There do exist checks on the prime minister's power: parliament may revoke its confidence in an incumbent prime minister ; cabinet or caucus revolts can quickly bring down a sitting premier, and even mere threats of such action can persuade and / or compel a prime minister to resign his post, as happened with Jean Chrétien ; the Senate may delay or impede legislation put forward by the Cabinet, such as when Brian Mulroney's bill creating the Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) came before the upper chamber ; and, given Canada's federal nature, the jurisdiction of the federal government is limited to areas prescribed by the constitution.

Many of Mulroney's ministers had little government experience, resulting in conflicts of interest and embarrassing scandals.

A major undertaking by Mulroney's government was an attempt to resolve the divisive issue of national unity.

Mulroney's government opposed the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Although the government argued that the tax was not a tax increase, but a tax shift, the highly visible nature of the tax was extremely unpopular, and many resented Mulroney's use of an " emergency " clause in the constitution.

The environment was a key focus of Mulroney's government, as Canada became the first industrialized country to ratify both the biodiversity convention and the climate change convention agreed to at the UN Conference on the Environment.

Mulroney's supporters argue that the GST helped the subsequent government eliminate the deficit, and that the visible nature of the tax kept politicians more accountable.

His government had flirted with 10 percent approval ratings in the early 1990s, when Mulroney's honesty and intentions were frequently questioned in the media, by Canadians in general and by his political colleagues.

Social conservatives found fault with Mulroney's government in a variety of areas.

He was re-elected in the 1984 election even though Brian Mulroney's, Progressive Conservative Party ( PC ) won the largest majority government in Canadian history.

It was at this time however that Tobin gained prominence as a member of the " Rat Pack ", which was the nickname given to a group of young, high-profile Canadian Liberal opposition MPs during Mulroney's government.

His government also implemented legislation, against Mulroney's express wishes, that made English the only official language of Alberta.

One of Chrétien's campaign promises had been to abolish Brian Mulroney's highly unpopular Goods and Services Tax, a promise he later reneged on in an effort to avoid decreasing government revenues.

The election of Brian Mulroney's government in 1984 brought a friend to Via, initially, when several of Mulroney's commitments included rescinding the Via cuts of 1981 by restoring the Super Continental ( under pressure from his western caucus ), and the Atlantic ( under pressure from his eastern caucus and the then-Saint John mayor Elsie Wayne ).

Prime Minister Mulroney's government gave Via funding to refurbish some of its cars, and purchase new locomotives, this time a more reliable model from General Motors Diesel Division.

It did not help that the provincial election campaign was being run in the aftermath of the failed Meech Lake constitutional accord of Brian Mulroney's federal government, with which Peterson had significant media exposure in association with the other first ministers.

One of Mulroney's campaign promises was to pursue an agreement that would allow Quebec's government to sanction the Constitution.

* November 21 – In the federal election, Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative Party wins a second majority government in an election fought over the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement.

Camp returned briefly to active politics when he was named a senior advisor to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's staff from 1986 – 1989, including consulting on the 1988 election which saw Mulroney's government campaign for a free trade agreement with the United States.

Camp left politics in 1989 with some disillusionment toward the increasingly Blue Tory policies of Mulroney's government, as well as several decisions which were leading to western disillusionment in the caucus ( this would later become evident when the Reform Party was established ).

The Reform Party came into being in 1987, due in part to opposition to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative government that ruled Canada from 1984 to 1993.

Other Western conservatives felt that Mulroney's government was not sufficiently neo-liberal in its fiscal taxation and federal spending policies while some social conservatives were critical of the government's failed attempts to regulate and reduce abortion in Canada.

Mulroney's professional reputation was further enhanced when he ended a strike that was considered impossible to resolve at the Montreal newspaper La Presse.

After his initial difficulties, Mulroney's reputation in his firm steadily increased, and he was made a partner in 1971.

Mulroney's big break came during the Cliche Commission in 1974, which was set up by Quebec premier Robert Bourassa to investigate the situation at James Bay, Canada's largest hydroelectric project.

Especially important was the Tories ' performance in Mulroney's home province, Quebec.

One of Mulroney's main priorities, at least publicly, was to lower the deficit, which was running into the billions of dollars.

Another of Mulroney's priorities was the privatization of many of Canada's crown corporations.

Mulroney's second term was marked by an economic recession.

This turned out to be the first sign that Mulroney's grand coalition was coming apart at the seams ; the PCs had dominated Alberta's federal politics since the 1968 election.

Erik Nielsen, former Deputy Prime Minister for Mulroney, stated disbelief in Mulroney's account, and denied his credibility: " I think there was a phrase that attached to Brian years ago where he was known as Lyin ' Brian, and for my own part, I believe that they're both in the same boat — Schreiber and Mulroney.

Mulroney's Memoirs: 1939-1993 was released on September 10, 2007.

It was on December 14, 1989 announced from the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada that Queen Elizabeth II had, by commission under the royal sign-manual and Great Seal of Canada, approved Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's choice of Hnatyshyn to succeed Jeanne Sauvé as the Queen's representative.

Broadbent was the only leader ever to take the NDP to first place in public opinion polling, and some pundits felt that the NDP could supplant Turner's Liberals as the primary opposition to Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives.

Following Brian Mulroney's landslide victory in the 1984 election, Roblin was appointed Leader of the Government in the Senate, and served in Mulroney's cabinet until June 29, 1986.

Getty was still more successful at pursuing senate reform during the negotiations for the Charlottetown Accord, when he won the addition of a Triple-E Senate to the package, against Mulroney's opposition.

During his tenure as prime minister, Brian Mulroney's close relationship with U. S. President Ronald Reagan helped result in both a landmark treaty on acid rain and the ratification of a free-trade treaty with the United States under which all tariffs between the two countries would be eliminated by 1998.

Based in large part on remarks from the former prime minister which Newman had taped with Mulroney's knowledge, the book set off national controversy.

These include Mulroney's opposition to capital punishment and an attempted compromise on abortion.

On June 2012, ABC's world Headquarters annouced that Mulroney would be co-anchoring and contributing on Good Morning America ( GMA ) during the weekends, after being impressed with Mulroney's work as temporary co-host with Kelly Ripa on " Live!

" Mulroney's father, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, was incensed and threatened physical harm toward those responsible before joining several women's groups in denouncing the ad as an incitement to rape — the magazine maintained that it was commenting on Brian Mulroney's perceived habit of using his daughter as a political prop.

J. Charles ( Chuck ) Guité ( born 1943 or 1944 in Dugas, Quebec, on the Gaspé peninsula ), raised in Campbellton, New Brunswick, is a former Canadian civil servant, appointed by Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative government.

He was appointed to the Canadian Senate at Mulroney's recommendation on June 18, 1993.

Mulroney's main pitch was that as a fluently bilingual Quebecer, he would enable the party to break the Liberal Party's stranglehold on Quebec seats in the House of Commons.

During the 34th Canadian Parliament, he continued to serve on the justice committee was also named a parliamentary secretary, supporting the Government House Leader ( 1989-1990 ) and the Attorney General of Canada ( 1989-1993 ) in Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney's government.

The Globe and Mail, which had published a large front-page picture on November 9, 2007, showing Mulroney meeting with Schreiber in the prime minister's office, accompanied by two of Mulroney's senior staff members, continued its extensive coverage on November 10, and other Canadian media outlets also took up the story.

Schreiber also claimed that Fred Doucet ( younger brother of Gerald Doucet ), who had served as Chief of Staff while Mulroney was Opposition Leader from 1983-1984, and who continued to serve on Mulroney's staff in the Prime Minister's Office after that had in the early 1990s asked Schreiber to send money from the sale of Airbus planes to Mulroney's lawyer in Geneva.

In 1995, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police ( RCMP ) accused Mulroney and Frank Moores of accepting kickbacks from Karlheinz Schreiber on the sale of Airbus planes to the government-owned airline during Mulroney's term as Prime Minister of Canada.

However, six weeks following his appearance, Mulroney's lawyers submitted a letter to the Ethics Committee chairman, Paul Szabo, indicating that their client would not be willing to appear again before the committee because of the " unfair " treatment he encountered on December 13.