétien studied law at Laval University and was called to the bar in Quebec in 1958. Long interested in politics, he was first elected to the House of Commons in 1963 and was reelected thereafter through 1984. In the successive administrations of Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Chrétien became a parliamentary secretary to the prime minister in 1965, a minister of state in 1967, and minister of national revenue in 1968. He served as minister of Indian affairs and northern development from 1968 to 1974 and in 1977 became the first French Canadian to hold the post of minister of finance. Known as an incisive and shrewd administrator, he went on to serve as minister of justice and attorney general (1980–82), minister of energy (1982–84), and deputy prime minister (1984).
After losing to John Turner in a contest to succeed Trudeau as head of the Liberal Party, Chrétien resigned his seat in the House of Commons in 1986. He was reelected to Parliament in 1990 and took over the leadership of the Liberals that same year. Chrétien led his party to a landslide victory over the governing Progressive Conservative Party in national elections on October 25, 1993, and became prime minister of Canada on November 4. In 1995 he weathered a major crisis as voters in Quebec, a predominantly French-speaking province, narrowly rejected secession. Quebec independence remained a central concern, though the movement had weakened by the end of the 20th century. Chrétien's government focused on reducing the budget deficit, and in 1998 it passed Canada's first balanced budget since 1970. Chrétien was reelected in 2000, the first Canadian prime minister since 1945 to win three consecutive majorities. His relationship with the United States was sometimes tense, underscored by his refusal to commit Canadian troops to the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003. In social policy, he pursued progressive reforms, drafting a law in 2003 that would recognize same-sex marriages. Chrétien retired as prime minister in December 2003.
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