Brian Mulroney defends Trudeau, says Parliament Hill gripped by ‘trash, rumours, gossip’ | CBC News

Former prime minister Brian Mulroney mounted a defence of one of his successors Monday, saying Justin Trudeau has delivered on the “big ticket items” and history won’t look kindly on Parliament Hill denizens who push “trash … rumours” and “gossip.”

Speaking at the Atlantic Economic Forum, a symposium at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., the former Progressive Conservative prime minister said the Liberal Trudeau has had a good run in office. He praised the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, its renegotiation of NAFTA and its ongoing support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

“I have learned over the years that history is unconcerned with the trivia and the trash of rumours and gossip floating around Parliament Hill. History is only concerned with the big ticket items that have shaped the future of Canada,” Mulroney said.

He said Trudeau and the premiers “conducted themselves as well as anybody else in the world” in dealing with COVID, something Mulroney called “the greatest challenge that any prime minister has dealt with in Canada in 156 years.”

On NAFTA, Mulroney said he saw first-hand how Trudeau made “big decisions at crucial moments” and secured “a significant victory for Canada.”

“It’s due to the leadership that we saw from the government of Canada,” Mulroney said. “This was secured despite (then U.S. president Donald Trump’s) opposition. This was secured by Prime Minister Trudeau and his colleagues. Trump was out to sabotage Canada in many important ways and it took vision and a steady hand.”

Mulroney’s government first negotiated a free trade deal with the U.S. and then later a trilateral trade deal with Mexico.

Trudeau also leaned on Mulroney’s expertise when going toe-to-toe with Trump in the 2017-20 period when the deal was restructured.

Mulroney said his government was the first to recognize Ukraine’s independence from Russia as the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early 1990s.

It’s important that Canada, a country with a large Ukrainian diaspora, supports Ukraine’s fight against Russian tyranny, Mulroney said.

“Trump says, ‘Well, I don’t care who wins,'” Mulroney said. “I care who wins and the prime minister cares. And it has to be Ukrainians.”

He also praised Trudeau’s efforts to stimulate economic growth in Atlantic Canada. The region is richer and more populous than it has been in a long time, Mulroney said.

Mulroney said historians won’t dwell on the “nonsense” he said is emanating from Parliament right now.

Mulroney didn’t specify what he regarded as “nonsense.”

In recent days, Trudeau has faced questions about his government’s handling of Chinese election meddling, the state of the economy amid high inflation and the transfer of murderer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison. The prime minister also has been accused by the opposition Conservatives of pushing “woke nonsense.”

Mulroney’s praise comes after he readily endorsed former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole in the last federal election. 

In 2021, Mulroney said O’Toole was “steady and strong” and a “visionary” who could be trusted to lead the country.

O’Toole, like Mulroney, pushed a more moderate vision of conservatism in his bid for the top job.

During a speech accepting Mulroney’s endorsement, O’Toole said he wanted to build a party where “every Canadian can feel at home,” a party that is “inclusive, diverse, forward-looking, progressive and worker-friendly.”

Mulroney did not mention the party’s current leader, Pierre Poilievre, in his Monday speech.

Trudeau took the podium after Mulroney’s speech, joking that he doesn’t like to speak after a respected orator like Mulroney. “It’s a little more embarrassing when you’re speaking about me in such glowing terms,” he said.

At the end of his own remarks at the event, Trudeau took a thinly veiled shot at Poilievre.

“You know Brian, there seem to be two kinds of politicians today — those who want to burn things down, and those more like you were, constantly wanting to build things up,” he said.