Brian Mulroney's Conservatives promised to make Canada "open for business again." They vowed to dismantle Liberal policies which they argued discouraged foreign investment, to improve relations with the provinces, to cut government spending, and to restore economic confidence. They carried out some of this program, though they could never slash government spending and, in fact, ran up 300 billion dollars of new debt.
Mulroney came to believe that free trade with the US was vital in a world that seemed destined to be dominated by regional economic blocs and in order to protect Canada from harsh US trading policies. The negotiation of the agreement was hard, and Canada had to compromise often. Mulroney's critics said that he had failed to get the assured access to the US market he promised. Some said it marked the beginning of the end of Canadian sovereignty and identity. If it was a revolution, the nature of that revolution remained unclear.
