New Book on Canada's Ex-PM is Dynamite

Politics International Politics
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This book is dynamite. Although Mulroney is reviled by many Canadians, his blunt, rude, off-the-cuff commments are spot on. I would take this “rude Irishman” anyday over the current group in Ottawa. He worked his way up from a humble working-class Quebec background to become one of Canada’s most "internationally" respected PMs.

[i]A spokesman for Brian Mulroney said the ailing former prime minister feels “devastated” and “betrayed” by the release of a tell-all book by Peter C. Newman. Luc Lavoie said Monday that Mulroney was stunned to turn on the television and learn that what he considered his private reflections would be on store shelves this week

The material in the book is based on 330 conversations with Mulroney that took place over 20 years. They include crude comments about his successor Kim Campbell, startling admissions about the Meech Lake Accord and vicious outbursts at the media and anyone else he felt deprived him of his legacy as, he believes, the greatest prime minister since John A. Macdonald.

Mulroney served as prime minister from Sept. 1984 to June 1993. After he left office, his Progressive Conservative party was trounced by Jean Chr

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[quote=“Chewycorns”]

On Ottawa: "This place is sick. They’re all married to one another. They’re shacked up with one another. Their wives are on the payroll of CBC. It’s just awful, the goddamned incest here." :bravo: :bravo: :bravo: :bravo: :smiling_imp: [/quote]

I respect Mulroney as at least a leader who had vision. I wouldn’t deny for a minute that he did good things for Canada. But I wonder about your delight over that quote. I’d be very interested in your opinions about who Bush had in FEMA. Putting “Brownie” in such a position…now that is sick.

Also, to blame the Conservatives 93 election defeat on Kim Cambpell’s attention to her Russian bf is laughable. She could have been dating Jesus Christ and it wouldn’t have saved the PC’s fortunes considering the disdain most Canadians had for Mulroney’s government at the time.

My sandbox psychology opinion of Mulroney…a man bitterly frustrated over comparisons to Trudeau during his tenure as PM. Regardless of your opinions of PET (I believe I know yours, Chewy), I don’t think you can deny that he would have been a hard act to follow.

I’m not on an anti-Mulroney bent here. I think his legacy of launching the FTA is one of the most significant achievements of a Canadian leader.

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[quote=“thebiggestnose”] Regardless of your opinions of PET (I believe I know yours, Chewy), I don’t think you can deny that he would have been a hard act to follow.
[/quote]

Actually, I have a lot of respect for Trudeau. He went to the same school I did, and whether you agree or disagree with him, he was erudite, suave and flamboyant to the point of arrogance. In other words, he was not your average boring Canadian politician. However, his legacy has arguably damaged Canada. Pierre Elliott Trudeau left Canada with a crippling debt, an ever-expanding government, and a variety of other misguided policies. Mulroney, on the other hand, set the groundwork for 21st century prosperity (still a long way to go) and deficit-free governing with North American free trade and the GST.

Here are three areas where Trudeau damaged the economic and social well-being of Canada:

National Unity

In the 1980 Quebec referendum, the separatists were beaten on Trudeau’s pledge of “renewed federalism.” Two years later, he patriated the British North America Act from London without Quebec’s participation or consent.

Whenever his constitution was threatened by any change or reform, as it was during the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accord debates, he vigorously undermined support for the changes. As written by Peter C. Newman, “A member of the French-Canadian Establishment by birth, upbringing and bank account, Trudeau paradoxically became the embodiment of populist defiance.”

The Debt

During his sixteen years in power, Trudeau turned the nearly balanced books he had inherited into a $38.5 billion deficit and increased the national debt by 1,200 per cent, from $17 billion to more than $200 billion. By the time Mulroney took over, less than 15 per cent of the annual budget was made up of discretionary spending, so that he was robbed of any manoeuvring room to pay for the many promises he had made.

Politics of Redistribution

As said by Newt Gingrich, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, “We must focus on the creation of wealth, not the redistribution of wealth.” Unfortunately, Mr. Trudeau did the opposite, and thanks to his “supreme law,” the large-scale redistribution of wealth is evident still.

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