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2002 — Jean Chretien v. George W. Bush

As the U.S. and U.K.-led war to oust Saddam Hussein was looming in Iraq, Canada faced the question of whether to join, as it had in the Afghan mission. But proof of the threat posed by the dictator was elusive, and as the world now knows, fraudulent. Affecting his trademark insouciance, Mr. Chretien answered a reporter’s question about the standard of proof with a line that has since come to symbolize his governing style. “I don’t know. A proof is a proof,” Mr. Chretien said. “What kind of a proof? It’s a proof. A proof is a proof, and when you have a good proof, it’s because it’s proven.”

1986 — Brian Mulroney v. Margaret Thatcher

At a meeting at Montreal’s Mirabel airport to discuss proposed sanctions on South Africa’s apartheid regime, to which British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was opposed, Mr. Mulroney, an early ally of Nelson Mandela, said he found himself shouting at her: “Margaret. I am not a member of your government. I am the prime minister of a sovereign nation,” he said. “If you want somebody to follow you, go get someone from your own government.”

1971 — Pierre Trudeau v. Richard Nixon

Although they spoke by phone in friendly terms, commiserating with each other’s troubles, Pierre Trudeau and U.S. President Richard Nixon did not really like each other. In speaking to his senior officials, Mr. Nixon once referred to Mr. Trudeau as a “clever son of a bitch” and “an asshole,” comments that were caught on the famous White House recording system. Later, when these were revealed, Mr. Trudeau quipped: “I’ve been called worse things by better people.” Margaret Thatcher also once called Mr. Trudeau a “naughty schoolboy” at a meeting in Montebello, but, in public at least, he let that stand.