Corbella: Brian Mulroney deserves even more credit than he’s getting

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The accolades are rightly pouring in for Brian Mulroney, Canada’s 18th prime minister following his death this week at the age of 84. But one of his most deserved laurels is often wrongly awarded to his political successors. This needs to be corrected.

When it comes to Canada balancing its books — at a time when the country almost went over the fiscal cliff, a la Greece or Argentina —  the credit wrongly goes to Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s Liberal government and to his finance minister Paul Martin. They deserve some of the credit, to be sure, but just a small amount. Mulroney and his finance minister Michael Wilson did most of the heavy lifting to bring Canada’s fiscal house into order.

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This occurred not only because of Mulroney and Wilson’s transformative decisions, like negotiating the free trade agreement with the United States and eventually Mexico under the NAFTA or bringing in the GST (which was unpopular but necessary.) It was also due to their fiscal prudence — something that is sadly lacking again under this current Liberal federal government.

Mulroney is, of course, lauded for winning the largest majority government in Canadian history — 211 of 282 seats in 1984 — the last true majority government in Canada. His government garnered more than 50 per cent of the popular vote, as well as the most seats in our first-past-the-post electoral system that now leads to distorted and phoney majority governments. He won a second majority government in 1988 on the issue of free trade, which the Liberals vehemently fought against. Mulroney used his persuasive powers to sell the idea to Canadians in that election and won another majority government, making him the first Conservative prime minister to do so since Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald way back in 1887 and 1891.

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When Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative government swept to power in 1984 following 15 years of reckless Liberal rule, Ontario Liberal leader and eventual premier David Peterson opined: “Brian Mulroney inherited one hell of a mess.”

Even Jean Chretien, who was one of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s finance ministers, admitted: “We left the cupboard bare.”

As Mulroney said to much laughter during a speech in Calgary back in 2007 when he was on his Memoirs book tour, “That was (Chretien’s) only understatement.”

Indeed. Trudeau Sr. and his government left no cupboard at all. Just a big gaping hole.

Mulroney inherited a deficit of $38.5 billion in 1984 — which was almost nine per cent of the gross domestic product — the largest deficit by far in Canada’s history in terms of percentage of GDP. When you consider that current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s latest budget is running a reckless $40 billion deficit 40 years later, it kind of puts those previous deficits into perspective.

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Under Trudeau Sr., the federal debt ballooned by nearly 1,100 per cent! Interest rates peaked at 22.75 per cent (though interest rates were high around the world as well.) Like father, like son. According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation the debt under the current Justin Trudeau government has increased by $600 billion, or more than 97 per cent.

But I digress. Program spending under the federal Pierre Trudeau Liberals spiked to $1.23 for every dollar collected in taxes. That would be like a family that makes $100,000 a year spending $123,000 every year on food, clothes, entertainment and heat but not on paying the mortgage. It was beyond reckless. Canada has never fully recovered from that fiscal negligence.

By contrast, Mulroney and Wilson left Chretien and Martin an enviable fiscal legacy. They not only fixed the gaping hole left by Trudeau Sr.; they renovated the entire economy, replaced the cupboards and filled the cupboards, which now were bursting with sound policies and economic structures.

By the time Mulroney left office nine years after winning power, the federal government had an operating surplus and the deficit as a percentage of GDP had been reduced by one-third, despite the worldwide recession from 1990 to 1992. Were it not for the interest Canada had to pay on the enormous debt the Liberals had entirely created, Mulroney would have been running a surplus.

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Mulroney’s government slashed the rate of growth in program spending. Instead of spending $1.23 for every dollar collected in taxes, the Tories reduced program spending to 97 cents for every dollar of revenues. Interest rates plunged from 22.75 per cent to six per cent (the lowest in 20 years) and inflation was reduced to 1.5 per cent (the lowest in 30 years.)

Mulroney made many difficult decisions that left his government unpopular but were right for Canada and has led to our current prosperity, in spite of the current incompetent government. Mulroney replaced the hidden Manufacturers Sales Tax with the very visible and politically unpopular Goods and Services Tax, which put Canadian goods and services on a level playing field with American competitors.

Chretien vowed to scrap both the GST and the NAFTA during the 1993 election campaign, but thankfully for the country and future generations that didn’t become the case.

One of the first things Mulroney did upon becoming prime minister was to get rid of Trudeau’s National Energy Program, which devastated Alberta and the entire Canadian economy. He also got rid of the investment-killing Foreign Investment Review Agency. Those two steps sent a message to the world that Canada was once again open for business.

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He also did many other things that improved all of our lives, such as the privatization of post office terminals. There was a time when Canadians had to take a day off work to stand in long lines to send parcels to loved ones at Christmas, only to be greeted by angry government employees threatening to strike. Remember those days?

Mulroney was also voted the greenest prime minister by environmentalists for negotiating the acid rain treaty with U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Then, in 1987, after scientists revealed that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were burning a hole in the ozone layer, Mulroney got 46 countries to significantly limit or eliminate the use and production of CFCs, including Reagan and British PM Margaret Thatcher. A total of 150 countries have signed the Montreal Protocol.

Mulroney also created national parks; he is credited with helping to bring down the Iron Curtain; and he helped bring an end to the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, freeing Nelson Mandela. Mulroney is a national hero in South Africa to this day.

He tried to bring one-third of Canada’s population — the people of Quebec — into our constitution and failed, but he should not be derided for that.

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On a more personal level, he is renowned for nurturing strong relationships at every level of society, from becoming good friends with Reagan and another U.S. president, George H. W. Bush (both of whom he eulogized at their funerals) to befriending former constituents and many journalists, including this one. During my cancer journey, he called me at least once a month to check in and offer some laughs and encouragement. He called just a few months ago and it was obvious his health was failing, but he remained optimistic. I shall miss his calls and our lunches.

He had an enviable marriage to Mila and raised a beautiful and successful family.

He made some spectacular mistakes, which can be summed up by the word Airbus, but history will only continue to be good to him.

“I actually did govern not for good headlines in 10 days but for a better Canada in 10 years,” wrote Mulroney in his memoirs. “I paid the price in media hostility and public disapproval. But I did so knowingly and willingly. Leadership is about taking positions you believe to be in Canada’s long-term interest and sticking to them.”

All Canadians are better off because of Brian Mulroney and so is the world. History will judge him as one of the best and most consequential prime ministers in Canada’s history.

Licia Corbella is a former editorial page editor of the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun and a longtime columnist for both.

corcomm@shaw.ca

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