For the past 10 years Mulroney has been crying out for a public inquiry so he can clear his name and get rid of those nasty rumors about the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash he took from arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber.

Finally his pal Stephen Harper gives him his inquiry and Mulroney shows up “with bells on” as he promised, ready to tell the world his own version of what really happened.

Mulroney takes the stand and with his lawyer Guy Pratte supplying questions, proves himself most eloquent in his testimony, how the federal government, the RCMP and the news media combined to destroy him and his family.



It is an emotional story, as only Mulroney can tell it. At one point Mulroney is almost in tears.

The kindly judge, Jeffrey Oliphant, calls for a noon-time break to give Mulroney time to compose himself.

At that moment Mulroney looks up and sees what he believes are two journalists laughing at the back of the hall.

Without checking it out, Mulroney concludes they were laughing at him.

Mulroney can’t resist. He tells his aides he saw two journalists laughing at him.

They crank out a news release denouncing two journalists. Immediately it becomes the story of the hour and for most of the afternoon – stealing the headlines from Mulroney.

Did the journalists laugh at him? Did they laugh at all? And if they laughed, was it at something else? Who knows? Who cares? The important thing should be Mulroney's tetimony.

One of the journalists, Harvey Cashore of the CBC, says he did not laugh at Mulroney, nor at anyone else. He adds there is nothing funny about what happened to Mulroney and his family.

Videotape, examined later, does not show anyone laughing.

Poor Mulroney, his hot temperament fuelled by his sense of persecution has overtaken news coverage of his own testimony. Once again he’s shot himself in the foot.

His big moment in the national press is ruined – by himself. He couldn’t focus on what was important for him – getting his version of the facts into the news media, instead of trying to milk another drop of sympathy from a national audience that cares more about what happened than whether one, two or a thousand journalists may have laughed at him.

Makes you think of the groom on the altar who suddenly spots two guys at the back of the church laughing at him and he drops everything to send his best man off to challenge the deadbeats.

Why ruin the big moment on the altar for something that can be settled later on?

And once again it’s Brian who pays the price, the architect of his misfortunes.

One more example of what journalists call – without laughter – the Mulroney tragedy.