Jean Chretien, Former Prime Minister of Canada was welcomed by Philippe Caretti, general manager/vice president of Pudong Shangri-La, Shanghai, on the PM's recent visit to China.

Chrétien ran for the leadership of the Liberal party in 1984, lost, then resigned his seat two years later. He ran for the leadership again in 1990 and this time won handily, elected leader of the Liberals on the first ballot.

Le petit gars de Shawinigan (the little guy from Shawinigan) took his third run at the top job in the federal election of November 2000, and won again, bringing home another Liberal majority government.

He could have held off calling an election until 2002 when his government's term would have expired but with a booming economy and a healthy surplus he decided the time was right for a new mandate.

Twice he has played a prominent role in leading the federal government's opposition to the Yes vote in independence referendums in Quebec. His strongest performance came in the 1980 referendum, when the federalist forces won convincingly. The next referendum, in 1995, resulted in one of Chrétien's low points, when the federalist side squeaked by with a razor-thin win.