The news of Brian Mulroney’s death on February 29 was followed quickly by the usual flood of public statements of mourning from politicians, public figures and media pundits. Mulroney was remembered as a “transformative leader”, an environmental champion, an anti-apartheid supporter, a prime minister who “had guts” as the Toronto Sun headline put it. The Globe and Mail’s initial headline announcing his death, which they quickly retracted, called Mulroney “one of Canada’s most divisive prime ministers.” His state funeral is sure to produce more of the same fluff and idolatry.
The historical revisionism on display is breathtaking. Almost completely whitewashed from Mulroney’s memorials have been any references to the policies and politics that made him the most despised politician in Canada. Mulroney is being sanctified as transformative and endearing. But his actual record shows he was a petty and paranoid crook whose political project was to take from the poor and give to the rich.
Born in Baie-Comeau, Quebec, a small rural town, Mulroney eventually left to go to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for his education. In university, Mulroney joined the campus Progressives Conservative (PC) club and began a life of rightwing activism. Mulroney worked on PC campaigns while eventually getting his law degree. Mulroney then became an employer-side labour lawyer who was recognized for helping to break up several high-profile strikes. Mulroney’s work as anti-union lawyer ingratiated him to the rich and powerful.
Mulroney leveraged those contacts to run for the PC leadership in 1976 after Robert Stanfield resigned. While failing to win, Mulroney earned the nickname of “Cadillac candidate” because he far outspent his opponents. After his unsuccessful bid, he became a vice-president at the Iron Ore Company of Canada, where he continued to expand his network of business contacts while taking full advantage of his company jet.
Embodying the political will of big business
Mulroney played a key role in ousting Joe Clark as leader of the PC Party and was able to win the ensuing 1983 leadership contest. The Conservative party was moving increasingly to the right, adopting what would soon become neoliberal orthodoxy on economic questions. Mulroney stood for the dramatic slashing of taxes on the wealthy and corporations and the gutting of social programs. More than any other prime minister, Mulroney embodied the political will of big business.
Not long after his victory, Trudeau stepped down as prime minister and was replaced by John Turner, who immediately called an election. The 1984 election was a referendum on the Liberal Party, which had dominated federal politics from the mid-1960s. Mulroney made a great show of slamming the Liberals for their corruption and patronage, all while setting up an extensive patronage machine himself in anticipation of a victory. Mulroney rode a wave of anti-Liberal and anti-Trudeau sentiment to the largest electoral victory in Canadian history. The PCs won 211 seats with over 50 percent of the popular vote.
The Mulroney government’s fall budget announcement in 1984, shortly after its election in September, signalled that the business class was firmly in the driver seat. Spending cuts of over $3.4 billion were announced, targeting consumer oil subsidies, the CBC and federal public sector workers. The government also announced it would undertake a broad privatization program. All of this was couched in language of fighting the deficit.
Initially Mulroney did not implement massive tax cuts, and in fact, raised taxes in some areas. But by 1986, his government began to cut taxes on business. Over Mulroney’s time in office the corporate tax rate was slashed by eight percent, a dramatic reduction. Both the Chretien Liberals and Harper Conservatives would follow suit, reducing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent.
Mulroney is better known for the introduction of the Goods and Sales Tax (GST) in 1991. The much hated GST, replaced what was known as the Manufacturer’s Sales Tax (MST), a federal tax applied at the wholesale level. The MST, introduced in 1924, had long been a thorn in the side of businesses that were focused on exports. The GST was first proposed in 1989 at a rate of 9 percent, but implemented in 1991 at 7 percent. This was a flat sales tax that disproportionately hit working class consumers. Its arrival landed squarely in one of Canada’s worst recessions. The GST was more regressive than MST and was deeply unpopular.
Mulroney initiated a massive shift in the tax burden from the wealthy and corporations to the working class. He also paved the way for the fiscal gap, where government revenue steeply declined as a percentage of the GDP.
Mulroney’s free trade policies catastrophic for workers
Mulroney’s tenure in office was probably most defined by the issue of free trade. Soon after elected he signaled the country would be dismantling barriers to American business investment and would be open for business.
In 1988, the government signed the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA), which dramatically liberalized investments and trade, eliminated tariffs, while increasing cross-border competition. The result was nothing short of catastrophe for workers. 334,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in Canada between 1988 to 1994, equivalent to 17 percent of total manufacturing employment in the year before CUFTA came into effect. Most of the business class loved it not only because it increased profits, but because it was an instrument to attack the social safety net and the organized working class. Free trade was a key weapon in going after unemployment insurance, Crown corporations, social program spending and collective bargaining gains.
The 1988 election revolved around the question of free trade. Mulroney was determined to push the deal through a reluctant Senate. Mulroney painted a rosy picture of free trade: it would lead to more jobs, lower prices and a growing economy. But the reality would turn out to be quite different. While Mulroney won a second majority, it was reduced. The Progressive Conservatives lost 600,000 votes. A majority of voters cast their ballots for the two parties voicing opposition to free trade, the Liberals and NDP.
Almost as soon as CUFTA was signed, negotiations for a more expansive free trade deal began with the U.S. and Mexico. While the North American Free Trade Agreement came into effect under the Chretien government (who broke his promise to backtrack on NAFTA) it was negotiated under Mulroney’s tenure.
The impacts of NAFTA have been manifold. It accelerated privatization and deregulation at all levels of government; decimated Canada’s manufacturing sector; kneecapped the bargaining power of unions; undermined environmental protections; and gave corporations undemocratic power to pursue their interest through the investor-state dispute mechanism.
As Maude Barlow recently noted, the manufacturing sector in Canada accounted for 20 percent of GDP before Mulroney’s free trade project; now, it accounts for just 10 percent. Mulroney’s pushing of free trade helped usher in a less democratic state, where inequality has widened and the rich are more powerful than ever.
Privatization bonanza
Mulroney’s time in office should also be seen as ushering in an era of massive privatizations. Over the course of his time in office, twenty-three Crown corporations and government-owned entities were privatized.
In his first term, Mulroney privatized fourteen Crown corporations and government-owned businesses worth $1.3 billion, including De Havilland Aircraft of Canada, Fishery Products International Ltd, Canada Development Corporation, and Connaught Laboratories – the latter of which could have played a vital role during the recent COVID pandemic. In 1986, Mulroney initiated a stealth privatization of Canada Post by contracting out rural and urban postal services to the private sector. Thousands of postal outlets were shifted to the private sector and over 10,000 jobs were lost.
In 1988, the Mulroney government began the privatization of Air Canada (completed in 1989). In the process, $473 million in government assets were sold off, the largest privatization in Canadian history at the time. The result has been a disaster for airline travelers and taxpayers. Not only has Air Canada had to be bailed out with hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds multiple times, service for travelers and working conditions for workers have dramatically worsened.
Mulroney’s government privatized Petro-Canada in 1991, which at the time had assets worth over $10 billion (the government maintained a sizeable ownership stake until 2004). Mulroney’s government also paved the way for the privatization of CN Rail. Mulroney appointed Paul Tellier to head the Crown corporation in 1992 with the intention of prepping it for its eventual privatization. Tellier laid off staff and rationalized operations in order to make the Crown corporation attractive for investors. The privatization was completed under the Liberals in 1995.
Attacks on workers
Mulroney’s time as prime minister was marked by an aggressive attack on workers. The federal government used back-to-work legislation nine times between 1985 and 1992. Dockworkers in BC, rail workers, federal hospital workers, postal workers and public service workers were all subjected to legislation that curbed their collective bargaining rights.
It wasn’t just Mulroney’s liberal use of back-to-work legislation, but also the terms of that legislation that marked his government’s harshness. Routinely, his government enacted legislation with punitive terms such as harsh fines, wage cuts and concessions. Mulroney also used the unilateral power of designation to strip large swaths of the federal public service staff of their right to strike.
The government froze salaries for federal employees in 1991 and ushered in below-inflation wage restraints for the years following. Mulroney also used an omnibus bill in 1991 to further erode federal public sector workers’ union power. This provoked the massive PSAC federal public service workers strike of that year. Over 100,000 workers defied the government, many of whom had not been on strike before. The strike saw overwhelming public support against Mulroney’s draconian actions. While the strike was ultimately defeated by back-to-work legislation, the strike helped to build the union and did incredible damage to Mulroney’s standing.
Mulroney’s assault on workers came in many forms. In 1990, Mulroney ended federal funding to the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program. In 1975, the federal direct funding of UI was at 51 percent; in 1990 it was at 17 percent. The ending of UI funding by the government put the program on course for a major restructuring. In 1993, the government reduced the benefit rate to 57 percent from 60 percent and increased eligibility requirements. Mulroney also introduced changes that made those who quit without cause ineligible.
Mulroney’s attacks on UI had a dramatic impact on the working class that was entering into one of the deepest recessions in Canadian history. Before the 1993 reforms, over 70 percent of unemployed were able to access EI regular benefits. Starting in 1993 that number dipped below 60 percent and has kept falling ever since. The federal Liberals would build on these attacks and radically reform UI into the modern Employment Insurance program that has scant coverage and much lower benefit rates. The attacks on unemployment insurance have dramatically weakened the bargaining power of all workers.
Mulroney’s budgets routinely benefited the rich and saw dramatic cuts to social programs. Cuts for programs benefiting women’s groups, the poor, Indigenous communities, housing, the environment, childcare, healthcare, students, and seniors were in nearly every budget. Transfers to the provinces for social programs were dramatically reduced.
But after his second term, those cuts became more dramatic. In 1989, the government introduced dramatic cuts at ViaRail, slashing its budget in half – eliminating service for large swaths of the country and cutting over 2,000 jobs. The 1992 and 1993 budgets slashed spending on social housing by one billion dollars over five years.
Mulroney should also not be simply remembered as an economic conservative with more liberal sensibilities on social issues. Under Mulroney, the government took almost no action to address the growing HIV/AIDS crisis. It wasn’t until 1990, after years of protests and sustained pressure that the government began to carve out a strategy to address the HIV/AIDS crisis. Mulroney tried to re-criminalize abortion. In 1989 introduced legislation banning abortions in cases where the health of the mother was not at risk. The bill failed in the Senate and never became law. He attempted to keep marijuana in the same legal category as heroin via legislation. And he allowed a free vote on capital punishment which almost saw the reintroduction of the death penalty in Canada.
Federalism, nationalism and colonialism
Mulroney’s time in office is also defined by the national question and regional tensions. The passage of the Constitution Act, 1982 did not go over well in Quebec under the then Parti Québécois (PQ) government. The PQ refused passage of the Constitution Act and Premier Levesque ended up endorsing the Conservatives in the 1984 election.
Mulroney sought to heal these rifts through the Meech Lake Accord, which would allow Quebec to endorse the 1982 constitutional amendments. At the heart of the negotiations were questions of recognizing “Quebec as a distinct society” and the limits of the power of the federal government vis-à-vis the provinces. While some consensus was reached amongst premiers over the Accord, it ultimately failed to be ratified in the provincial legislatures of Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba. Meech Lake was also fiercely criticized by Indigenous leaders who felt the Accord ignored their rights. The collapse of the Accord rejuvenated nationalism in Quebec and laid the basis for the rise of the reactionary right in the Western provinces. The left was split on the question. The failure of the Charlottetown Accords in 1992 only accelerated these dynamics.
Unfolding at the height of this constitutional debate was the Siege of Kanehsatà:ke, better known across colonial Canada as the Oka Crisis. The Club de golf d’Oka was constructed on Kanehsatà:ke land. In 1989, the club announced it was expanding its golf course. Protests by Mohawk people led to a delay in the expansion of the golf course, but by the following year the courts had cleared the way, and the town of Oka pushed forward with additional developments.
Facing no other option, in March Mohawk land defenders began erecting barricades on roads to halt the development of the land. After escalating threats and court orders failed to get the land defenders to back down, police raided the barricades on July 11. The armed assault led to one officer’s death. Mohawk activists also occupied the Mercier Bridge.
The standoff with the Sûreté du Québec intensified over the next few weeks. The Quebec government and the media stoked anti-Indigenous sentiments while Mulroney moved 4,000 troops into the area in early August. Premier Robert Bourassa, a close ally of Mulroney, invoked the National Defence Act at the end of August. The military surrounded the Mohawk community in Kanehsatà:ke. Fearing state repression, some families attempt to flee Kahnawáːke, only to be met by reactionary anti-Indigenous protesters throwing stones. One Mohawk elder died as a result of the melee.
The standoff continued until the end of September. While the military intervention solved nothing, it did send a violent message to Indigenous peoples across the Canadian state: if you stand up for your rights and land claims, you will be met by the full military force of the Canadian state.
On the East Coast, Mulroney’s time in office became synonymous with the collapse of the cod fisheries. Decades of overfishing by large commercial trawlers and government mismanagement had led to a steep decline in the cod stocks. While Mulroney cannot be solely blamed for this, he shares responsibility for continuing to mismanage the fisheries to the point of oblivion. The 1992 moratorium on the cod fisheries was brutal for workers. Its sudden announcement with little planning angered many. 40,000 people lost their jobs. The cuts to UI and social services meant those workers had a much harder time making ends meet. Mulroney’s name was lower than dirt in Atlantic Canada.
The most hated man in the country
The outcry over deep government cuts, a steep recession, free trade, GST, the slashing of taxes on the rich and corporations, Oka, the cod moratorium and the rifts created by the failed constitutional amendments had sunk Mulroney’s popularity. Never before or since has a Prime Minister been so hated. Between 1990 and his resignation in 1993, Mulroney’s job approval rating hovered around 12 percent – by far the lowest approval rating of any Prime Minister in Canada’s history. Wherever Mulroney went he was dogged by protests. It turns out Mulroney was not really the divisive figure that Globe and Mail AI-generated headline made him out to be. Rather he was a unifying figure, in that everyone from coast-to-coast-to coast came together to hate his guts.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Mulroney resigned before the 1993 election. That election saw the PCs wiped off the electoral map, only returning two MPs. It was the single most humiliating defeat of a governing party in Canada. The PCs would never recover, and the rump party would eventually join with the Canadian Alliance (formerly the Reform Party) to create the Conservative Party of Canada.
After his retirement from politics, Mulroney retreated into the bosom of big business which he so diligently served. In 1995, allegations of corruption surfaced in regard to kickbacks Mulroney received. Under Mulroney’s tenure he had arranged for the purchase of Airbus planes by Air Canada. For this, Mulroney received $300,000 in cash from Karlheinz Schreiber, who acted as a go-between for the kickbacks. Mulroney’s story changed over the years from denial to claiming the cash was for a pasta business. But years of investigation and inquiries show that this was clearly a naked graft. The story remained in the public eye for decades.
Another post-prime minister scandal that dogged Mulroney was Peter Newman’s book, “The Secret Mulroney Tapes.” The book, based on many hours of recorded conversations with Mulroney, revealed the former PM as the petty, paranoid, mean-spirited, vainglorious man he really was. Among the many nasty things he had to say about political opponents and allies, he referred to Liberals as Nazis, Trudeau was an asshole, Jean Chretien was a bastard, Joe Clark was stupid. Montrealers were ungrateful assholes. The press were corrupt failures. He also heaped blame on Kim Campbell for the 1993 election because she was too busy “screwing her Russian boyfriend.” David Peterson, the former Premier of Ontario, who worked closely with Mulroney once said of him, “he was a pathological liar.” This certainly came across in the tapes as did, according to Conservative columnist Jeffrey Simpson, the sense that he was “impossibly vain.”
A white-washed legacy
It is almost comical to hear the mainstream media and politicians avoid the basic facts about Mulroney in their remembrances. Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair called him one of a kind. Ottawa-Vanier MP Mona Fortier called him a class act. Liberal MP Anthony Housefather called him a true gentleman. Steve Paikin, in a particularly asinine piece, decried the loss of civility in politics with the passing of Mulroney.
There has been a monumental effort by the political class and media to rewrite history since Mulroney’s death. His ruling class assault on workers and social programs is now a “transformational” legacy. His petty and paranoid personal approach to politics is now presented as a charming and down to earth style of politics. His corruption, brushed under the table. The effort to paint him as a climate champion and anti-apartheid activist is particularly galling.
While he did sign the Montreal Protocols, it is ridiculous to think that those protocols were the result of Mulroney’s effort. The environmental movement pushed for years to demand action on the ozone layer reduction due to chlorofluorocarbons. Even elements of the big business community realized that this was bad for business. Likewise, the 1991 Air Quality Agreement between the US and Canada was less the result of Mulroney and more the pressure from activists coupled with a conscious understanding from a wing of big business that this was not in their interests.
Mulroney’s supposed action on greenhouse gas reduction is a myth. He opened up the oil and gas sector to the free market, his free trade reforms unleashed carbon emissions to unprecedented levels, and his gutting of services like Via Rail have hindered the ability to create low emissions transportation infrastructure. Rather than being a climate champion, Mulroney’s market reforms actually accelerated the climate crisis.
Speaking on CBC Radio’s “The House” shortly after Mulroney’s death, Joe Clark was asked if he remembered if there was anything that Mulroney did or said during the 1980s and 1990s to help cinch the deal to end Apartheid in South Africa. His answer was, “No, but he did have a good sense of humour.” Clark’s inability to point to concrete things reveals the lack of substance in the claims that Mulroney was an anti-Apartheid activist.
Between Mulroney, Thatcher and Reagan, Mulroney was by far the best on this question, though that is a low bar. Mulroney’s belated stated opposition to Apartheid policies in South Africa was the result of two main factors: movements on the ground in Canada and South Africa. By the 1980s, the movement in South Africa against Apartheid was on the march. As John Saul notes, capital was beginning to realize that the Apartheid state was destined to lose its struggle against anti-Apartheid forces. Mulroney’s position tailed this sentiment amongst business leaders.
While Mulroney brought in sanctions against South Africa, they were among the weakest in the world. Even the U.S. had stronger sanctions. Trade during the sanction years still totaled $1.6 billion. Mulroney also refused to cut diplomatic ties. He also scolded Oliver Tando for supporting terrorism when visited Canada in 1987. It is insulting to transform Mulroney into an anti-Apartheid champion: not only does this belie his more cautious approach to the question, but it renders invisible the countless activists and groups in South Africa and Canada who actually forced change and dismantled Apartheid.
Mulroney’s actual legacy
It is to be expected that the media and political class will rewrite history to serve their own interests. Mulroney dutifully waged class war on behalf of big business and many of the changes he initiated were seen through and deepened by successive governments. He is rightly understood as the prime minister who, like Thatcher and Reagan, ushered in the neoliberal age. At every turn he sided with the rich, powerful and oppressors. His last public speech was an ardent defence of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
In a roundabout way, Mulroney himself gave himself the most accurate tribute.
Shortly after announcing the founding of the new Mulroney Institute at St. Francis Xavier in 2016, it was revealed that Mulroney had raised over $60 million dollars in funds for the institute from scandal-ridden billionaires. Mulroney raised most of the funds himself, “jet-setting across the world at his own expense to drum up cash from his wealthy friends and business associates.” The donors included the anti-climate change billionaire David Koch, Galen Weston, multiple people named in the Paradise Papers for tax avoidance, one individual caught up in a massive bribery scheme outlined in the Panama Papers, big banks, and an arms dealer who was involved in a major kickback scandal.
Mulroney knew which side he was on, and we shouldn’t forget it.
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