Mulroney’s 1984 victory marked the start of something big

KINGSTON, ONT.—It was 40 years ago this week that Canadians embarked upon a political journey like never before in modern times. The new federal government we elected demonstrated political courage daily over the next nine years, shaping a new Canada along the way. Most importantly, then-prime minister Brian Mulroney and his government bravely entered into free trade talks with the Americans. By doing so, they went on to craft and shape a new and more confident Canada when the successful negotiations concluded. Our economy was further transformed with the introduction of the GST, a wave of privatizations, and so much more. There were also two honourable—but gut-wrenching—attempts to bring Quebec officially into the Constitution through the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords. We also saw a government tackle environmental issues like none before—or since. The acid rain treaty with the United States, our leadership at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, and the Montreal Protocol on the ozone layer stand as permanent memorials to the Mulroney government’s resolve and green success. It was also a time when Canada punched above its weight on the world stage. The Cold War ended with our country and prime minister having played crucial roles in the downfall of the Soviet Union. We also helped found La Francophonie, and led a Commonwealth of great resolve and importance. The prime minister we elected 40 years ago also took on Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, and, by doing so, saw our country play a proud role in the fight against apartheid that led to Nelson Mandela’s glorious walk to freedom in South Africa. It all started on Sept. 4, 1984, and when the polls closed that historic night, Mulroney—who had been elected leader of the federal Progressive Conservative party only 15 months before—had won the greatest majority victory in modern electoral history. Just think of it from our vantage point today, which is an era when Canadians have returned minority mandates in five of the last seven general elections: the soon-to-be prime minister—Mulroney was officially sworn in as prime minister on Sept. 17, 1984—would be governing with 210 fellow Tory MPs by his side. His was truly a pan-national caucus with representatives from every region, including the North, and—above all else for the rookie PM—from Quebec. It was a remarkable display of trust by Quebecers for a party that had languished for 100 years under the dark shadow of the hanging of Louis Riel under the 19th century Tory government in 1885. Voters there responded to a native son’s call, and Quebec elected 58 MPs to stand by Mulroney’s side in the four years that followed. (And in 1988 they would do so again.) Writing 20 years later in his Memoirs, Mulroney recalled his emotions as he took to the stage in his hometown of Baie Comeau, Que., to address the nation in triumph. “The atmosphere was electric when we arrived, as the band belted out our campaign song and thousands of Baie Comeauites—including hundreds of childhood friends who had encouraged me all my life—chanted ‘Brian! Brian! Brian!’ as my supporters had done across Canada (during the election),” he wrote. “When we ascended the stage, the cheering was almost intoxicating, so joyful was the mood, with people surging forward in waves. I could sense the great pride this hard-working crowd took in watching one of their own achieve the highest office in Canada ... I could hardly believe what I was seeing, and what I knew was really happening.” While there is always the danger of looking with too positive a lens, I still do so with longing as I witness the style of politics often practiced in Ottawa and provincial capitals today. For five years, from 2003 to 2008, I was proud to serve as Mulroney’s assistant as he prepared his Memoirs. In hundreds of hours of private conversations with the 18th prime minister, I never once heard him take a personal shot against his main opponent, Liberal leader John Napier Turner. He discussed the pair’s policy differences, of course, but always with a genuine admiration for his Liberal foe. The same was true when it came to the NDP leader, Ed Broadbent, who also stood against him in the House and on the hustings. Then-18-year-old Arthur Milnes, right, and Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney in Scarborough, Ont., during the 1984 election campaign. Photograph courtesy of Deb Ransom/Harper PMO Sadly, all three of these outstanding leaders have now passed into history. They were each gentlemen politicians from whom we could learn much today. All of us will remember the pause in the politics of personal destruction and deliberate division in the aftermath of Mulroney’s death earlier this year. Partisans from all sides of the political spectrum, including many who had opposed the fallen PM, put aside their swords for a time as a great man’s public service to Canada was honoured and recalled. Martin Brian Mulroney was remembered as a national leader who did—as they say—“big things.” He confronted the challenges of his time with the sort of big ideas that often seem lacking in politics today. And when our late prime minister failed, he did so, in the famous words of Theodore Roosevelt, “while daring greatly.” While you could agree or disagree with Mulroney as he governed, what you could never do was ignore him and the policies he placed before us. His leadership truly mattered, and it will continue to be recognized that way as historians render their verdicts in the decades to come. For a prime minister, there can be no higher praise than that. Kingston’s Arthur Milnes, who has been contributing columns to The Hill Times since 1993, served as the Memoirs assistant to Brian Mulroney, and was later a speechwriter to then-prime minister Stephen J. Harper. His daily non-partisan celebration of milestone moments in Canadian politics, Art’s History, appears on National Newswatch. The Hill Times