We know who Mulroney is, but what does she stand for?
Four months is not much time, writes Martin Regg Cohn
Here’s one headline you won’t see in the Progressive Conservative leadership race: Caroline Who?
When your last name is Mulroney, everybody knows who you are and where you came from.
The challenge isn’t name recognition, but definition. It’s not the headline, just the question: Who is Caroline Mulroney exactly? We know she’s the daughter of Brian and sister of Ben, but what’s she all about?
Where has she been all these years? Many heard of her, but few heard her speak — until this week.
On Sunday night, she launched her leadership run with a tweet heard ’round the province: “Let’s get it done!” she exhorted, almost as if she were checking off a box.
With her four young children gathered around her — just like the old days when Caroline, Ben, Mark and Nicolas rallied round the PM at 24 Sussex Drive — she announced herself as a candidate for the party’s leadership and the province’s premiership.
And proclaimed herself the only person who has it all and can do it all — lawyer, NFL fan, Shoebox charity co-founder, hockey mom.
As scripted launches go, it may have been brilliant marketing — appealing to football fans and partisans in an achingly authentic way.
Or it may have struck a screechingly false note, echoing Stockwell Day’s epic 2000 photo-op when he motored up to the press corps on a gleaming Jet Ski, attired in a glistening wetsuit and emerged the epochal beached whale.
In that sense, Caroline Mulroney may become more like Kathleen Wynne in the public imagination than she privately imagines — a polarizing figure who is either loved or loathed, depending on partisan inclinations and personal idiosyncrasies.
By all accounts, and from early appearances, Mulroney appears as advertised in advance: poised, polished, well-spoken and well-mannered. At times thoughtful, though often the thoughts seem pre-formed in advance of all interviews, lest she be forced to think on her feet.
“This is just Day One, “she begged off one time too many when journalists probed her on policy.
Which begs the question: Can she go from a standing start on Twitter to the premier’s chair in the 122 days until the June 7 election? As learning curves go, that’s steep.
Mulroney has built in a few advantages beyond a famous family name. She boasts a rarefied team of advisers — part of the Patrick Brown brain trust is ingratiating itself with her, caucus members are migrating to her side and Dad will be a reassuring voice (remember that voice?) in the background.
Also in the foreground: A fundraiser was scheduled for next Monday with the Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney as keynote speaker — $1,200 a ticket (none of those cash envelopes, please, lest that weaken Tory credibility when alleging Liberal corruption).
Dynastic politics has never moved at such dizzying speed. We’ll soon see if Ontario’s anti-elitist Tories are looking for leadership from a bona fide member of the elite — with élan.
Did not Conrad Black endorse Mulroney in the National Post over the weekend? She has the Ivy League education, the American C.V., the private schools for her children and her work with venture capitalists at Wellington Financial; her Americanborn husband Andrew Lapham is chair of Blackstone Canada, part of the world’s biggest private equity group. Both are dual citizens, a campaign spokesperson confirmed.
A power couple to be sure. Now, Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives are enthralled by the prospect of Mulroney as the winning ticket to power.
After all, she is a “fresh face, “as the 43-year-old candidate puts it, echoing the phrase used by so many male Tories (not least Lord Black) seeking an antidote to the toxic legacy of leader Patrick Brown (who quit amid allegations of sexual misconduct). It seems her so-called “fresh face” is intended as a counterpoint to the unpopularity of Premier Kathleen Wynne, 64, not to mention the rivalry of PC leadership candidate Christine Elliott, 62.
Put another way: The Mulroney camp is counting on a female leader to inoculate the party against sexism — with lookism and ageism as the substitute subtexts.
Tories like to compare her trajectory to that of Justin Trudeau, but he first attracted notice giving the eulogy for Pierre Trudeau, whose legacy is widely admired in this province.
He also proved himself in a tough riding nomination battle in Montreal (Mulroney parachuted herself into a safe suburban Tory seat by acclamation), seasoned himself over long years of parliamentary opposition, and only then sought the leadership, slowly growing on Canadians who didn’t much care for his early precociousness.
By comparison, the Mulroney name is far from gold in Ontario. Now, the daughter has burst onto the scene — apparently the best-kept secret in provincial politics, undefined if undeniably entitled: “I’m the only candidate who can bring that change.”
In the weeks and months to come, she will also face impossibly high expectations — a dynastic saviour who declares that she can do it all, who dares to say that no one else can and who demands of her followers, “Let’s get it done.”
Just watch her. Like the current PM, she surely has great growth potential — but is 122 days enough time?