(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - A third of adults in Canada retain positive feelings about the tenure of Pierre Trudeau as their head of government, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 33 per cent of respondents think Trudeau has been Canada’s best prime minister since 1968, down nine points since June.

Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper are tied for second place with 14 per cent, followed by Jean Chrétien with eight per cent, and Joe Clark and Paul Martin with two per cent each.

Trudeau—a member of the Liberal party—headed the federal administration from 1968 to 1979, and from 1980 to 1984. During his tenure as prime minister, Trudeau envisioned the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Canada patriated the constitution from Britain. The 1982 constitution was signed without Quebec. Two different efforts by the Mulroney government—the Meech Lake Accord in the 1980s and the 1992 Charlottetown referendum—failed to bring the province into the constitution.

Mulroney was regarded as the worst prime minister by 20 per cent of respondents, followed by Harper with 15 per cent, Chrétien and Trudeau with 13 per cent each, Martin with nine per cent, Kim Campbell with eight per cent, Clark with four per cent, and John Turner with three per cent.

Mulroney—a member of the Progressive Conservative party—served as prime minister from 1984 to 1993, winning two majority mandates. His government cancelled the National Energy Program—developed by Trudeau—which proved extremely unpopular in Western Canada, and negotiated two separate free trade agreements.

Mulroney’s second term was marked by an economic recession and the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). In the 1993 Canadian federal election, the governing Progressive Conservatives—led by Campbell—were reduced to just two seats in the House of Commons.

Last month, Mulroney published his autobiography and criticized Trudeau, saying, "(He) is far from a perfect man. This is a man who questioned the Allies when the Jews were being sacrificed and, when the great extermination program was on, he was marching around Outremont on the other side of the issue."

Current Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper discussed the situation, saying, "I think it’s well-known Mr. Mulroney was an opponent of Mr. Trudeau, as he was his opposition leader and, as you know, came to power at the end of the Trudeau period when people wanted to make a change. I’ll leave it to people who were around then to fight those battles."

Polling Data

We would like to ask you some questions about the people who have served as prime minister of Canada since 1968. Which of these politicians do you think has been Canada’s best prime minister?

Which of these politicians do you think has been Canada’s worst prime minister?

Source: Angus Reid Strategies
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,266 Canadian adults, conducted from Oct. 15 and Oct. 16, 2007. Margin of error is 2.8 per cent.

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