Pettigrew served in the
Liberal cabinet of
Jean Chrétien in various capacities and in the government of
Paul Martin as Canada's
Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the
2006 federal election he was defeated as the
Member of Parliament for the Montreal-area electoral district of
Papineau. Following the
1995 Quebec referendum Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was committed to bringing in more star candidates from Quebec to his cabinet. He thus appointed Pettigrew and
Stéphane Dion to cabinet, even before they were in the house. Pettigrew previously ran for parliament in the
1984 federal election in the riding of
Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup but was defeated by less than 7,000 votes by the
Progressive Conservative candidate,
André Plourde.
André Ouellet was made head of
Canada Post, opening the riding of
Papineau—Saint-Michel. Pettigrew was elected to Parliament in a March 25, 1996 by-election. He was re-elected in 1997 and 2000, representing the new riding of
Papineau—Saint-Denis. In 1996 he became
Minister for International Cooperation and
Minister responsible for La Francophonie. From 1996 to 1999, he also served as
Minister of Human Resources Development. In that time, the Department of
Human Resources Development represented more than half of the
Canadian federal budget. Pettigrew negotiated with the provinces and the territories the
National Child Benefit, the most important social program since
Canada Pension Plan (1966), a 10 billions program by now. He implemented the new
Employment Insurance Program which became balanced after years of deficit despite lowering the premiums. Under his watch, however, ineffective accounting practices at HRDC allegedly left millions of dollars unaccounted for. Pettigrew was fortunate to have been shuffled to the portfolio of International Trade. His successor
Jane Stewart took the brunt of the "
billion-dollar boondoggle" scandal. As
Minister for International Trade, he promoted
free trade and always characterized the
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as "a tremendous success". and a model to expand upon. He was a key participant in the
World Trade Organization (WTO) trade talks, claiming that Canada's main goal of lowering agricultural subsidies would be of great benefit to the world's poorer nations. At the 2003 WTO Ministerial Conference in
Cancún, Pettigrew played an aggressive role as chair of the
working group on the
Singapore issues, controversial sectors of proposed liberalization which were bitterly opposed by some developing nation delegates, not to mention masses of protesters outside of the gates where the meetings were held. He also championed the
Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and in the period leading up to the
Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001, he spearheaded a campaign to allay growing public suspicion of the deal by promising the eventual release of the draft negotiating texts. After a delay due to translating the texts into the Portuguese language, the texts were made publicly available July 3, 2001. Throughout his mandate at International Trade, he was heavily embroiled in the
US - Canada softwood lumber dispute. On December 12, 2003, he was appointed
Minister of Health and
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs by newly appointed Prime Minister Paul Martin. On July 20, 2004, he moved to his long-desired portfolio of Foreign Affairs minister, replacing
Bill Graham. On April 26, 2005, the Montreal newspaper
Le Devoir reported that the trilingual Pettigrew, who speaks
English,
French and
Spanish, would leave Canadian politics to serve as the
Secretary General of the Organization of American States. The newspaper suggested that Pettigrew had sufficient support among OAS members to win the job, although officially Canada supported the election of
Luis Ernesto Derbez of
Mexico in the
2005 OAS Secretary General election. Pettigrew has long been rumoured to be a possible leadership candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada or as a leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec. In 1999, Pettigrew wrote
Pour une politique de la confiance (English translation:
The New Politics of Confidence), a book on globalization and the art of governing. On June 17, 2005, an incident occurred at a conference in Montreal regarding the subject of
Haiti, at one point during the conference, Pettigrew was splashed with a red substance by
Yves Engler, a political activist associated with the group
Haiti Action Montreal. As Engler threw the red substance on Pettigrew, he shouted "Pettigrew lies, Haitians die". Engler claimed that the red paint was meant to symbolize the blood on the hands of the Canadian state due to Canada's involvement in Haiti. Pettigrew told police that he wanted full charges pressed against Engler. However, a couple of days later, Pettigrew suddenly decided to drop all charges. Despite growing pressure, Pettigrew consistently stated that Canada would "stay the course" in Haiti. On December 28, 2005, Pettigrew was the victim of an attempted mugging while he was waiting for a train in the Montreal subway station. The accused, Frederick Estelle, has been charged with aggravated theft. At the
2004 election, Pettigrew was nearly defeated by a
Bloc Québécois challenger – only the second time that the Liberals' hold on the riding had been seriously threatened. At the
2006 election, Pettigrew was defeated by Bloc challenger
Vivian Barbot. ==Post-political career==