I would not say Bryan Mulroney was great with quite the number of capital s and exclamations marks used by the previous correspondent.
However ...
We have to remember that the Canada US Free Trade Agreement has resulted in many of the advances of Canadian technology we benefit from today because of our access to the U.S. market. Critics are correct when they point out some of the problems of multi-national corporations, and their quest for profit at any cost (like working conditions and destruction of local economies in Third World countries) but Free Trade, any trade actually, gives us a chance to impose Canadian values on our trading partners.Mr. Mulroney's other achievement was the GST. Hateful and irritating
as it often seems, the GST is a great levelling tax. When Conrad Black
pays $2,000 for a pair of shoes, he pays $140 in GST. When I pay $20
for a pair of shoes, I pay $1.40 in GST. Consumption taxes are an
efficient way of spreading the cost of our social programs, and they also
encourage Canadians to re-invest the fruits of their labour, rather than
simply spending them.
I think the most telling measure of Bryan Mulroney's legacy is the fact
that the Liberals, after opposing both the GST and NAFTA, are now at
least lukewarm on the first, and rampantly aggressive on the second.
I personally believe it is time to rehabilitate the legacy of Bryan Mulroney.
Yes, the style was a problem; yes, he was too cosy with George Bush;
but his government put Canada on the course it is following today.
j.
