I think in the 20th century there have only been two transformative leaders. Pierre Elliot Trudeau with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Brian Mulroney. I’m Bob Fife. I’m the Ottawa Bureau Chief of The Globe and Mail. I’ve been covering federal politics since 1978.
I was a young little pup when Pierre Elliot Trudeau was prime minister and I was a little bit older when Brian Mulroney became the prime minister and I had a hell of a time covering him. I’m Marieke Walsh, and I’m the Senior Political Reporter here in the
Ottawa bureau for the The Globe and Mail. I’ve been covering politics since 2011 and been lucky enough to work with Bob and the rest of the team here since 2019. I never had the chance to cover Brian Mulroney, but I would say that his
Later in life scandals and controversies around the Airbus affair and Karlheinz Schreiber were sort of the focus of politics in Ottawa when I was just getting my chops in journalism so that was sort of my first entrance to him. Both Trudeau and Brian Mulroney have a lot in common
Is because they did big things. Why Brian Mulroney? Because he brought in the Canada-U.S. free trade pact and then later the North American Free Trade pact. Also the GST, which was a hugely controversial policy which particularly led to their defeat.
He also did acid rain treaty with the United States, which I think was far reaching. Acid rain, which you probably wouldn’t even remember at that time, was really devastating to both countries. And he managed to get, of all people, Ronald Reagan to sign onto an acid rain treaty.
As you said on the GST, for example, it was risky and it contributed to just his party being smashed to smithereens in the 1993 election. But you see that legacy now and you see how people look at it so differently
Now than how it was covered at the time, how it was thought about the time. I find that a really interesting sort of lesson for politicos, for journalists about how perspective changes over time. I also think, though, it is interesting to see what he is remembered for
Because his government also, for example, tried to bring in an abortion bill that would have dramatically restricted abortion in the country. But for one senator Pat Carney, it was defeated, and just things like that where one small difference and one small change really affected his legacy,
Imagine how he would be thought of today or what debates would be happening in 90’s and 2000’s if something like that had gone ahead. One of the most important foreign policy achievements was his fight against apartheid, pushing for sanctions against South Africa. [We are struggling in order to free everybody.]
This was opposed by Ronald Reagan, and it was opposed by Margaret Thatcher. And I covered him during that whole period of time in these Commonwealth conferences, Brian Mulroney took on the Iron Lady. And when Nelson Mandela was finally freed from prison, the first country he came to after he was freed was Canada.
And I think something that stands out to me as well is that that’s not just like a made up canadian fairy tale about how good we are. The South African president, Joe Biden, the U.S. president, both took the time to make statements about a long now former prime minister who had such a
Lasting impact that those policies are still felt in those countries today. [Canada reached an agreement in principle with the United States and Mexico. It will now be called the USMCA.] Even with the renegotiation of NAFTA under Donald Trump, he was very invested in that process behind the scenes,
And very invested in trying to make it work. Well, Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland were really smart in reaching out to Brian Mulroney. He had a relationship with a number of people in the Trump administration, and he had a relationship with Donald Trump as well,
But Donald Trump is not a guy who was interested in the nitty gritty of the details of negotiations, so, he had a way into these people that Trudeau and Freeland did not have. It really helped to put his legacy and put his sort of credibility in a
Different light from the Oliphant Commission and the scandal around Karlheinz Schreiber that, that transition from the Harper to the Trudeau government and then having to deal with the U.S. again gave him an option to reenter the public limelight in a different way. After he left government and after it
Became known that he had accepted $225,000 from Karlheinz Schreiber, who was an arms dealer, he knew that this was going to be a real blemish in the history books. And he worked very hard cultivating journalists, cultivating opinion leaders, cultivating Canadian public, to show them that he was more than
Just that guy who sat in a hotel room and took an envelope of cash. Do you think that Brian Mulroney would still have a place in Canadian politics if he was 30 years old and starting again? Yeah, I do, actually, because he’s a charming man.
If he was a Conservative leader, he’d play to the base, but try to move the base with him. And so I think if he was Conservative leader today, I know at different times it’s much more conservative, but I think he would be able to bring the party with him.
Trade, the GST and standing against apartheid are key parts of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s time in office which continue to shape contemporary Canada. The Globe’s Robert Fife and Marieke Walsh, two different generations of political reporters, reflect on Mr. Mulroney’s complex legacy that includes the Karlheinz Schreiber affair.
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