We went back and forth on writing a post about the death of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. This had more to do with a bunch of Canadian film and Canadian television stories. Mulroney died on February 29 at the age of 84. The dust on that has settled for now, so let's jump in with a few thoughts.
People often asked me how I got interested in Canada, usually from Canadians. I got a chance to take 2 Canadian politics courses at Northwestern University from R. Barry Farrell. I was taking a bunch of history and politics classes from around the world (think tail end of the Cold War).
Professor Farrell spoke with great pride of having an op-ed in The Globe and Mail on the day of the 1988 election, November 21. That election essentially was over the proposed Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA). CUSFTA was the parent to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which came a few years later.
Mulroney had won convincingly in 1984 over John Turner (Liberal), who took over after Pierre Trudeau left the political stage. The Liberals and NDP, with Ed Broadbent (who died this year on January 11) as the party leader, both opposed to CUSFTA.
The Progressive Conservatives won 211 of the 295 seats in the House of Commons in 1984. That number fell a bit to 169 in 1988. The party still had a majority and the free trade agreement went through.
Free trade. The Meech Lake Accord. The establishment of a federal goods and services tax (GST). The privatization of a lot of companies, especially Petro-Canada and Air Canada. The failure of the Charlottetown Accord. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Cancelling the National Energy Program, a favourite of Pierre Trudeau.
Mulroney appointed Beverley McLachlin to the Supreme Court of Canada on March 30, 1989. Later, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed McLachlin to be the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada on January 7, 2000. McLachlin was the first woman to be chief justice of the court, serving until 2017.
Mulroney's legacy includes "cash in envelopes" and forces to his political right getting restless. Mulroney jumped ship, handing the reigns to Defence Minister Kim Campbell (still Canada's only female prime minister). The 1993 election was so bad that the Progressive Conservatives fell to 2 seats, neither of which Campbell won. While provinces still identify as Progressive Conservatives, even Ontario, this was the beginning of the end for the federal party.
The current Conservative federal party is much more Reform (later Canadian Alliance), the right-wing party that formed in the 1993 federal election. The 1988 election was the last time before 2011 that a conservative government won a majority government in Canada. In fact, Mulroney became the second PC prime minister to win 2 majority governments, the first since John A. Macdonald. John Diefenbaker and Stephen Harper each won a single majority government.
Mulroney was from Quebec and had an easier time winning seats in La Belle Province than any conservative leader since then.
Here is a multiple choice question involving picking the least problematic conservative leader of the 1980s and 1990s.
- Margaret Thatcher/John Major (United Kingdom)
- Ronald Reagan/George H.W. Bush (United States)
- Brian Mulroney (Canada)
Mulroney would win that in a heartbeat over his peers of that era. Definitely conservative just not as mean-spirited as the others on that list. Mulroney and Kim Campbell didn't get along well with Stephen Harper and the current Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre. Didn't mean they weren't conservative, just a different kind of conservative.
Brian Mulroney was the first Western leader to push to recognise Ukraine's independence in 1991. Mulroney was also aggressive in pushing the South African government to dismantle apartheid.
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While NAFTA has been a disaster in all 3 countries, the dynamics of a bilateral free trade agreement were more palatable, though Canadians lost a lot initially in that deal.
When Canadians were struggling during COVID-19 in terms of getting needed supplies from within Canada, that is part of Mulroney's free trade legacy.
Mulroney's son Ben Mulroney is known for his television career in various positions with Bell Media. His daughter Caroline is a Progressive Conservative MPP in Ontario for the York—Simcoe riding. Caroline Mulroney has served as the minister of Francophone affairs (current), president of the Treasury Board (current), minister of transportation (past), and attorney general of Ontario (past).
Mulroney was heavily present during MLB's only All Star Game in Toronto back in 1991. If you think Mulroney's time in office was long ago, and you would be correct, Mulroney was prime minister the last time a NHL team won the Stanley Cup: the 1993 Montréal Canadiens.
The former prime minister will have a funeral on March 23 at the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal. There will be a lying-in-state in Ottawa and a lying-in-repose in Montréal.
photo credit: @CdnHeritage
video credits: CBC News; MLB
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