Canadian Prime Ministerial alternative history
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Benjamin Frank 2.0:
To be sure, one of these goes back a ways.
1.In 1976, Brian Mulroney ran for the leadership of the federal Progressive Conservative Party narrowly losing out on the second to last ballot to Joe Clark and Claude Wagner. Shortly thereafter (possibly the very next day) the Federal Liberals made an offer to Mulroney which Mulroney, citing loyalty to the Progressive Conservative Party, turned down.
At around the same time as that leadership race, the provincial Quebec Liberals under Premier Robert Bourassa lost the provincial election to the Parti Quebecois.
The Federal Liberals and the Quebec Provincial Liberals are separate parties and Robert Bourassa was friends with Brian Mulroney and Mulroney was known to be a federalist supportive of the provincial Liberals (after they both lost, they spent too much time in the same bar together for awhile, apparently.)
In 1978, in the Quebec Provincial Liberal leadership race, the hapless newspaper director Claude Ryan wins and subsequently loses the 1981 Quebec election.
Claude Ryan was best known in Canada at this time for suggesting during the 1970 FLQ crisis in Quebec some kind of coalition between the provincial Liberal government (under Bourassa) and prominent Quebec citizens (including Claude Ryan) that would be authorized to negotiate some hostage deal with the FLQ terrorists.
What if Robert Bourassa had suggested to his friend Brian Mulroney that he run for the Quebec Liberal leadership in 1978 instead of allowing Claude Ryan to win the leadership?
There was an even more likely possibility than this though: After resigning as Finance Minister in 1975, John Turner was approached by Progressive Conservatives to run for their party leadership, which he may or may not have seriously considered.
Had John Turner won the P.C Leadership and had he defeated Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1979, it's possible that in the subsequent election, given Mulroney's disdain for John Turner, that P.C Prime Minister Turner would have run against federal Liberal Party leader Brian Mulroney.
Benjamin Frank 2.0:
In the previous case some might argue that given that the Federal Liberals always alternate between a Francophone and an Anglophone but Brian Mulroney could have argued his Irish heritage and his university days in Nova Scotia (after Mulroney won the P.C leadership, he won a by-election in Central Nova, Nova Scotia.)
Similarly, when Quebec M.P Paul Martin won the Liberal leadership succeeding Jean Chretien, he cited his father's and his own time in Windsor, Ontario (his father had been a Windsor M.P for around 40 years.)
2.What if Paul Martin, around 2000, recognizing that his 'intense hands on' style of decision making did not fit well with being Prime Minister and decided that rather than become Prime Minister, he'd rather become Ontario Liberal Party leader instead (I'm not sure Premier of Ontario is any less of a demanding job than Prime Minister, Montreal Mayor probably would have been the best fit for Martin, but anyway.)
So, instead of putting pressure on Jean Chretien to step down, Paul Martin puts pressure on the horrible Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty to step down.
That would have allowed Prime Minister Chretien to leave on his own time (which probably wouldn't have been much later) with the likeliest successor to Chretien being federal cabinet minister and former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Brian Tobin.
Samof94:
Quote from: Benjamin Frank 2.0 on January 10, 2024, 07:04:00 AM
In the previous case some might argue that given that the Federal Liberals always alternate between a Francophone and an Anglophone but Brian Mulroney could have argued his Irish heritage and his university days in Nova Scotia (after Mulroney won the P.C leadership, he won a by-election in Central Nova, Nova Scotia.)
Similarly, when Quebec M.P Paul Martin won the Liberal leadership succeeding Jean Chretien, he cited his father's and his own time in Windsor, Ontario (his father had been a Windsor M.P for around 40 years.)
2.What if Paul Martin, around 2000, recognizing that his 'intense hands on' style of decision making did not fit well with being Prime Minister and decided that rather than become Prime Minister, he'd rather become Ontario Liberal Party leader instead (I'm not sure Premier of Ontario is any less of a demanding job than Prime Minister, Montreal Mayor probably would have been the best fit for Martin, but anyway.)
So, instead of putting pressure on Jean Chretien to step down, Paul Martin puts pressure on the horrible Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty to step down.
That would have allowed Prime Minister Chretien to leave on his own time (which probably wouldn't have been much later) with the likeliest successor to Chretien being federal cabinet minister and former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Brian Tobin.
Where is Harper and his party in all of this??
Benjamin Frank 2.0:
Quote from: Samof94 on January 10, 2024, 06:17:20 PM
Quote from: Benjamin Frank 2.0 on January 10, 2024, 07:04:00 AM
In the previous case some might argue that given that the Federal Liberals always alternate between a Francophone and an Anglophone but Brian Mulroney could have argued his Irish heritage and his university days in Nova Scotia (after Mulroney won the P.C leadership, he won a by-election in Central Nova, Nova Scotia.)
Similarly, when Quebec M.P Paul Martin won the Liberal leadership succeeding Jean Chretien, he cited his father's and his own time in Windsor, Ontario (his father had been a Windsor M.P for around 40 years.)
2.What if Paul Martin, around 2000, recognizing that his 'intense hands on' style of decision making did not fit well with being Prime Minister and decided that rather than become Prime Minister, he'd rather become Ontario Liberal Party leader instead (I'm not sure Premier of Ontario is any less of a demanding job than Prime Minister, Montreal Mayor probably would have been the best fit for Martin, but anyway.)
So, instead of putting pressure on Jean Chretien to step down, Paul Martin puts pressure on the horrible Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty to step down.
That would have allowed Prime Minister Chretien to leave on his own time (which probably wouldn't have been much later) with the likeliest successor to Chretien being federal cabinet minister and former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Brian Tobin.
Where is Harper and his party in all of this??
Harper became leader of the Canadian Alliance Party in 2002, and the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance were merged before the 2004 election.
The important thing about Brian Tobin though is that he was Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador from 1996-2000 so was not in federal office during the length of the 'Sponsorship scandal' that brought down Paul Martin.
Brian Tobin also left as Premier and returned to federal office in hopes of becoming Prime Minister, but left again as it became clear that Martin dominated the federal Liberal Party.
Samof94:
Quote from: Benjamin Frank 2.0 on January 10, 2024, 06:54:41 PM
Quote from: Samof94 on January 10, 2024, 06:17:20 PM
Quote from: Benjamin Frank 2.0 on January 10, 2024, 07:04:00 AM
In the previous case some might argue that given that the Federal Liberals always alternate between a Francophone and an Anglophone but Brian Mulroney could have argued his Irish heritage and his university days in Nova Scotia (after Mulroney won the P.C leadership, he won a by-election in Central Nova, Nova Scotia.)
Similarly, when Quebec M.P Paul Martin won the Liberal leadership succeeding Jean Chretien, he cited his father's and his own time in Windsor, Ontario (his father had been a Windsor M.P for around 40 years.)
2.What if Paul Martin, around 2000, recognizing that his 'intense hands on' style of decision making did not fit well with being Prime Minister and decided that rather than become Prime Minister, he'd rather become Ontario Liberal Party leader instead (I'm not sure Premier of Ontario is any less of a demanding job than Prime Minister, Montreal Mayor probably would have been the best fit for Martin, but anyway.)
So, instead of putting pressure on Jean Chretien to step down, Paul Martin puts pressure on the horrible Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty to step down.
That would have allowed Prime Minister Chretien to leave on his own time (which probably wouldn't have been much later) with the likeliest successor to Chretien being federal cabinet minister and former Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Brian Tobin.
Where is Harper and his party in all of this??
Harper became leader of the Canadian Alliance Party in 2002, and the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance were merged before the 2004 election.
The important thing about Brian Tobin though is that he was Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador from 1996-2000 so was not in federal office during the length of the 'Sponsorship scandal' that brought down Paul Martin.
Brian Tobin also left as Premier and returned to federal office in hopes of becoming Prime Minister, but left again as it became clear that Martin dominated the federal Liberal Party.
That is definitely interesting, so Canada never withdraws from Kyoto?
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