Brian Mulroney (1939-2024) | A fall and a rise

On December 13, 1979, the contemporary history of Canada and Quebec was turned upside down by a seemingly innocuous decision.

A few months earlier, Prime Minister Joe Clark had refused to grant the six Social Credit MPs recognized party status in the Commons, a pressing request from their leader Fabien Roy. No research budget or questions in the House for these elected officials from rural Quebec. The Social Crediters will soon take revenge. Holders of the balance of power, their abstention during the vote on Finance Minister John Crosbie’s budget caused the fall of Joe Clark’s minority government, nine months after his election.

What would have happened if the verdict on December 13 had been different? We’ll never know. But if he had survived, the government should not have called a general election. Pierre Trudeau, who had resigned, would not have become prime minister again in February 1980. Without Trudeau, the result of the 1980 referendum could have been different, but above all, the unilateral patriation of the Constitution in 1982 would not have taken place. There would have been no Meech Lake Accord in 1987 and therefore no constitutional failure three years later. Jacques Parizeau’s Parti Québécois would not have had the same momentum for the 1994 general elections. The Canada of today would undoubtedly be very different.

Joe Clark’s leadership is very fragile. He can’t control his caucus. A group of deputies, defying his authority, buys a gas station for the pleasure of selling gasoline by the gallon, defying the application of the metric system, endorsed by Clark. Faced with evidence of a putsch, Mulroney began to organize a second leadership race, this time determined not to make the same mistakes as his first attempt. His old friends Fred Doucet, Peter White, Michel Cogger and Jean Bazin surround him. He also joins long-time curators: Guy Charbonneau, Charlie McMillan, Sam Wakim and Frank Moores. Organizers arrive, Pierre Claude Nolin, Rodrigue Pageau and Jean-Yves Lortie.

Freed from his commitment to Iron Ore, Mulroney launched a national tour to make public his positions on several national issues, even though he had been accused of lacking substance during the first race.

Its themes: research, opening to foreign markets, the Trudeau government’s energy program, reducing the size of the state. A delicate passage, however: the low price of iron led to the closure of the Schefferville mine and, consequently, of the town. Mulroney explains himself to a parliamentary committee, on site. Then works to spread his message on all platforms.

In December 1982, a statement by Mulroney left his supporters perplexed, during a joint press briefing with Joe Clark in Montreal. In front of the cameras, he asserts that the surest way to wipe out the Liberal government “is to confirm Mr. Clark’s leadership.” He had gathered his troops at his home in Westmount to warn them: they had to put away their weapons. In appearance, at least.

A difficult campaign

In January 1983, in Winnipeg, the Conservatives gathered at a convention to vote on Clark’s leadership. He only obtained 66.9% support, the same level as two years earlier. “It was not a mandate clear enough to allow for the strong unity necessary for our party,” Clark said in his speech. He decrees a new race for party leadership, and, surprise, he will be on the starting line!

Mulroney has his date with history. For his tour aimed at justifying the closure of Schefferville, he prepared his presentation for two weeks. “If I broke down in Schefferville, it would be the end,” he explained. He wants the closure to go well: residents who wish will be able to buy back their homes for a symbolic dollar, and those who leave will get their moving costs reimbursed. Mulroney takes the test.

He cut ties with Iron Ore and resigned from numerous boards of directors. To enable him to bail out as well as to show the strength of his organization, his disciples organized a “Friends of Brian Mulroney” evening at the Ritz-Carlton. Nearly 3,000 people showed up.

His candidacy as Conservative leader is no longer in doubt. “See you very, very soon,” he jokes at the end of the meeting.

In Quebec, the fight is fierce for the slates – the lists of delegates chosen in the constituencies for the congress. One episode had a significant impact: the Mulroney organization recruited a few dozen homeless people from the Old Brewery Mission. Registered as Conservative members, they were given a simple, brief mandate: to vote for delegates won by Brian Mulroney.

A race for party leadership sometimes requires compromises. Brian Mulroney speaks out against free trade, a strategic step back, because he will be a fierce supporter in the 1988 elections. The plush side of his previous campaign had harmed him – this time he will arrive in a Chevette rather than in a limousine to the convention .

On June 10, 1983, in front of the convention delegates, he provoked the delegates: “Everyone says we are a bunch of losers? For what ? » Because the Conservatives have no success in Quebec. It took four rounds of voting for Mulroney to win over Joe Clark – he obtained 54% of the vote, only 250 votes more than the short-lived prime minister.

Mulroney enters the Commons

Elmer Mackay, whose son Peter would later lead the Conservative Party, quickly gave up his seat to allow Mulroney to enter the Commons. Trudeau calls a by-election in the Nova Scotia riding of Central Nova for August 29. Contrary to tradition, the Liberals led a bitter fight against the new leader, who nevertheless won.

His entry into the House of Commons was a success. He made the MPs burst into laughter, explaining that during his campaign in Central Nova, his Liberal opponent had frequently attacked “a Quebec politician, who does not live in his riding and who stays for free in a million-dollar house.” “. He concludes by hitting the mark, in front of Pierre Trudeau. “Prime Minister, I defended you vigorously! “, he emphasizes in his memoirs.

But a more fundamental question marks his first year as a parliamentarian. On December 13, 1979, the Supreme Court invalidated seven articles of Bill 101, but at the same time granted the right to Franco-Manitobans to have trials in their language. Mulroney was the leader of the party that executed Louis Riel almost a century earlier.

The liberals see the opportunity to create a schism among the conservatives. In the House, the “first puck thrown by Trudeau”, a draft resolution where the parties could express their support for the demands of Franco-Manitobans. A “bear trap”. Mulroney convenes his caucus and warns MPs: this resolution is based on “the assumption that you are stupid enough not to realize what is happening and on the certainty that some of you will vote against it, divide the party “. “I then used foul language and told my MPs to shut their mouths,” Mulroney recounts in his autobiography. He threatens to expel any MP who votes against.

He obtained from Trudeau that the vote not be done by roll call. The Chamber is unanimous. “I gained the impression that the position I had taken was seen as more than a language issue, but rather a leadership issue,” Mulroney writes.

On February 29, 1984, Trudeau announced his departure. The new Liberal candidate John Turner is procrastinating on the question of French in Manitoba: “this is a provincial initiative and the solution must be provincial.” Turner becomes prime minister, but before leaving, Pierre Trudeau leaves him a poisonous present: 19 partisan appointments that we will hear about again.