Mourning the Man and Who We Were Then

This is one of those times I will always remember where I was when I heard.?When I heard we lost Canada’s last great statesman and the most consequential Prime Minister our country has known.? ?

?As a political junkie and Poli Sci major in the 80’s, I grew up a student of Mulroney politics and philosophy, then, in a stroke of good fortune, landed a job in his administration immediately after graduation.? It is not lost on me that it was an extraordinary opportunity.? It was and, and will remain, one of my proudest career moments.? Brian Mulroney played an integral role in shaping my view of both politics and leadership.? To say I am saddened at his passing would be an understatement.

There are many adjectives used to describe the man, and this week we have heard them all positive and negative.? My list is long: Visionary; Progressive; Statesman; Nation Builder; Environmentalist; Negotiator; Gifted Orator; Humanitarian; Bon Vivant; and Feminist.

When ‘the boy from Baie Comeau’ became the leader of the Progressive Conservative party in 1993, he promised “together we are going to build a brand new party and a brand new country”, and he spent the next decade doing just that, winning the largest majority government in Canadian history in 1984 then embarking on a fundamental rethinking of Canada and our place in the world, in brave and sometimes controversial ways.?? I like to say, this was the era when we came of age as a nation both on the global stage and here at home where we were forced to face matters of real significance to the federation.?

In all that he endeavoured, he swung for the fences, bravely showing us our potential as a country. He represented Canada on the world stage and influenced matters of global import with a gravitas Canada had not previously seen, and I would offer, has not since.? ?Transforming the economic landscape by opening global markets, first by brokering the Free Trade Agreement with our largest trading partner and kickstarting the NAFTA talks that led to the trilateral accord eventually signed by my old boss the Minister of International Trade, Tom Hockin, and Mulroney’s successor as Prime Minister, the Rt Honourable Kim Campbell.

?He negotiated the first-ever, and arguably most successful environmental treaty, the Canada-United States Air Quality Agreement (known as the Acid Rain Accord) in 1991.? As my nephew, an NDP supporter said, “whatever his faults, Brian Mulroney can lay claim to saving the ozone layer”.

?He helped lead the fight to free Nelson Mandela and end apartheid in South Africa, notwithstanding the pressure from superpowers USA and Great Britain, both of whom given their standing in the world, by all rights should have laid claim to the feat the he achieved; and he played an unprecedented role for Canada, sitting at the table alongside the world’s most powerful leaders united in their collective ambition to end the Cold War.

?Here at home, he reshaped the way we serviced and managed our national deficit. In my opinion, the introduction of a new federal tax regime, the Goods & Services Tax (GST) was a master class in political courage as well as a demonstration of policy over politics, and service over self. ??

In the business of politics often the hardest choices are between doing what is popular and what is right.? It takes a brave leader to choose the latter when the two don’t align.? Mulroney’s efforts and failures to reimagine the constitutional powers of the provinces first through The Meech Lake Accord and then the Charlottetown Accord, even as populist regional movements out of the west and Quebec began to take shape, serve as testaments to that. ?

?We all benefitted from Mulroney’s selection and support of female leaders in service of our country. ?This wasn’t treated as a publicity stunt or even heavily promoted.? It just was.? As a young female politico, the exposure I got to the several incredible women he appointed to powerful cabinet portfolios in his administration left an indelible mark on me.? Remarkable women like Kim Campbell, Flora MacDonald, Barbara McDougall, Monique Vezina, Pat Carney, Mary Collins, Pauline Browes, Shirley Martin, and the list goes on, running Foreign Affairs, Justice, National Defence, International Trade and Energy, to name but a few.? ??A fact I contemplated just the day before his passing when I watched the Rosie Abella documentary, Without Precedent, The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella in which he figured prominently for his support of this influential Supreme Court Justice (a must watch).?

?Mulroney’s penchant for building relationships - befriending, counselling and encouraging leaders of all political stripes here at home and abroad, transcended the divisive partisanship that sadly, defines our politics today.? ?

?Just as he proved himself our country’s greatest leader, so too he reminded us that even leaders are only human.? The Air Bus controversy after his time in office never quite went away.? But to quote my old friend, John Ibbitson in a recent Globe & Mail piece, “fair minded history, while remembering that asterisk on his honour, will remember also his courage, how willing he was to take on the most unpopular of causes, and shoulder the resulting opprobrium, if he felt that cause was necessary and just.? And it will remember how intensely he fought to bequeath a Canada at peace with itself and proud in the world.? He didn’t quite get there, it was not for lack of trying.”

?When Brian Mulroney bid farewell with his unmistakable rendition of ‘When Irish Eyes are Smiling’ exactly 10 years after winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative party, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.? We all knew it was the end of something special.? This week, as I mourn the man, I also mourn so much of what he represented, the importance of Canada in the world under his leadership, and how we were forced to contemplate a country where all felt at home. I mourn what politics was in that time - defined by courage and collaboration, not the populism and divisiveness of today.? My hope is that this week serves as a reminder of what we have been and could be; what our nation’s leadership has been and could be.? And perhaps with that reflection will come some aspiration to get back to that place.

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