(Ottawa) Brian Mulroney was the “little guy from Baie-Comeau” and Jean Chrétien, the “little guy from Shawinigan”. The two men rubbed shoulders on Parliament Hill for a good part of their political careers. For Mr. Chrétien, his opponent’s greatest contribution was to revive the Progressive Conservative Party and, in particular, to make inroads in Quebec.
“It’s a sad day, the departure of Brian Mulroney,” Mr. Chrétien reacted Thursday evening in the foyer of the House of Commons where he had taken the trouble to come.
“He made his mark as prime minister. There is no doubt. »
The former Liberal prime minister, who celebrated his 90th birthday in January, did not fail to point out that he had had Mr. Mulroney as an adversary throughout almost his entire political career without ever crossing swords with him in a debate of the leaders.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien paid tribute to Brian Mulroney on Thursday.
I liked him as an opponent, but I didn’t run elections with him. I think of his grief and mine. Probably both of us would have liked to have a fight against each other. We teased each other in the bedroom about that.
Jean Chrétien, former Liberal Prime Minister of Canada
Brian Mulroney left the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in February 1993, less than a year before the elections that would bring Mr. Chrétien to power. The recession, the constitutional failure of the Meech Lake Accord and the adoption of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) a few years earlier had made him unpopular.
Different methods, same goal
“We didn’t always agree, that’s quite obvious,” admitted Mr. Chrétien. But we often agreed. He believed like me in Canada. He was a federalist. To maintain unity, we may have had different methods, but the goal was the same. »
On the budgetary question, they certainly did not see things the same way. During Mr. Mulroney’s second term, the public debt increased and, after his election, Mr. Chrétien rushed to reduce it.
“But I did it!” he exclaimed. I reduced the deficit and he predicted I couldn’t do it. We did it in three and a half years and we became an example around the world before falling into deficit again with the Conservatives. »
Although they have been fierce political adversaries, the two men took the time to speak on the phone to discuss and had recently given each other news. They used to tease each other.
I made a joke that we were both from rural Quebec and had followed the family tradition. He said, “No, not me. My father, in Baie-Comeau, was a liberal!”
Jean Chrétien, former Liberal Prime Minister of Canada
“He himself came from a minority. He was an Anglo from Quebec, and I was a Franco in the rest of the country,” he recalled.
Revive the party
This Quebecer, son of Irish immigrants, “deeply believed in the Francophonie throughout the country,” took care to underline the president of the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities (FCFA), Liane Roy.
While everyone remembered some of Mr. Mulroney’s greatest achievements such as his fight against apartheid in South Africa, Mr. Chrétien believes that his greatest contribution was in the Canadian political world.
“To revive the Conservative Party, particularly in Quebec. Conservatives did not exist in Quebec. And I think most of his friends voted federally Liberal, the Union nationale in Quebec. Even though we discussed it a few times. »