Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ ( born March 20, 1939 in Baie- Comeau, Quebec ), mostly known as Brian Mulroney, is a Canadian politician and lawyer. He was the 18th Prime Minister of the country and ruled on 17 September 1984 to 25 June 1993. Between 1983 and 1993 he was also chairman of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
The son of Irish immigrants made first career as a lawyer for labor law. Although he had exercised no political office, he aspired to the 1976 election as party leader of the Progressive Conservatives. 1977 to 1983 he was president of the Iron Ore Company of Canada, a mining company, which specialized in iron ore, and its main mine closed in Schefferville 1982. In 1983 he succeeded at the second attempt, was elected party leader to have. 1984 won his party a landslide victory. In his first term, the negotiation of a free trade agreement with the United States falls.
His second term in 1988 was marked by numerous controversies. Twice failed constitutional reforms, which the French-speaking province of Quebec would have received more autonomy. A severe recession, failing to meet its election promise and the controversial introduction of a new VAT led to the worst figures in opinion polls that a Canadian Prime Minister ever achieved and to the fragmentation of his party. Four months after his resignation in June 1993, the Progressive Conservatives suffered the worst defeat of a governing party in Canadian history. Mulroney has since been working as a consultant and board of several international corporations. With involvement in a bribery scandal, he continued to care for negative attention.
Biography
Youth and studies
Mulroney was born in Baie -Comeau, a small town in the northeast of the province of Quebec. His mother Irene O'Shea and his father Benedict Mulroney, who worked as an electrician in a paper mill, both had immigrated from Ireland. For this reason, their six children grew up bilingual. As in Baie -Comeau there was no English-language school for Catholics because of the time strictly divided along religious school system, Mulroney received his secondary education in Chatham in the province of New Brunswick, a guided from St. Thomas University Catholic boarding school.
In 1955, Mulroney studied law at the Saint Francis Xavier University in Antigonish ( Nova Scotia ). There he became interested in politics after he had made friends with the late Senator Lowell Murray. Mulroney joined the youth wing of the Progressive Conservative Party. He was a youth delegate at the 1956 party congress and supported as a member of the Committee Youth for Diefenbaker ( " Youth for Diefenbaker " ) at the election of the party leader the later prime minister John Diefenbaker.
1959 Mulroney joined the Dalhousie University in Halifax. The following year, he supported the election of the Prime Minister of Nova Scotia, Robert Stanfield. Mulroney neglected his studies because of his political activism, and finally had to cancel a semester because of a serious illness. He continued his studies at the Université Laval in Quebec City. There he got to know many people, which was also later political career. These included Lucien Bouchard ( later Prime Minister of Québec) and the then President of the Student Association, Joe Clark ( later Canadian Prime Minister ). In the summer of 1962 he was during the semester break temporarily as Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture Alvin Hamilton and organized his campaign.
Professional life and entry into politics
1964 Mulroney joined his studies and began to work in Montreal, then the largest law firm in the Commonwealth countries (now Ogilvy Renault) for Howard, Cate, Ogilvy. In the bar exam Mulroney failed twice. In 1965, he made it the third attempt, was admitted to the Bar of Quebec, specializing in employment law. He showed skill as an agent and was able to settle several strikes with negotiated settlements.
During the Congress of the Progressive Conservatives in 1968, Mulroney made a decisive contribution to Robert Stanfield's victory in the election as the new chairman and became one of his chief advisers. Mulroney's law firm made him a partner in 1971. On May 26, 1973, the 34 -year-old Mulroney married the 15 years younger, originally from Sarajevo Milica ( " Mila " ) Pivnički who broke her engineering degree at Concordia University. The couple has a daughter and three sons. The second-oldest child, Ben Mulroney, is a well-known presenter at the Canadian television station CTV.
Robert Bourassa, the Premier of Québec, the nonpartisan Cliche Commission continued in 1974 to investigate the causes of violence and corruption in the construction industry, particularly in the hydropower projects in the region around the James Bay. The Commission by Robert Cliche, a politician of the New Democratic Party, who called his former student Mulroney in this was headed. Mulroney, in turn, appointed Lucien Bouchard as his advisor. The investigation revealed involvement of organized crime in labor unions and construction companies. As the media reported extensively on the hearings, Mulroney became known to a wider public.
1976 stated Robert Stanfield, who had lost the general election in 1974, his resignation as chairman of the Progressive Conservative Party. Although Mulroney had never exercised political office, he was encouraged to apply for his successor. He spent by far the most money for the election campaign, but resigned at the party following the third ballot. Main reasons be as " slick " sincere appearance, the lack of parliamentary experience, and vague positions on many political issues were. It finally won rather surprising the brunette Joe Clark in the fourth round.
After this defeat Mulroney moved temporarily retired from politics. He got out of the law firm, was then vice-president of the mining company Iron Ore Company of Canada and in 1977 its president. Based on his experience as a lawyer in employment law, Mulroney improved relations with the unions. At the same time he could, helped by higher commodity prices, increase the profitability of the company significantly. He is also expanding his network of contacts in the business world. In 1982, he had to announce the closure of the mines at Schefferville. But since he could not find an amicable solution with the affected workers, it had no negative impact on its image.
Party Chairman
Joe Clark had managed to oust the Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau left office at the general election in 1979. But since he had no majority in the House that his government lasted only nine months. After a successful vote of no confidence and early elections Trudeau arrived in February 1980 returned to power. Although he supported Clark in public, Mulroney used his extensive relationships in the party and began to undermine its leadership position. When Clark was able to get it over with only about two-thirds of the delegates at the party conference in January 1983, he resigned as party chairman.
At the following congress in June 1983 ran alongside Clark and Mulroney. In contrast to 1976, he stepped far more restrained during the election campaign. He was also able to prove with much-publicized speeches that he had quite boast political substance. In addition, he was the only perfectly bilingual candidate, which seemed essential to find favor even with the French-Canadian voters. After Clark was in the lead in the first three rounds of voting to Mulroney finally sat in the fourth ballot with 54 % of the vote through. On August 25, 1983, he won in a by-election in the constituency of Central Nova ( Nova Scotia ) has a seat in the lower house and thus was opposition leader.
Pierre Trudeau resigned in June 1984 and was succeeded by John Turner. Just four days after taking office, he called new elections, because he hoped to benefit from good poll numbers. But the boss of the Liberal Party melted swiftly. Trudeau was appointed in his last days in office, a number of senators, judges and officers in state-owned enterprises, which was perceived by many as favoring. Turner did not revoke these appointments, he held on to a decision taken with Trudeau agreement that he would not break. This helped him during the election campaign a harsh criticism from Mulroney.
In the general election on September 4, 1984, the Progressive Conservatives won 211 of 282 seats and thus the largest majority in Canadian history, while the Liberals suffered the worst result ever. Particularly impressive was the electoral success in Mulroney's home province of Quebec, where the Progressive Conservatives won 58 of 75 seats, compared with a single seat four years earlier. Mulroney himself was in the constituency Manicouagan, in the Baie -Comeau his birthplace is selected. Governor General Jeanne Sauvé sworn him on September 17, as the new prime minister.
First term as Prime Minister
The first Conservative government after 26 years was considered by many as a welcome change, but soon problems arose. Many ministers had little political experience, which led to numerous conflicts of interest and smaller scandals. Although Mulroney had a very comfortable majority, his room for maneuver was limited. The Progressive Conservative Party was an uncertain coalition of various interest groups: supporters of a liberal society, politics, socially conservative populists from Western Canada, from Quebec nationalists as well as representatives from Ontario and the Atlantic provinces.
Mulroney tried to pull the main faction, the social conservatives to his side, by hiring the infamous National Energy Program and numerous representatives of western Canada in his cabinet convened ( including Joe Clark as Secretary of State ). However, he angered this group, when he in 1986 the maintenance of the CF - 18 fighter jets moved to Quebec, although a business in Manitoba was cheaper and was rated better. When he appealed to the province of Manitoba, to adhere to the Constitution and to guarantee the rights of the French-speaking minority, he got even death threats.
In public, Mulroney entered for the reduction of the budget deficit, but contrary to his campaign promises, the public debt rose to a record level. Since the Senate, dominated by the liberals slowed the legislation, he had to make compromises in several cases. A major concern was the privatization of numerous state-owned enterprises for Mulroney. Of 61 companies that had the state in 1984, 23 were sold. The most important were Air Canada and Petro-Canada.
An important project of Mulroney's government was an attempt to stop the alienation of the individual parts of the country. Quebec City was in 1982 been the only province that had not signed the agreement negotiated by Pierre Trudeau new Canadian constitution. Mulroney wanted Québec integrate back stronger with a new agreement. In 1987, he negotiated the Meech Lake Accord, a package of constitutional amendments with which the demands for recognition of Quebec as a " differing society" and met some competencies that should be assigned to the provinces.
Mulroney's government actively fought against the apartheid regime in South Africa. He often met with opposition South Africans. His clear stance led to disagreement with the governments of the U.S. and Britain, but also earned him respect. In addition, Joe Clark was the first ever foreign minister, who traveled to the Marxist ruled Ethiopia and media attention drew attention to the disastrous famine. The government strongly opposed the U.S. intervention in Nicaragua and took refugees from several Central American countries that were ruled by warlords. Despite these political differences Mulroney used a close friendship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan. This was beneficial for the negotiations on the Canadian- American Free Trade Agreement, which was completed in January 1988.
Critics pointed out that Mulroney had a free trade agreement nor rejected the party's leadership before the election. The agreement was controversial, and the Senate called for new elections before he would vote on it. During the election campaign, the FTA was the central theme; the Liberals and the New Democrats refused decided. In the general election on 21 November 1988, the Progressive Conservatives were indeed from 50% to 43 % of the vote back, but still reached the absolute majority of seats. Mulroney was thus the first (and only) Conservative Prime Minister of the 20th century, who twice was able to form a majority government. He went to the newly formed constituency of Charlevoix, as his old constituency Manicouagan was dissolved at a redistricting.
Second term as Prime Minister
1989 Mulroney suggested the introduction of a national VAT ago, the Goods and Services Tax (GST ). You should replace the existing sales tax Manufacturers' Sales Tax (MST ), which taxed goods produced in Canada at the wholesale level. In the House, the deliberations over nine months dragged on and the Liberal -dominated Senate was not willing to agree to the tax. On September 27, 1990, Mulroney took advantage of the little-known constitutional article 26, which allowed him to ask the Canadian Queen to the appointment of eight additional senators, and thus to overturn the Senate majority just in his favor. The tax was finally put into force on 1 January 1991. Although the government insisted that GST is a rearrangement and no additional tax, but they came in the population with unanimous rejection. Many Mulroney took it amiss that he had got his way by means of a " emergency clause " in the Constitution.
Also in 1990 failed Meech Lake Accord and the constitutional reform related. The agreement had not been ratified by the governments of the provinces of Manitoba and Newfoundland before the agreed date. The failure led to a resurgence of nationalism in Quebec; Environment Minister Lucien Bouchard and other deputies came out in protest of the Progressive Conservative Party and founded the separatist Bloc Québécois. In elections won the Reform Party, a populist protest party in the West, seats at the expense of the ruling party. 1991 and 1992 were held further negotiations in Charlottetown. From this resulted the Charlottetown Accord, which provided far-reaching constitutional amendments. However, the agreement was rejected on 26 October 1992 in a nationwide referendum, with a share of 54.3 % No votes.
More success was Mulroney at international level. After the United States and Mexico have begun negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement, Canada feared disadvantages in their own agreement and urged the involvement in the talks. On 5 February 1991, the three countries agreed to conduct multilateral negotiations. On 7 October 1992, the agreement on the introduction of the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed, which would come into force in 1994. Unlike in 1988, the Liberals no longer locked against free trade. Another focus of foreign policy was the Environmental protection: Canada was the first industrialized country to ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework Convention on Climate of the United Nations.
The widespread rejection of the Goods and Services Tax in the population, a severe recession, the gradual collapse of the Progressive Conservative Party, the increasing national debt and the failure of constitutional reforms led to deteriorating poll numbers. A 1992 Gallup poll showed only an agreement of 11 %, which Mulroney was the most unpopular Prime Minister of Canada since the introduction of opinion polls in the 1940s. When Mulroney announced his imminent resignation in February 1993, the agreement was 23 %.
Inconsistencies and resignation
On 25 June 1993, Mulroney was from the Office of the Government to Defence Minister Kim Campbell and retired from politics. During his last weeks in office, he felled several decisions that should cast a shadow on the election campaign of his party. He undertook abroad a largely tax-funded " farewell tour " without having to deal with official government business. After Kim Campbell was sworn in, he pulled it was not immediately out of 24 Sussex Drive, the official residence of the Prime Minister from. Instead, his family lived for several months on there because their new home was being renovated in Montréal. Campbell had to settle with Harrington Lake, the summer residence of the Prime Minister. The general election on 25 October 1993 proved to Mulroney's party as a total disaster. She lost 149 seats and could only just keep two. This was the biggest electoral defeat in Canadian history who has ever had to accept a party.
1997 Mulroney won a libel suit he had two years previously collected as part of the "Airbus affair" against the Canadian government. He received a formal apology and an expense allowance of $ 2.1 million. Mulroney had been accused of accepting bribes in 1988. In return, the national airline, Air Canada had the European Airbus consortium ordered 34 aircraft of type A330 and A340 and knocked out an offer from Boeing. As the investigation authorities have shown nothing concrete, the investigation was set inconclusive.
Ten years after his resignation was announced that Mulroney had received a large sum of money in cash - by Karlheinz Schreiber, a German - Canadian businessman who had been working as a middle man for Airbus and other companies. On 24 March 2007 sees Schreiber, who was at this time due to involvement in the CDU funding scandal in extradition proceedings in the Supreme Court of the Province of Ontario an action for a breach of contract. He claimed Mulroney did in 1993/94 promised to provide financial and political support for the construction of a transport tank factory in Quebec City for a payment of $ 300,000. Mulroney should have this help but not granted.
Schreiber's lawyer filed on 5 November 2007 the Supreme Court of Ontario with a declaration. This contained some allegations, including the that Mulroney was still in office when the contract was concluded, and that the incumbent Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper should have received a letter by Mulroney Schreiber. These statements are made for large eddy in the media. Eight days later, Harper put up an independent commission of inquiry. Mulroney had on December 13, testifying before the Ethics Committee of the lower house and admitted to have accepted $ 225,000. But he insisted that the money came from private business writer and would not be with aircraft orders at Airbus in context. In addition, the payments were made after his resignation.
Following the resignation
Since his resignation as Prime Minister Mulroney has been active as a management consultant. He is a member of the boards of directors of several corporations, including Barrick Gold, Quebecor and Archer Daniels Midland. He also advises several other companies and is also a partner of the law firm Ogilvy Renault.
Aftereffect
To date, the evaluation of tenure Mulroney is very controversial. His work is brought especially with the Canadian- American Free Trade Agreement of 1988 and the national VAT Goods and Services Tax (GST ) in connection, but also with the failed constitutional reforms and the election debacle of 1993. Mulroney himself attaches importance to the finding that its then radical action measures in the economic field and the free trade of subsequent governments have not been reset, and regards this as vindication of his administration. When the Liberals again questioned the government under Jean Chrétien, they ratified despite their vehement opposition earlier the North American Free Trade Agreement with only minor changes.
The GST has proven himself as an unpopular, even though they only replaced a previous control. But since Mulroney had applied a rarely used constitutional clause to them only to be able to ever prevail, many politicians and much of the population felt ignored. The subsequent Liberal government had indeed promised in 1993 to abolish the GST, did so but then not, then withdrew two ministers under protest. Mulroney's great unpopularity during his second term in office - at times was the agreement among 10% - with the result that many conservative politicians during years distanced themselves from him.
The socially conservative wing of his party criticized Mulroney's liberal position in social issues. This concerned in particular his rejection of the death penalty and an attempted compromise on the issue of abortion. The business wing in turn criticized him because of various tax increases and the failed attempt to curb government spending. By Mulroney covering a very wide range, although he made his first party for many selectable, but he led thereby cause their fragmentation. In the general election, 1993, the electorate of the Progressive Conservative Party was in western Canada almost closed over the Reform Party. Ten years later, the conservative forces came together again, as the Conservative Party of Canada was founded.
In the years following the resignation tried Mulroney's supporters, his tarnished reputation to restore, which partly succeeded. But since the revelations of Karlheinz Schreiber and the confession before the ethics committee see many Canadians confirmed their assessment and Mulroney remains one of the most unpopular and controversial politicians of the country. On 10 September 2007 he published his autobiography, Memoirs 1939-1993. The more than 1,100 - page book caused a stir because it is his political rival Pierre Trudeau sharp attacks and mentions the business relationship with Karlheinz Schreiber with no word.