44th Parl. 1st Sess.
March 19, 2024 10:00AM
- Mar/19/24 7:23:37 p.m.
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Madam Chair, today, this honourable House is paying tribute to a great man who devoted many years of his life to our country. The Right Hon. Brian Mulroney has closed his eyes for his final voyage, but his name and his image will live on in the annals of Canadian history.
Beyond partisanship and political views, Brian Mulroney had a big-picture perspective on key aspects that are unquestionably essential for Canadians and for the growth of our country.
Brian Mulroney was a visionary and a staunch defender of climate action, free trade and social justice. What is more, his climate activism and his zeal for fighting climate change should make many people on the opposition benches blush and should serve as a lesson to his successors at the head of the Conservative Party.
“It starts at home,” former prime minister Brian Mulroney said at the signing of the Canada-United States air quality agreement 33 years ago. It started at home and must continue at home in his memory and in honour of the extraordinary work he accomplished on that front.
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Mulroney last November at the EnviroLys Gala in my riding. Despite his fatigue, he smiled at everyone. When I introduced myself, he told me that politics is absorbing, but that I should always put my family first. I cherish Mr. Mulroney's advice, and I will always respect his unifying and moderate approach of not burning bridges and always listening to opposing opinions.
In stark contrast to the current Conservative Party's protectionism and fear of the other, Mr. Mulroney was a champion of free trade and openness to the world.
The free trade agreement signed with the United States revitalized Canada's economy and strengthened the position of our businesses.
Countries do better and grow faster when they are open to trade and business flows freely across borders. Our government continued in that vision of growth and collaboration, multiplying trade agreements to allow Canadian businesses to flourish and expand their horizons.
Brian Mulroney understood well that trade agreements help strengthen bilateral trade relations and boost the economies of partner countries. FTAs also help promote and protect foreign investment, improve diplomatic relations and create a level playing field for Canadian companies to compete in global markets.
I thank Mr. Mulroney for paving the way and succeeding in putting in place an essential asset to Canada. I will always admire the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney for his courage and profound belief in social justice.
Standing up to oppose apartheid in South Africa and calling for the liberation of Nelson Mandela despite the opposite views of our allies has put Canada on the right side of history. Canadians are grateful for Mr. Mulroney's honourable service to the nation and hope that his legacy will live on in our history.
On behalf of the residents of Alfred-Pellan, I extend my deepest sympathy to the Mulroney family. Canadians share his family's pain and remain grateful to the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney for all his years of public service.
May Mr. Mulroney rest in peace. May the goodwill that his memory evokes in Canadians bring solace to his family as he embarks on his final voyage.
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- Mar/19/24 8:32:42 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, it is hazardous stuff, I think, for any Canadian to attempt to pay tribute to a man who eulogized two U.S. presidents, particularly a Canadian of Irish descent. Brian Mulroney did big things. When we remember the scale and the stakes of what this man took on, I think of the poor advisers in each meeting whose job it was to remind him of the risks.
When we consider how deeply Mr. Mulroney loved this country, we cannot imagine he was fearless. The man had so much to lose with every decision that he made, but he was courageous. He took chances. He made gambles. He was confident in himself. He was confident in the people around him. He was confident in Canadians. He was confident in this country and, more often than not, he won big for this country.
When he was asked about the Hibernia oil platform off the coast of Newfoundland and the enormous amount of federal money he put behind it, Mr. Mulroney said, “If certainty of results and the elimination of risks had been required in advance, Sir John A. Macdonald would never have proceeded with the great endeavors which bound Canada together.”
People say he was born in Quebec, but that has never stopped those of us out east from claiming him as one of our own. He was a fellow ex-grad, a son of Nova Scotia and the founder of Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore.
It was in a crowded hotel ballroom in St. John's on February 11, 1985, that Mr. Mulroney signed the Atlantic accord with Premier Brian Peckford. It is hard to state what that accord means to people out my way. It recognized what we, as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, brought to this country, that the profits reaped from the resources off our shores should benefit the people of our province, first and foremost. It ended years of conflict between the federal and provincial governments over offshore rights and gave investors the stability that they needed to build a stellar energy industry.
Mr. Mulroney had his critics, but he refused to buckle. “I am not afraid to inflict prosperity on Newfoundland and Labrador”, he famously said. To this day, the accord, as we call it, is like the Charter of Rights and Freedoms but for prosperity, and we have prospered.
I was lucky enough to be in Premier Brian Tobin's office for first oil, and that was in 1997, a dozen years after the Atlantic accord was signed. That is the long-term vision that Brian Mulroney had, that John Crosbie had, that one needs to have in this job.
That was such an important moment in the history of my province, but that moment was never a certainty. It was a fight. It was a fight for our economic future. It was a fight for the rights of provinces in this Confederation and a fight against those who doubted us, who doubted that Newfoundland and Labrador was capable of such ambition and capable of fulfilling that ambition. He never doubted us.
Back in 1990, he put up $830 million in federal grants and over $1 billion more in loan guarantees to get that platform built. Then again, in 1993, with a partially built project at risk when Gulf Canada pulled out, Mulroney stepped in with an 8.5% share. Today that platform still stands as a testament to his faith, his faith in us.
Mr. Mulroney always believed in the workers of my province. During COVID, he called on the federal government and on me as natural resources minister at the time to support the industry when it was reeling from the impacts of a global shutdown. “Failure is not an option”, he said, and he was right. We delivered almost $400 million to the province to support workers and to lower emissions in the industry, and then we came through with another $5.2 billion for Muskrat Falls.
In the midst of everything he did for the people of our country, he still had so much time for this particular Newfoundlander. There are many of us who will tell stories in the coming days, weeks and months ahead of how this man touched individual lives because he understood people. That was the thread running through his greatness. I thank Mr. Mulroney for everything that he did for me on that day, for my province and for my country. I thank Mila, Caroline, Ben, Mark and Nicolas for sharing such a wonderful husband, father and grandfather with all of us.
I admired him so much for his ambition, for his humanity, for his love of country. He had faith and he believed. He took to heart the words of the great Seamus Heaney, “Walk on air against your better judgement.”
May he rest in peace.
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- Mar/19/24 8:37:52 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues from all parties in the House in recognizing the role and contributions of Canada's 18th prime minister, the late Right Hon. Brian Mulroney.
I would like to begin by extending my condolences to Mila and to Mr. Mulroney's entire family. Losing a family member is difficult under ordinary circumstances, but Mr. Mulroney's family is mourning his loss under the grateful gaze of Canadians and Quebeckers and every other country around the world.
Mr. Mulroney's legacy is worthy of reflection.
He was elected with the largest majority in Canadian history in 1984.
His 1985 bilateral summit with President Ronald Reagan proved to be, as the Toronto Star noted, “foundational for a number of major bilateral agreements on shared security, the environment and cross-border trade, eventually culminating in the North American Free Trade Agreement.” I will come back to the free trade agreement momentarily.
With respect to the environment, the 1991 acid rain accord was critical to Canada, because the pollution that found its way into our rivers, lakes and forests came mostly from south of our border, namely the United States. In fact, a 2016 report by the International Joint Commission marking the 25-year anniversary of the acid rain accord found significant declines in the amount of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, particularly in the U.S., from 1990 levels.
Brian Mulroney was the prime minister who created the Environmental Assessment Act and the Environmental Protection Act. He did it not because it was popular, but because he truly believed in protecting our environment for his future and for future generations.
I would also be remiss if I did not take a moment to express our gratitude for his unwavering efforts, against staggering international political odds, to end apartheid in South Africa. It is reported that, upon his release from prison, Nelson Mandela said, “We regard you as one of our great friends because of the solid support we have received from you and Canada over the years”. Upon learning of Mr. Mulroney's passing, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, issued a statement on behalf of his nation, saying Mulroney was a “leader that holds a special place in South Africa's history.”
It proves that when Canada has the political will and leadership it can punch above its weight. It can lead the global community to make the right decisions. On behalf of New Democrats, we thank him and the Right Hon. Joe Clark for their collective efforts on this front.
Mr. Mulroney has been called one of the most consequential prime ministers in Canadian history. There is substantive evidence to support that claim, but some of these consequences are controversial, and in the minds of many historians, academics, political experts and partisans, these consequences impacted negatively on Canada and Quebec both economically and politically.
Let me begin with the free trade agreement. The agreement, which came into effect in 1987, codified one of the most important and lucrative trade relationships in the world, that of Canada and the United States, eliminating a range of trade barriers over the course of a 10-year period. However, opponents argued that Canadian manufacturers, which relied on tariff protection, would be decimated by free trade. Critics were concerned that American branch plants would move back to the United States and take advantage of cheaper, non-unionized labour. To some extent, this proved to be right.
Then there was the GST. Mr. Mulroney replaced the federal sales tax with a 7% goods and services tax. Many arguments were made regarding the pros and cons of this measure as well. No matter who someone is, be they prime minister, cabinet minister or parliamentarians such as us, there are always decisions that are made which may or may not be popular. We make them because we and our party believe they are the right ones, the right ones for Canada and at times for our global partners, and the right ones on so many other fronts, including human rights.
Mr. Mulroney also took a valiant risk attempting to bring Quebec into the constitutional fold, not once but twice.
Following an interview with The Globe and Mail on June 11, 1990, two days after he concluded a difficult round of negotiations with Canada's 10 premiers, Mr. Mulroney said, “It's like an election campaign. You've got to work backwards. You've got to pick your dates and you work backwards from it.... I said (to my aides) that's the day that I'm going to roll all the dice. It's the only way to handle it.” There were serious political consequences to that statement, resulting in a lack of resolution on our constitutional front.
In conclusion, it is not an understatement to say that Mr. Mulroney's legacy has been consequential. His contributions have been immense. He was able to work across party lines to get things done. His commitment to Canada was unquestionable. His dedication to advancing human rights was admirable and noteworthy. His family must be so proud of his contributions and I know colleagues in this chamber are truly grateful.
As we speak here today, Canadians are filing in to pay their tributes and express their gratitude. I know that many in Quebec and across Canada will attend and watch his state funeral on Saturday, as a grateful nation accords him the farewell he actually deserves.
To his family, his friends and his colleagues, I extend my deepest sympathy on behalf of the New Democratic Party.
May he rest in peace.
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- Mar/19/24 9:21:27 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is my sad honour to rise today in Canada's highest democratic institution to pay respects to a great man, the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister.
A great man has passed. Time waits for no one. We honour him and reflect on his life and all that he has done. For many of his great accomplishments, we, a generation of Canadians, are the beneficiaries.
First and foremost, in service to his country here and elsewhere, he helped build and strengthen our nation. Dividing us was not his path. He built us up.
I recall serving his government here over three decades ago, and I will recount to members on all sides of the House what Ottawa and eastern Ontario looked like before Brian Mulroney's time as our prime minister. Buildings had been boarded up. Architectural landmarks, like the Elgin Hotel, were closed and poised for demolition. Neighbouring towns in eastern Ontario were lobbying for government jobs, because the unemployment rate was so high and people had little hope. Opening a prison meant that at least some people would get jobs. The unemployment in the area reached 12.5%. Such was the economic malaise this region faced in 1984.
To paint a clearer picture of the country at that time, government spending was out of control. The latest budget posted a massive $37-billion deficit, which is about $98 billion in today's inflated dollars, a record at the time. Inflation had only recently fallen from 12.5% with the introduction of wage and price controls imposed primarily on employees by the federal government. The Canadian dollar had fallen in value by 25% over the previous decade. Our armed forces were underfunded and demoralized, and our international commitments went unmet. We were a nation desperately in need of leadership. Nature abhors a vacuum.
Just when this country most needed a leader, a determined man stepped forward. Martin Brian Mulroney, the son of a hard-working electrician in Baie-Comeau, in Quebec, a labour lawyer and well-known business leader in Montreal, had become the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada a year earlier. He showed that he had bold plans for the country, and Canadians rewarded him with the largest majority government in Canadian history in the 1984 election. He was ambitious, he did not shy away from complex problems, and he did not worry about doing too much, because he had a lot of work to do.
One of the people who worked for him at the start of his time in government told me that they worked hard because he worked hard, and they felt that, if they did not succeed, the country was at stake. His leadership saw successes, and it saw failures. No one likes to fail, least of all those who possess ambition to do great things. Failures feel personal, but in the end they are overwhelmed by the successes. This is one of the marks of true leadership.
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” That is a quote from Nelson Mandela, a man whose life Brian Mulroney would change.
I recall the 1988 election, when he was campaigning on free trade. His opponent, the Right Hon. John Turner, had landed a blow during the English-language debate, and polls suddenly shifted against our direction. Undaunted, Brian Mulroney took up the fight the next day and led the campaign across the nation. He said that the fight of John Turner's life was to tear up that document, but he fight of his life was to build a country. Canadians reward leadership.
Let us celebrate the Right Hon. Brian Mulroney's life by acknowledging his successes: restarting Canada's economy; privatizing Crown corporations; rebuilding Canada's armed forces; building trade alliances that once made North America the largest trading bloc in the world; reforming a broken tax system; healing divisions in Canada's federation; indigenous advancement with the forming of Nunavut as Canada's third territory; striking environmental treaties to address acid rain in North America and to end worldwide emissions associated with the world's thinning ozone layer; leading the world in confronting South Africa's apartheid system, resulting in the freedom of one of the world's great statesmen, Nelson Mandela; standing shoulder to shoulder with Canada's allies as the world changed; and earning Canada's position on the international stage and joining our peers in organizations like the G7. Take on no small tasks, so to say.
His ministers and his caucus followed him and emulated his ambition and his work ethic. Those of us who had the privilege of working for him and his ministers felt that compelling requirement to do our utmost to get it right. Leadership is about inspiration, and the generation of Canadians whom Brian Mulroney inspired watched and learned. For a while emulating that example led this country to greatness in many ways.
Most Canadians knew him as a politician, and politics is a team sport. Our team has to win in order for us to move forward. Nevertheless, his treatment of all those contributing to Canada's public life was magnanimous. His was an example from which we have much to learn.
Let us look at the legacy of political, economic and social leaders in Canada over the decades that followed the political leadership of Brian Mulroney. So many people had a connection with him. These relationships were special to him. His kindness was legendary.
I remember seeing him at the funeral of the Hon. Jean Corbeil, one of the ministers I served. I remember the people he brought with him. Brian Mulroney said they deserved to be there because he was the leader of a special team.
Two years ago I was talking with a friend, someone who has helped me on my political path. We were comparing the qualities of leaders in Canada, and I referred to the qualities of the former prime minister. My friend retorted, “Come on; that was Mulroney,” as if it was an example that illustrates itself, kind of like drafting Wayne Gretzky in a hockey pool. He was a man who came a long way from his roots in a Quebec mill town to lead a country, and lead us well, and to change the world in a very positive way.
Today, we lament with his family and friends, but we are lucky to have had him in our midst. Now, we wish him a safe final journey in eternal rest, from a very grateful nation.
Rest in peace, Martin Brian Mulroney.
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