Brian Mulroney: The Progressive Conservative Party

In 1984 Brian Mulroney led the Progressive Conservative party to a resounding electoral victory, gaining more than fifty percent of the vote, a rare feat in Canadian federal politics (Blake, 2007: 3). He promised to take the country, which was then suffering from an economic recession, in a new direction, as politicians often do. By the time he left office in 1993 he was one of the most unpopular Prime Ministers in Canadian history. But the politics of the time do not speak to the breadth and depth of the changes Mulroney made to the Canada, and when we look back at his legacy we can see how even though some of his policies were unpopular in the moment, they stood the test of time (Hatherly, 2015). Together we are going to look at some of the …show more content…
Though it was not a campaign plank doing the 84’ election, it soon became apparent to Mulroney that Free Trade with the Americans was something to be desired, given support from various economic and business interests (Hart, 2007: 66). During the so-called “shamrock summit” with Ronald Reagan in Montreal Quebec, the two proposed an outline for a future free-trade agreement between Canadian and the United States (Krauss, 1989: 48). From the start the deal had a rocky reception, with the NDP and Liberals rejecting it outright, and Liberal leader John Turner promising to “tear up the deal” if he was elected. While Canadians were mostly split on the deal overall, those that opposed it did so with a fire those who supported it could not muster. This came to a head when the Senate, by this point a primarily liberal led institution due to years of Trudeau appointments, vowed not to approve the free trade agreement unless Mulroney won a mandate in a federal election (Krauss, 1989: …show more content…
Mulroney felt he had a clear shot at bi-partisan support given the deal was originally supported by former Liberal Finance Minister Donald MacDonald who advocated for a “leap of faith” on free trade (Sears, 2012). In the end despite the gnashing of teeth by labour lobbyists, the Mulroney conservatives were able to hold onto a slim majority with 169 seats, but only 43% of the vote. It was not a strong mandate, but it was enough for them to push free trade through (Sears, 2012). Later when Mulroney helped organize a broader agreement that included Mexico, the Liberal leader Jean Chretien made a lot of bluster about renegotiating the agreements, but when given the power to he opted to keep them (Ibbitson, 2012). Free trade, like the GST stood the test of