Brian Mulroney: a centre-right, would-be unifier left behind in an era of divisive right-wing extremism

OTTAWA—You have to wonder what, toward the end of his life, Brian Mulroney thought about the country he loved so much. Like Pierre Trudeau, Mulroney seems better appreciated after passing away than he was when he resigned from politics. Today, there is a widespread recognition of the lasting importance of United States free trade, the GST, his early environmental awareness, and Canada’s opposition to South African apartheid. But the conservative entity that he brought to power in 1984 is no longer a force in Canadian public life. It has been overtaken by the far-right, populist-oriented politics that came to the fore in the outburst of western alienation that sprang from resentment of Mulroney’s effort to bring Quebec on board with the 1992 Constitution. Once ensconced in 24 Sussex Drive in 1984, the fast-rising former business executive from Baie-Comeau, Que., talked the neo-conservative language of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. He privatized Crown corporations, cut the size of the government, relaxed foreign investment oversight, and sought—unsuccessfully—to balance Ottawa’s books. But, overall, as a centre-right political actor with a belief in fairness, Mulroney took a generally moderate approach to the conservative mandate he won at the polls. He chipped away at social programs, but his government ended up spending nearly 20 per cent more in real terms on social policy by the time he resigned. He was indeed a Progressive Conservative. And he was an inheritor of the democratic tradition of brokerage decision-making in the public interest. On the right in this century in Canada, this has given way to a more extreme, ideological brand of politics. As practised by one-time Reformer Stephen Harper, this kind of conservatism is antithetical to generous social programs, and devoted to tilting the balance of government policy in favour of business and the wealthy—a U.S. Republican approach, as opposed to traditional Canadian conservatism. Still, Harper’s dismissive attitude toward social programs and his party’s personal attacks on Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau were only a preview of the angry, anti-progressive extremism of today’s polarizing Conservative party. A particular case in point for Mulroney has to have been global warming. Among other environmental commitments, Mulroney was an early advocate of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But the leading international position on climate change established for Canada by his PC government was squandered by Harper’s 2011 rejection of the Kyoto Protocol. Harper also began the attack on the Liberals’ plan to put a price on carbon to fight climate change by labelling it as just a tax grab. One of the few Conservative leaders supported by Mulroney in recent election campaigns was Erin O`Toole, who was ousted as leader by his party for supporting a carbon levy on fuel. Under Pierre Poilievre’s leadership, the party has promoted disinformation-laced antagonism on the issue, and built a national movement against this effort to use a market-based measure to try to help save the planet. There’s not much doubt about where Mulroney ended up in his attitude to the current party’s extreme positions. Recounting a discussion with Poilievre in 2022, Mulroney told CTV: “I did say to him—which is pretty obvious—you cannot, in this country, get elected from the extreme left or the extreme right. It can't happen.” In characteristic fashion, Mulroney set aside any partisan considerations to help Prime Minister Trudeau salvage a new North American free-trade deal in the face of then-U.S. president Donald Trump’s protectionist obsession. And, speaking last year, Mulroney lauded Trudeau’s performance in the economically vital negotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade pact: “Trump was out to sabotage Canada in many important ways, and it took vision and a steady hand." Mulroney also praised Trudeau for his handling of the COVID emergency, promoting the Atlantic Canada economy, and for Canada’s support of Ukraine. For all his efforts to forge a better, more-unified country, Mulroney leaves a very mixed legacy. His campaign to end Quebec’s glaring lack of acceptance of Canada’s Constitution almost succeeded—but then backfired. Rather than smooth over the country’s internal tensions, the battles over the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords unleashed an explosion of acrimony and resentment that contributed to the demise of the PC party and nearly broke up the country. On another level, many Canadians came to dislike Mulroney’s bombastic, glitzy style. And the corruption scandals associated with his government and his eventual decision, by his own admission, to take $225,000 in cash from an arms lobbyist are unforgivable. But during his years in politics, Mulroney above all worked to try to bring people together in service of a better country and a better future. With Canada’s right-wing political base more and more attuned to Trumpism, the party that left Canada’s 18th prime minister out in the cold is instead today thriving on pitting Canadians against each other and dividing the country. Les Whittington is a regular columnist for The Hill Times. The Hill Times