Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has died at 84.

[Jack9000]

Brian Mulroney has died at 84  its on cbc at the moment   pm from 1984-1993   discuss.

[QuebecOverCanada]

He was the PM right before my birth.

He failed to unite Canada, but he meant well.

[Dougie93]

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal 

Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,

There is music in the midst of desolation

And a glory that shines upon our tears.

 

- Laurence Binyon

 

[PIK]

He left a better country than the one he took over. Just like what PP is going to do. R.I.P.

[CdnFox]

His first election was the first i scrutineered for.

He did better than most. He was far from perfect, but he did run structural surpluses for most of his time in office. Of course with the debt and inflation left by trudeau that still meant deficit spending to pay the interest but he left a pretty tight ship.

The free trade agreement increased our trade surplus with the US tenfold, and that made a HUGE difference for us.

And the GST proved to be a massive game changer as well. 

Of course the liberals campaigned against both but kept them.

It's a shame he got himself a little dirty at the end with airbus and the cash for services thing but lets face it - you coudln't get elected in the east if you weren't a little corrupt, ontario doesn't vote for honest people much  

And it's a shame he allowed the tradition of completely ignoring the west to continue  - that would lead to the  death of the PC party of course

But all in all he was at least a C+ or B as far as prime ministers go and he did a lot of things that he believed was right for canada even though it hurt him politically, and you absolutely have to admire that trait in a leader

[Zeitgeist]

A great orator and statesman who understood the value of Canada.  

[eyeball]

31 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

It's a shame he got himself a little dirty at the end with airbus and the cash for services thing

Especially after his rise to power with a reputation for being an anti-corruption fighter. Oh well, corruption happens.  We can't live with or without it apparently.

48 minutes ago, PIK said:

He left a better country than the one he took over. Just like what PP is going to do. R.I.P.

Interestingly enough Mulroney won power with a landslide then left it that way and Poilievre is right on queue.

[CdnFox]

Just now, eyeball said:

Especially after his rise to power with a reputation for being an anti-corruption fighter. Oh well, corruption happens.  We can't live with or without it apparently.

 

Not if you want to attract the liberal voters or parts of ontario

Quote

Interestingly enough Mulroney won power with a landslide then left it that way and Poilievre is right on queue.

No, mulroney stepped down.  he didn't run after his second term. Kim campbell took over and got slaughered.

The PC supporters can definitely be mad at him for leaving at the last minute when campbell didn't have time to get set up for the next election - but she also wasn't very good.

[eyeball]

8 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

No, mulroney stepped down.  he didn't run after his second term. Kim campbell took over and got slaughered.

Considered to be a major political realignment, it was one of the most eventful elections in Canada's history. The governing Progressive Conservatives suffered a spectacular wipeout, losing 154 of their 156 seats in one of the worst-ever defeats for a governing party in the Western world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Canadian_federal_election#:~:text=Considered to be a major,party in the Western world.

Naw, Mulroney couldn't have possibly had anything to do with it.  I'd love to see the Liberals lose it all too but what are the chances?

 

[I am Groot]

2 hours ago, PIK said:

He left a better country than the one he took over. Just like what PP is going to do. R.I.P.

He tripled immigration because his immigration minister told him the grateful immigrants would become lifelong party supporters, setting the stage for the continuing use of immigration for political gain and changing the face of Canada forever. 

[CdnFox]

50 minutes ago, eyeball said:

Considered to be a major political realignment, it was one of the most eventful elections in Canada's history. The governing Progressive Conservatives suffered a spectacular wipeout, losing 154 of their 156 seats in one of the worst-ever defeats for a governing party in the Western world.s?

 

wow - it's really weird but your link says it was kim campbell running. It's almost as if i was right all along   You dork.

 

Quote

Naw, Mulroney couldn't have possibly had anything to do with it. 

Not a loss that bad.  No, that was on her.  Other than he gave her no time.

Quote

I'd love to see the Liberals lose it all too but what are the chance

It's possible but slim.  IF trudeau pulled the same trick and bailed 6 months before an election it could happen. But as things stand its possible he could maybe go down to 20-30 seats in a 'perfect storm' but more than that is probably fantasy.  Falling to about 45 seats is more believable.

[eyeball]

17 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

wow - it's really weird but your link says it was kim campbell running. It's almost as if i was right all along

wow it's like you're arguing that I said Mulroney ran in the 1993 election. It's almost as if you're saying I said something you're saying.

21 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

Not a loss that bad.  No, that was on her.  Other than he gave her no time.

So his fault all along.

Quote

 

It's possible but slim.  IF trudeau pulled the same trick and bailed 6 months before an election it could happen. But as things stand its possible he could maybe go down to 20-30 seats in a 'perfect storm' but more than that is probably fantasy.  Falling to about 45 seats is more believable.

 

This suggests conservative voters are more easily divided and drawn towards populists.  That was underscored in the 1993 election too.   

[Zeitgeist]

Chrétien was at least as populist as Mulroney.  

[CdnFox]

3 hours ago, eyeball said:

wow it's like you're arguing that I said Mulroney ran in the 1993 election. It's almost as if you're saying I said something you're saying.

Wow - you really did actually say that   And maybe be more clear in the future if you mean something else. Its stunning how often you have to go back and unsay things 

Quote

So his fault all along.

Ahhh - forgot that grade 3 reading comprehension of yours  . Sure why not, i don't feel like explaining what english words mean to  you right now so lets go with that.

 

Quote

This suggests conservative voters are more easily divided and drawn towards populists.  That was underscored in the 1993 election too.   

No, it just suggests liberal supporters such as yourself aren't all that bright   And are a little more tribal.

Most political parties reform themselves over time and benefit greatly fom the process. But the libs just kind of stagnate.

[eyeball]

1 hour ago, CdnFox said:

you really did actually say that

I was lying 

[OftenWrong]

Not to speak ill of those who died, lest ye all cry in your morning porridge, but he decimated the Progressive Conservative party to the point they lost official party status, having only two seats in the house. Result we have the Conservative party today, initiated and run by a buncha western bible thumping preacher-men.

As Joe Clark said at the time, "They dropped the 'progressive' part".

[Dougie93]

10 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:

Not to speak ill of those who died, lest ye all cry in your morning porridge, but he decimated the Progressive Conservative party to the point they lost official party status, having only two seats in the house. Result we have the Conservative party today, initiated and run by a buncha western bible thumping preacher-men.

As Joe Clark said at the time, "They dropped the 'progressive' part".

when you compare him to a Justin Trudeau, Mulroney was absolutely the Great Statesmen

but if you compare him to Ronald Reagan & Margaret Thatcher,

Mulroney was a soft on Communism lefty progressive

[Boges]

43 minutes ago, OftenWrong said:

Not to speak ill of those who died, lest ye all cry in your morning porridge, but he decimated the Progressive Conservative party to the point they lost official party status, having only two seats in the house. Result we have the Conservative party today, initiated and run by a buncha western bible thumping preacher-men.

As Joe Clark said at the time, "They dropped the 'progressive' part".

I would suggest that's the plight of most long serving parties, people get sick of them. 

[carepov]

Here are the three things that I most admired about him as PM:

1. Strong stance against Apartheid

2. Free Trade

3. Replacing the hidden 13.5% manufacturers' sales tax with the GST.  The unpopularity of this move is the main cause of the PC subsequent downfall, however it was a great move for the country.

[SpankyMcFarland]

Mulroney’s verbal skills - he always spoke in well-formed sentences - and those brown envelopes from Mr. Schreiber led many to dismiss him as a con man, Lyin’ Brian, but he got an awful lot done: the Free Trade Agreement was a watershed moment for both Canada and the US, paving the way for NAFTA; the much maligned GST is still with us; and the US-Canada Air Quality Agreement that tamed the acid rain threat gets far less attention than it deserves. What an unlikely rise from Baie-Comeau. Was he our first PM from a working-class background? Although it’s the fate of most politicians, even prime ministers, to fade into obscurity, I think the tributes being paid to him are more than the usual boilerplate responses:

Quote

“He was prime minister for two long terms and I was an opponent of him all my political career. But in politics, opposition is opposition. It’s like playing hockey, you can fight on the ice, but you have a beer together after that,” said Chrétien.

Chrétien said he enjoyed jousting with Mulroney in the House of Commons and that they enjoyed teasing each other, even though they had “terrible disagreements” on the issues. Most importantly, Chrétien said, they both took the job of prime minister seriously, but didn’t take themselves too seriously, which allowed a friendship to flourish.

“He was himself a minority. He was anglo in Quebec while I was franco in the rest of the land. And, you know, it was possible coming from rural Quebec to move up the ladder to be prime minister of Canada, as he was, and a very successful one,” said Chrétien.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/brian-mulroney-death-politicians-reactions

 

Edited March 1 by SpankyMcFarland

[CdnFox]

11 hours ago, eyeball said:

I was lying 

Everyone takes that as a given with you - that wasn't in question. The question was did you say it, Ya did

[eyeball]

11 minutes ago, CdnFox said:

The question was did you say it, Ya did

Now you're arguing I was being honest? Bwahahaha!

You're like a tail trying to pin down it's donkey. 🙃

[August1991]

19 hours ago, QuebecOverCanada said:

He was the PM right before my birth.

He failed to unite Canada, but he meant well.

He came close - and I could argue that his goodwill with Meech made the difference for federalism in 1995.

====

I'm no Mulroney defender. I met the guy a few times in person (I'm older). Heck, Mulroney took cash in envelopes like Spiro Agnew.

Edited March 1 by August1991

[Queenmandy85]

18 hours ago, eyeball said:

Naw, Mulroney couldn't have possibly had anything to do with it.  I'd love to see the Liberals lose it all too but what are the chances?

 

Pretty good actually. I would say the crash and burn of the Liberals is a dead cert.

[Dougie93]

58 minutes ago, August1991 said:

I'm no Mulroney defender. I met the guy a few times in person (I'm older). Heck, Mulroney took cash in envelopes like Spiro Agnew.

indeed

as while BPM may have been the Great Statesman on the international stage

on the domestic front, the twin pillars of his downfall were ;

1. he spent taxpayer dollars like a drunken sailor, running up a huge deficit for the time

2. he was recklessly greasy in terms of the backroom payola