Shawinigan Handshake

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.

[2] Another protester who 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.

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.

Poet Stuart Ross arranged the text of Chrétien's comments on the incident into the form of a poem, "Minor Altercation", published the day after the event.

[7] Following the incident, popular Canadian TV sports personality Don Cherry commented that he liked politicians being direct in this manner, and the performance of Chrétien in particular.