His humanity has been lost in Canadian politics
Of the millions of Canadian citizens, and the thousands who pursue and attain public office, only 23 have ever attained the office of prime minister. Brian Mulroney was one of these exceptional few. On that account alone he deserves the respect of Canadians — not only from the millions who voted for him and his party but also from those who did not.
My one and only personal connection with Mulroney was in 1987 when I corresponded with him on the subject of western alienation — the disillusionment of growing numbers of western Canadians with the federal government and both major federal parties.
I advised him that the Reform Association, born out of this alienation, would be holding a conference in Vancouver to discuss several options: 1) to continue as a lobby group to advance western interests; 2) to work within an existing federal party (his Progressive Conservatives) to advance those interests; or 3) to form a new party in the third party tradition that characterizes both western and Quebec politics.
I invited Mulroney to send his most respected cabinet minister, then-deputy prime minister Don Mazankowski — whom westerners greatly admired — to make the case for option 2. Mulroney replied that he was convinced we had already decided to pursue option 3 — which was not in fact the case — and that under no circumstances would he send Mazankowski to our proposed conference. He also declared that he would forbid his western MPS or anyone else connected to the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to attend.
Six years later, Mulroney was out of office and his party was reduced from 156 to two seats in the House of Commons, with the western Reform Party and Quebec’s Bloc Québécois playing a major role in this political debacle. No wonder Brian Mulroney had no use for me or the Reform Party.
But that being said, I wish to acknowledge that there is much that is positive to be said about Brian Mulroney’s legacy and contributions to Canada. If the only thing he and his administration ever did was to reverse the traditional Conservative opposition to free trade and to secure the Canada-u.s. Free Trade Agreement — an agreement that has contributed immeasurably to Canada’s economic prosperity and the jobs and incomes of millions of Canadians — that would be sufficient to rank him with John A. Macdonald, Wilfred Laurier and Mackenzie King as a “nation builder.”
Mulroney was less successful on the fiscal and constitutional fronts. He ran large deficits despite increasing taxes, including introducing the GST. And he was unsuccessful in securing the implementation of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown constitutional accords, both of which sought to address the distinctive concerns and aspirations of Quebec while failing to recognize or address constitutionally the distinctive concerns and aspirations of other regions of the country, such as the West.
Be that as it may, we need to be reminded that politics is and should be about more than partisan positions on social and economic issues or, in Canada’s case, federal-provincial relations. It is also about personal relations, and on this front there is much to admire about Brian Mulroney.
While I had no personal relationship with him, I understood from members of his caucus and staff that he gave special attention to each one on a personal basis: remembering birthdays and special occasions, inquiring about their families and personal well-being, and doing so genuinely and consistently.
Most significantly, this attention was not confined to those of his own camp, but extended to those outside it and even those in opposing political camps. The daughter of one of my closest associates, a man who played a key role in the two federal election campaigns that elevated Reform and decimated Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative party, died tragically of cancer in her early 20s. Who was one of the very first people to call my colleague personally to provide sympathy and consolation? Brian Mulroney was.
Today, polarization, political correctness, and cancel culture are poisoning the political arena by preventing or destroying personal relationships among leaders, supporters, and commentators who disagree with each other. To quote a 19th-century commentator on bitter divisions within religious communities, one yearns for a day when those who passionately hold different opinions on important issues “will learn to bear with one another, and to recognize each in the other the necessary complements of their own one-sidedness.”
Perhaps the passing of Brian Mulroney, and the recognition of the priority he gave to personal relationships as distinct from political relations, will contribute to the dawning of such a new day. If so, that may well become his most memorable legacy.
BRIAN WAS ONE OF CANADA’S GREAT CHANGE-MAKERS, DETERMINED TO MOVE THE COUNTRY FORWARD AND WITH AN INSTINCT TO RESPECT DIFFERENCES AND AN EXTRAORDINARY CAPACITY TO RECONCILE. — Joe Clark, Canada’s 16th prime minister