Friday, November 15, 2002
Bringing back Brian - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER – As the Natural Governing Party, the Liberals, seemed to be on a rampage of self-destruction late last week, came an interesting byline from Lawrence Martin. The once visible columnist for Southam, now writes the occasional piece for The Globe and Mail, when the powers that be at CanWest Global decided to fire him forthwith, following some unflattering columns on one Jean Chrétien. CanWest, as regular patrons of this space will know, enamoured of the Prime Minister, don't take well to criticism of their man. Funny enough, Martin is perhaps the only one in this vast and cold land, whose career has been devoted to chronicling the life of Mr. Chrétien. Martin, wrote probably the definitive account of the Prime Minister's early life. That biography is the first of two volumes, the second of which he's working on now.
Anyways, the Martin column of last Friday mentioned that bigwigs at the Progressive Conservative Party had offered a salary of $1.5 million bucks to former prime minister Brian Mulroney, in exchange for him taking over the reins of the disintegrating party. Joe Clark, another former prime minister, coaxed out of retirement to save the outfit obliterated with Mulroney's own personal unpopularity, is leaving. A race is on to succeed him. It actually isn't a race. Bernard Lord, the Premier of New Brunswick, ideally the man to take the Tories to better heights has bowed out. The race to succeed Clark is barren. It's inept. The Tories are now on their way to political obscurity, and they are appealing to their old boss, a man still so despised across the nation.
Lawrence Martin's curious column was interesting not only for the fact it supposes a return of the man who brought us Meech Lake, Free Trade, Charlottetown and of course the GST. It's interesting because it comes on the heels of an eventful last couple of weeks in the nation's capital. Ottawa was all a buzz with the story the Chrétien government had lost a vote in the House of Commons. The opposition placed forth a meaningful motion on Parliamentary reform. It so happens, Chrétien's rival for the leadership, Paul Martin supports the idea in principle. It's a game of proverbial chicken as the Alliance (for political reasons, only partly) proposes the motion in a hope of dividing the government and conquering a step to truly reforming the institutions of the land. Well, Chrétien loyalists work the backrooms endlessly, trying in vain to secure support to defeat the opposition motion. Martin loyalists, a significant number in the caucus don't want to stand with the government. They support the notion of giving Parliament back to the average backbencher. Their pseudo-leader Martin publicly makes a speech embracing the idea, promising that when he's in Chrétien's chair he'd enact it himself.
The former finance minister, Martin, is pressured to defying his leader and leading a cabal of Liberals against the Prime Minister to whom they owe so much. Will he vote down the opposition motion because his whip says so, or will he put his money where his mouth is and embrace the principle he's promising already? He does the latter as a matter of principle, but also to thumb his nose at the guy who sacked him earlier this year. The motion carries with some 56 Liberal backbenchers (in a caucus of 170-something) voting with the opposition. Chrétien shrugs it off saying it didn't mean much. Privately he was livid. He threatens caucus, even implying he'd call an election to secure his own dwindling power base.
You then think of Brian Mulroney. For all the sleaze and corruption that he's accused of, he actually could lead. And he could lead well. Where we see the current Prime Minister merely presiding over a bunch of ambitious incompetents and malcontents, Brian Mulroney had the veracity to make unpopular decisions and suffer the consequences. The current Prime Minister has absolutely no comprehension of the concept of taking the blame should faulty propositions naturally fail. This, from a supposedly smart man, a man who has triumphed greatly to get where he is, only to get to the highest office of the land, badly stumbling, ineffective and without a vision for the country he supposedly leads. When you think of it, Brian Mulroney wasn't that bad at all.
Sure hindsight is 20/20, and what's done is done. That said, the political reality of bringing back Brian Mulroney, though interesting, is utter speculation and really, a no-go. Brian Mulorney is too a smart man. He knows that he'd have a hard time cultivating the power base he skilfully did in 1984 and again in 1988. The political climate has changed in this land and his appearance on the political scene would be divisive and possibly destructive in this day and age. He could probably raise a hell of a lot of dough for the party he brought to power. Then again he can do that now as a former prime minister and former leader. He could build a workable base in Quebec stealing support from the Bloc and the Liberals, yet would he gain votes come the time of an election? Clearly, he's yesterday's man and people will not vote for a man that his former aide Allan Gregg said makes the "bile raise up to your throat."
Then again, if Frank Lautenberg can go back to the United States Senate as a Senator for New Jersey, and Walter Mondale can be competitive in Minnesota, then maybe Mulroney can make his way back to political life. However, I would not count on it. The Tories have a better chance sticking with Joe Clark.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .