Bill Clinton praises NAFTA during conversation with Jean Chrtien in Montreal

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton had only good things to say about the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), speaking withformer prime minister JeanChrtienin front of a crowdin Montreal, Wednesday night.

Chrtien agreed, tellingthe audience thatCanadians shouldn't be too worried about U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to tear up the agreement.

"You can't reverse an omelette,'' Chretien said. "It just doesn't work like that. [The U.S. and Canada]are linked in so many areas. You just can't redo everything we did.''

• 'Fundamentally failed': U.S. vows major overhaul as NAFTA talks formally begin

Clinton was stopping over in Montreal afterreceiving an honorary doctorate fromSt.Francis XavierUniversity, based in Antigonish, N.S., but awarded to him at a special ceremony in Toronto this week.

The event to host Clinton andChrtien, who served in office during the same period, was organized and sponsored by theCanadian American Business Council.

Gordon Giffin, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada, moderated this discussion, sayinghe didn't know of any other two world leaders as close as Chrtien and Clinton.

Chrtienwas prime minister of Canada from1993 to 2003, whileClinton was president of the United States from 1993 to 2001.

NAFTAentered into force in 1994 but was negotiated by the predecessors of the two leaders.

NAFTAunder threat

The agreement is in the limelight againas President Trump has sharply criticized it and triggered a renegotiation process.

• Justin Trudeau to meet Donald Trump, Enrique Pena Nieto, amid tense NAFTA talks
• NAFTA talks 'heated' and 'drama' lies ahead, Canada's U.S. ambassador says

The agreement between Canada, the United States and Mexico was the right thing to do at the time, said Clinton.

As for the current renegotiation of the trade agreement, Clinton said he hoped itwould run smoothly.

"I hope we'll have good negotiations and we hope they will come out okay," Clinton told the crowd.

'The Canadian issue'

Canadian federalism was also a major topic of discussion.

Clinton was asked to discuss his momentous speech in 1999 during the Forum of Federations Conference in Mont-Tremblant, Que., roughly four years after Quebec's referendum on sovereignty.

"You said it would be a tragedy for a country like Canada to be broken,'' Chrtien told the crowd about Clinton's 1999 speech.

"Some in Quebec were not too happy with that statement, but I was happy and I thought it was very useful,'' Chrtien added.

Clinton said at the time he was trying to end conflicts in the Middle East and Northern Ireland, and stop the killing in Bosnia.

"I was fascinated by the Canadian issue,'' Clinton said. "People are looking at [Quebec and Canada]like you're the grown-ups in the household. Because you found a way to get the best of both worlds and to treasure your differences.''

Having trouble seeing the blog? Go here.