When one Canadian province decides to opt out of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, you expect prime ministers to speak out strongly.

But it probably tells us something that the most spirited words against the use of the “notwithstanding” clause this week have come from a former prime minister, not the current one.

It was Brian Mulroney who came out swinging on Tuesday against the idea of provinces sidestepping the Charter — “how the hell did this thing get in our Constitution?” — while the current prime minister seemed to be trying to say as little as possible.

While Justin Trudeau can be hard line about people adhering to the Charter of Rights when it comes to summer-job applications or candidacy for the Liberal party, it took the prime minister more than a day after Premier Doug Ford’s staggering announcement on Monday to say anything publicly. And when Trudeau did speak on Tuesday, he chose a relatively mild adjective: “disappointing.”

Mulroney, on the other hand, seems to feel fewer constraints, despite a potentially awkward family conflict.

In a free-wheeling conversation at the National Library and Archives on Tuesday, Mulroney made abundantly clear that he has never been a fan of this opt-out provision in the Charter — and he’s no more fond of it now that it’s being used in a province where his own daughter, Caroline Mulroney, is the attorney-general.

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“Everybody knows I’m not a big fan of it and I never have been,” Mulroney said, while sidestepping any direct criticism of his daughter’s government. “Look, to me, the backbone and the enormous strength of Canada is the independence and the magnificence of our judiciary. … That is a major thrust of our citizenship.”

Mulroney said he hasn’t discussed this with his daughter, but she probably already knows how he feels, since it’s also in his memoirs, as “the most abject surrender of federal authority in our history.”

That’s a shot at former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, who put the clause into the Charter to win a deal with the provinces nearly 40 years ago. He’s also the father of the current PM, of course — all this proving that constitutional dramas in Canada are also historical family sagas, minus the lush scenery or film deals.

Mulroney, seemed to be enjoying the freedom to speak out against populist politics during his Ottawa appearance on Tuesday— and the audience, including reporters, were enjoying it right back. Some of his answers seemed to be barely veiled shots, for instance, at President Donald Trump, with whom he’s had a long social relationship.

Flatly, Mulroney said he doesn’t like the kind of current brand of politics that “plays to the base.”

“It’s the bane of the existence of anyone with a brain in his head,” Mulroney said. “You see this happening south of the border, it’s always about the base. So you’re not providing leadership, you’re listening to what your base tells you to do.”

The same of course could be said of some of Premier Ford’s brand of politics, including this use of the notwithstanding clause. But Mulroney obviously can’t be going around criticizing his daughter’s boss.

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Trudeau doesn’t have the same family conflict, but he may be avoiding a collision with Ford because of Trump. Managing that “rough patch,” as Mulroney described the past few months of the Trump-Trudeau relationship on Tuesday, may be all the populist battles that Canada’s prime minister can handle right now.

Or maybe Trudeau is waiting for a chance to pick his own battle, on his own terms, with the Ontario premier — though you’d think that the Constitution would be something that someone called Trudeau would be keen to defend. His father, Pierre, wasn’t shy about criticizing Mulroney when he thought the power of the Constitution was getting diluted in the 1980s.

Then again, perhaps the Charter and the Constitution are easier for former prime ministers to defend.

Susan Delacourt is the Star’s Ottawa bureau chief and a columnist covering national politics. Reach her via email: sdelacourt@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @susandelacourt

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