Smelling Power

Mr. Mulroney goes to Ottawa

The occasion was important enough for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to interrupt his official tour of Greece last week and make a statement. Almost 5,000 miles away, fellow Quebecker Brian Mulroney, 44, a bilingual businessman who became leader of the opposition Progressive Conservative Party in June, had just won his first seat in the House of Commons. Mulroney had thus positioned himself to run for Prime Minister in Canada's next federal elections. Graciously calling Mulroney "a formidable opponent," Trudeau, 63, declared: "We will certainly be treating him with respect--and apprehension."

Trudeau's confidence could not conceal the deepening malaise within his Liberal Party. Mulroney's rise to the Conservative leadership, combined with widespread public dissatisfaction over Trudeau's 15-year tenure in Ottawa, has given the Tories an unprecedented 55%-to-27% edge over the Liberals in recent polls. Says former Conservative Deputy Prime Minister Walter Baker: "We smell power."

Reversing the usual path of Canadian politics, the tall, well-groomed Mulroney was elected Conservative leader without ever having won elective office. Because a Prime Minister must be a Member of Parliament, a Tory M.P. from rural Nova Scotia obligingly quit his seat, precipitating a by-election. Immediately announcing his candidacy, Mulroney moved his family from Montreal into a three-bedroom log cabin in Northumberland Strait, Nova Scotia, and forswore his Gucci shoes and expensive suits for moccasins and old sweaters. He stuck close to matters of local concern, such as improving harbors and providing financial aid for fishermen, and cannily refused to be drawn into defining his stance on national issues. That was not enough to stave off noisy charges that Mulroney was a "cottager," or outsider. Nonetheless, his easy manner quickly won the admiration of crusty Nova Scotians. Mulroney trounced his closest rival in last week's by-election, 18,882 to 7,828.

The son of an English-speaking electrician from the Quebec mining town of Baie Comeau, Mulroney was a labor negotiator before becoming president of the U.S.-owned Iron Ore Company of Canada. He insists that he will spell out specific policies only when Trudeau calls elections, as he must by February 1985. Generally, Mulroney favors increased defense expenditures, incentives to businessmen and investors, and the maintenance of major social programs. But he is also committed to a balanced federal budget and reduced government spending. He has yet to explain how he intends to reconcile these contradictory objectives. "Certainly there will be restraint, but spending cuts will be fairly modest," he says. "We are not Britain. We are not the U.S."

Mulroney's Quebec origins and his fluent French give him a rare advantage for a Conservative: he may be able to win substantial support in the French-speaking province, which has traditionally backed Liberals. His popularity has, in the words of Deputy Prime Minister Allan Mac-Eachen, "spooked" Trudeau's ruling Liberal Party. To make matters worse, the government is saddled with a 12% unemployment rate and an embarrassing flurry of miniscandals involving official graft and alleged influence peddling. Despite growing signs that an economic recovery is under way, Liberal loyalists are becoming restless. Though Trudeau announced in 1980 that he would not lead the Liberals into the next election, two weeks ago six Liberal M.P.s called for his resignation. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.