I never voted for Brian Mulroney. The Neo-Conservative Era -- which he ushered in with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan -- to me always seemed wrong-headed. I agreed with John Kenneth Galbraith. "Trickle Down," he said, "is what comes out of the back end of a cow."
That said, Mulroney accomplished some remarkable things. He helped end Apartheid in South Africa. The Montreal Protocol, which put an end to acid rain, was a world-changing agreement. And he had the eminent good sense to appoint Stephen Lewis as Canada's ambassador to the U.N.
For those of us who have Irish blood in our veins, the blarney was easy to spot. And for those of us who grew up in the Two Solitudes, Mulroney's attempt to bridge the gulf between the two was easy to support. Meech Lake failed. Bridging those differences remains Canada's essential problem.
Mulroney -- like all of us -- was a flawed human being. But history will be kind to him. May he rest in peace.
Image: Times Colonist
12 comments:
I never voted for Mulroney either. In hindsight, i could make a decent argument that his good policies (S. Africa, Meech, environmental) outweighed the bad (NAFTA, GST). But then I remember how the taxpayer ended up compensating him for taking manilla envelopes of cash from K-H Schreiber...
To me, that incident was Mulroney at his worst, Cap. It's expensive to live on the top of Mount Royal next to Charles Bronfman.
Like Cap, I can never forget the hidden cash payments that bespoke corruption, Owen. I really have no interest in Mulroney's public lionization by much of the press. Likewise, I shall skip the national funeral coverage.
Compared to what we have now and what we have in waiting ; he was quite good.
TB
Mulroney believed in corporate power, Lorne. That said, he was a progressive conservative. Like dinosaurs, they are now extinct.
He was the last progressive conservative prime minister, TB. Those who followed in his footsteps have little to recommend them.
Put away your media-induced, rose-coloured glasses, folks ....
" taxpayer ended up compensating him for taking manilla envelopes of cash "
and
Rolling the constitutional dice while risking the future of Canada
etc. etc. etc.
That Mulroney looks 'good in hindsight' only highlights the mess* we have created and live in today.
(we sh*t the bed)
The Conservatives of today are a far cry from the party of Brian Mulroney, PoV.
I refuse to accept the G.S.T. and every time i pay it it makes me sick. I think that free trade was done wrong and everyone who has witnessed the dying of industry in North America knows it was driven by big business to reap rewards never seen while paying good salaries to North Americans. Reagan, Thatcher and Muldoon were the trifecta of the dismal situation we are all in now. The bags of cash were the icing on what I perceived as the ranking of Muldoon as the worst P.M. in our history. Harper a very close second. "Ding Dong the witch...".
Many Canadians heartily agree with you, zoombats.
As you may have noted, I am not a big fan of the big M. However, I disagree with Zoombats on one point....
The GST. Initially I was opposed. As I am opposed to 'regressive taxes' in general.
Three things changed my mind.
1) The GST rebate that goes to all low income people makes it less regressive. Those are nice financial nuggets delivered regularly to the most needy.
2) I like to see the over-consumption of the rich and the near-rich heavily taxed. (And if it discourages over-consumption, that's a small bonus. Reason 2.5 ;-) )
3) Many folks forget or don't know that the GST replaced the highly compromised and ineffective, hidden import tax: the 13% FST. I was an importer of computer technology, both prior to and after the GST replaced the FST. Some of my competitors had been dodging the FST and then lost their 13% advantage. My business boomed and got listed on the TSE.
............................
And how about those Supremes, eh? All hail King Donald!
The Supremes are on Trump's side, PoV.
Post a Comment