erto been carried out on the federal level. It in-
creased the transfer of revenues from the federal
government to the provinces so that henceforth half
of all federal taxes were passed back to the provincial
governments. This infusion of funds enabled the
provincial governments to spend more on health
care and education. It substantially downsized the
federal government, which had the beneficial effect
of eliminating the federal deficit. It increased the
Canada Child Tax Benefit so that many middle-class
families were included. Finally, it directed many spe-
cial development projects to Quebec, helping to so-
lidify its electoral support in the province.
The Chrétien government enjoyed good rela-
tions with the United States. After some initial am-
bivalence, Canada endorsed the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which had already
been approved by Chrétien’s predecessor, Brian
Mulroney. Ideologically, Chrétien was closer to
President Bill Clinton than to Mulroney, but he
was careful to maintain Canada’s independence.
Economically, NAFTA resulted in an increase in
Canadian-U.S. trade, making Canada even more in-
tegrated with the latter. However, despite Canada’s
victories in international tribunals in the softwood
lumber dispute, the Chrétien administration agreed
to an arrangement with the United States in which it
would levy a special duty on some of its softwood
lumber exports to the United States.
Impact Although the Chrétien administration pre-
sided over a political revival of the federal Liberal
Party, it was chiefly important for crafting the solu-
tion to the Quebec independence movement em-
bodied in the Clarity Act. Only someone with
Chrétien’s credentials could have accomplished
this masterly constitutional compromise. Moreover,
by following this measure up with a restructuring
of federal-provincial relationships that delegated
substantially greater revenues to the provinces,
Chrétien spread the compromise to all parts of the
country.
Further Reading
Chrétien, Jean.Straight from the Heart. Toronto: Key
Porter Books, 1994. Memoir provides Chrétien’s
personal point of view. Lawrence Martin, Chré-
tien’s biographer, has criticized this work as being
less than truthful.
Frizzell, Alan, Jon H. Pammett, and Anthony Wes-
tell.The Canadian General Election of 1993.Ot-
tawa: Carleton University Press, 1994. A detailed
account of the election tactics that brought
Chrétien to the premiership.
Harder, Lois, and Steve Patten, eds.The Chrétien Leg-
acy: Politics and Public Policy in Canada.Montreal:
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2006. A good
survey of the Chrétien government by a variety of
authors.
Martin, Lawrence.Chrétien: The Will to Win.2 vols.
Toronto: Lester, 1995-1999. A detailed account of
Chrétien’s life, especially its base in the politics of
Quebec.
Nancy M. GordonSee also Bloc Québécois; Canada and the United
States; Charlottetown Accord; Demographics of
Canada; Education in Canada; Elections in Canada;
Health care; Mulroney, Brian; North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA); Quebec referendum of
1995. Christian Coalition
Identification U.S. conservative Christian political
action group
Date Founded in 1989
In the 1990’s, the Christian Coalition was perhaps the most
visible face of the New Christian Right in American politics.
Many analysts suggest that the Coalition had a significant
impact on the 1994 midterm elections, when the Republi-
cans took control of the both houses of Congress for the first
time in forty years.
The Reverend Pat Robertson, a charismatic Chris-
tian preacher and creator of both the700 Clubtelevi-
sion program and the Christian Broadcasting Net-
work (CBN), made an unsuccessful bid for the
Republican presidential nomination in 1988. Rob-
ertson’s founding of the Christian Coalition in 1989
has been seen as an attempt to perpetuate his influ-
ence within the conservative religious and political
community in the United States.
The Christian Coalition was also intended to fill
the void created by the closing of the Moral Majority
organization that same year. The Reverend Jerry
Falwell had founded the Moral Majority in 1978.
The Coalition used many of the same techniques
that the Moral Majority had pioneered in organiz-The Nineties in America Christian Coalition 179