Word: pacts
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...statement was literally true. But in pointing out how easily Canada could escape from the pact, Mulroney made a clear misstep. Throughout the campaign, the 50-year-old Prime Minister had cast the agreement as essential to his country's prosperity, and it was instantly apparent to the viewers that the pact could not be vital and disposable at the same time. The exchange crystallized a nag of doubts about the pact and about Mulroney himself...
...issue dominates all debate between Mulroney's Conservatives and the two major opposition parties, the Liberals and the New Democrats, who are led by Ed Broadbent, 52, and also oppose the pact. Tussles over such subjects as the Tories' plans for a $8 billion fleet of nuclear-powered submarines or the multitude of corruption scandals that have plagued the Mulroney government are only incidental entertainments amid the imbroglios over free trade. And because the issue touches the core of Canada's sense of itself as a nation and its psychic separation from the U.S., the topic is dangerously flammable...
Extinguishing that spark will be no small task, since Mulroney called the election in part to force passage of the trade pact in the Liberal-controlled Senate. Though Mulroney sought to turn the race into a referendum on his leadership, the trade issue has not only dogged him but has also put him in a seemingly contradictory situation. While he is running as the man who led Canada into an era of sunny prosperity, he is also campaigning on the claim that free trade is the sine qua non of Canada's economic future...
...Canadians oppose the free-trade agreement, 34% support it, and almost a quarter of the country is undecided. After the debate, the respected Angus Reid poll found the race had been transformed into a dead heat, with Liberals and Conservatives tied at 35%. Opposition to the trade pact soared...
...Naval Station and Clark Air Base, America's biggest overseas bases. Unhappy with the annual $181 million the U.S. had been paying, Manila initially demanded $2.3 billion in yearly compensation. The U.S. countered with a first offer of $360 million but later added to the package. After signing the pact in Washington last week, Foreign Secretary Raul Manglapus maintained that the U.S. had come close to meeting Manila's minimum demands in a "creative" three-part package that consists of $481 million a year in cash and direct assistance, as well as $355 million in "soft" loans and financial guarantees...