The Shawinigan Handshake

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Not too many people can boast that their hometown is the same hometown of a former Prime Minister. Whether you liked him or not, he definitely scored himself celeb status. So much, that he has a handshake named after him!

Shawinigan Handshake is the epithet given to a chokehold executed on February 15, 1996 by Jean Chrétien, then Prime Minister of Canada, on anti-poverty protester Bill Clennett. The phrase is a combination of Chrétien’s birthplace (Shawinigan, Quebec) and the name usually given to the greeting ritual of shaking hands.

On the day of the incident, Chrétien was in Hull, Quebec to commemorate the first National Flag of Canada Day. As Chrétien addressed the assembled crowd, anti-poverty activists heckled the Prime Minister over proposed changes to Canada’s unemployment insurance program, and, as he made his way to his limousine at the cessation of the ceremonies, Chrétien was confronted by Clennett. At that moment, Chrétien grabbed Clennett by the back of the neck and chin, forcing Clenett to the ground and breaking one of his teeth.^[1] Another protester that then blocked Chrétien’s passage had his megaphone knocked away by the Prime Minister, and was promptly pushed to the ground by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers.

Chrétien later defended these actions, stating: “some people came my way… and I had to go, so if you’re in my way…” He also blamed the RCMP for allowing Clennett to obtain such close proximity to the Prime Minister, though the RCMP said they saw no breach of security. Chrétien also demonstrated a casual attitude towards the affair, later joking that he had used the Shawinigan Handshake because he mistook Clennett for John Nunziata, whom Chrétien had dismissed from the Liberal caucus for voting against the 1996 budget.

Reform Party Member of Parliament Deborah Grey subsequently nicknamed Chrétien “The Shawinigan Strangler”. This sobriquet was later used by other opposition MPs as well; in a member’s statement on February 12, 1997, Chuck Strahl sarcastically nominated Chrétien for a “Parliamentary Oscar” for his “performance” in The Shawinigan Strangler.^[2]

While Clennett did not press charges against the Prime Minister, another person, Kenneth Russell, did accuse Chrétien of assault on March 28, and the Prime Minister was formally charged by a judge in the Quebec Superior Court. These charges, however, were rejected by the Attorney General of Quebec.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shawinigan_Handshake