On September 4, 1984, Canadians elected a new Parliament and, in doing so, handed Brian Mulroney an unprecedented challenge.
The new prime minister woke up the next morning realizing he had won the biggest government ever — a caucus of 211 members — all of whom no doubt wanted to play a significant role in the first Progressive Conservative majority in more than a quarter of a century.
The new prime minister knew two things: First, it would be impossible to satisfy everyone’s ambitions. And, therefore, second, managing such a vast caucus would take a combination of the wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Hercules.
Fortunately for Mulroney, he possessed both of those attributes. We know this because, as time marched on and Mulroney’s government became more and more unpopular, his caucus stayed with him. Even during the depths of his second term, when the Tories were polling at 13 per cent popularity, no caucus members unsheathed their knives and demanded a change in leadership. In fact, Mulroney used to joke that more people thought Elvis Presley was still alive (he’d been dead for more than a decade) than were prepared to vote PC in the next election.
How did Mulroney hold it all together?
He started from the premise that caucus was important to him. He understood from watching how previous Tory caucuses ultimately did in former leaders (Joe Clark, Robert Stanfield, and John Diefenbaker) and knew that the “caring and feeding” of backbenchers (as inside advisers call it) was a top priority. And so Mulroney had small groups of MPs over to the PM’s residence at 24 Sussex Drive for regular breakfasts and dinners. He made it a point to inquire about their aspirations and their families. He called his MPs on their birthdays or important anniversaries and offered them the most valuable thing any first minister has once taking office: time.
In exchange, Mulroney never had to worry about reading stories in the popular press about brewing mutinies on his backbench, because none existed. Even during the PM’s worst moments, his backbenchers were with him.
I raise all this because the current prime minister has had a very different approach to caucus management during his eight years and 247 days in office (as of July 8, 2024). Justin Trudeau, in the main, has contracted out the job of taking the temperature of the Liberal caucus to senior advisers in his prime minister’s office. (Or, as we learned in rather embarrassing fashion from journalist Justin Ling last week, sometimes cabinet ministers are assigned that task. Note to other ministers: perhaps it’s best not to suss out what the caucus thinks by calling members from the Via Rail first-class lounge and then talking loudly while a Parliament Hill journalist is sitting nearby.)
We’ve learned from reading multiple books on Trudeau that he simply never aspired to have relationships with his ministers or backbenchers in the way Mulroney did. In his memoir Where to From Here, Trudeau’s former finance minister Bill Morneau famously wrote that he was frequently unable to get a meeting with Trudeau. Journalist Stephen Maher has written in The Prince that ministers have never been able to get private one-on-ones with the PM — there are always senior staffers in the room — apparently because Trudeau is actually such an introvert at heart, he finds such intimate meetings too problematic. And Paul Wells has told us in Justin Trudeau on the Ropes that the PM’s inner circle of advisers is the smallest and longest-serving of any prime minister in recent memory (maybe ever?) because Trudeau has trust issues with others in politics.
In some respects, this is all perfectly understandable. Unlike Mulroney, who grew up an electrician’s son in rural Quebec, or Stephen Harper, whose accountant father at Imperial Oil was equally unknown to the public, the current prime minister has lived his entire life with the knowledge that much of the Canadian population either loved or hated him before they ever heard him speak. Such is the blessing and the curse of being the son of the third longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history — Pierre Elliott Trudeau. As a result, the younger Trudeau has constantly lived with the reality that he is extraordinarily famous and thus most people have always wanted something from him. One can understand how that would lead Trudeau to decide he’d prefer to have a very tight inner circle of friends and advisers.
We’re seeing the problem with that approach to politics right now. Yes, Trudeau’s popularity has significantly waned since the heady early days of 2015 and his only majority government victory. But it’s gotten exponentially worse since the Liberals lost one of their safest seats, Toronto–St. Paul’s, in a byelection last month. For the first time, significant chunks of the Liberal party are openly urging Trudeau to reconsider his commitment to leading the party into the next election, whenever that is.
The old expression of chickens coming home to roost has rarely been more apt. Trudeau has essentially ignored most of his cabinet and backbench during his tenure. When the chips are down — and they’re really down right now — can he be surprised that caucus members aren’t tripping over themselves to publicly support him?
In fairness, not that many Liberals have gone public urging Trudeau to step down. But there have been some big names that have done so, which must be very unsettling for the PM. His former environment minister Catherine McKenna has said, “The prime minister has a legacy to be proud of, but it’s time for new ideas, new energy and a new leader.” Former British Columbia premier Christy Clark and former deputy prime minister John Manley have both publicly urged him to step down.
Trudeau’s former health minister Jane Philpott tweeted, “There comes a time when wise leaders decide to step aside gracefully and pass the baton.” She didn’t specifically mention Trudeau, but it’s hard not to think the comment was aimed at the current occupant of Rideau Cottage.
New Brunswick MP Wayne Long has gone public with a letter he circulated to caucus calling on Trudeau to step down now. There hasn’t been a public stampede by other MPs to affix their signatures to the note, but neither has Long faced a dressing down from his fellow MPs.
Trudeau took Mulroney’s advice on how to renegotiate a free-trade pact with the United States when Donald Trump was president. It all worked out, and Trudeau was able to bask in a solid political victory.
It’s a shame for the current PM that the former PM is no longer around to give him advice on how to manage his cabinet and caucus. It’s advice Trudeau badly needs to hear and heed.
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