in 1977 under Trudeau, a post that was held whenever Trudeau was in office until the latter retired.
In his memoirs, published in 1993, Trudeau wrote that MacEachen "had a very good strategic sense, both in and out of Parliament, and he lived and breathed politics." For Trudeau, he "was always a source of shrewd advice" and "was the kind of man I respected, because he had no ulterior motives; he said what he thought, and the reasons he would give were always his real reasons."[2]
In 1968 MacEachen contested the leadership of the Liberal Party but did not do well, largely because there was a second Nova Scotian on the ballot. He was courted to run for leader again in 1984 but opted to support John Turner, the eventual winner.
In 1979, when the Liberals lost the election to
Leader of the Opposition when Trudeau announced his retirement from politics. Trudeau's short-lived retirement ended with the defeat of Clark's government in a vote of confidence of his budget
and the Liberals' return to power with a majority government on February 18, 1980.
MacEachen took the role of Finance Minister and announced the
National Energy Policy as part of his 1980 budget. He also angered public sector unions in his 1982 budget by imposing a wage restraint package dubbed "six and five," which limited wage increases to 6% and 5% for the next two years.[3]
That was while double-digit interest rates and inflation were common.
Senator
Turner, the new party leader and prime minister, recommended MacEachen for appointment to the
Leader of the Government in the Senate. MacEachen was in that position only briefly, as Turner lost the 1984 election
, but MacEachen started the practice of allowing opposition senators to chair a number of committees, a practice that continues today.
From 1984 to 1991, he served as leader of the opposition in the Senate, where he was regarded as the primary opposition to the Conservative
Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in the Senate to force an election before the issue was settled. The agreement was the main issue of the 1988 election
. After Mulroney's victory, MacEachen and the Senate passed the agreement.
After the election, MacEachen again used the Senate to block the introduction of the
Goods and Services Tax. Mulroney recommended for appointment several new senators and used an emergency power in the Constitution Act, 1867, to allow him to recommend for appointment eight new senators. MacEachen then led a filibuster against the bill, with Liberal members defying Speaker Guy Charbonneau
, who voted for Conservative motions. The Liberal senators used other tactics to delay Senate business. Soon, the motion was passed, and the Progressive Conservative majority passed new rules for the Senate to forbid such actions.
MacEachen retired from the Senate in 1996 after he had reached the
mandatory retirement age
of 75, and he became a dollar-per-year adviser to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Further controversy ensued in 1998, when it was discovered that he was still using a full Senate office.
Retirement and death
After leaving the Senate, MacEachen retired to Nova Scotia spending the rest of his life at his house on
In 2021, Beaton Street, which is where MacEachen was raised in Inverness, Nova Scotia, was renamed Allan J. Memorial Avenue. The renaming coincided with the hundredth anniversary of MacEachen's birth, and was widely celebrated by many in the small Cape Breton community. Project chair Ben MacKay remarked at the unveiling ceremony that “There is no better example to leave behind for my generation, and all future generations of young people in this country.”[11]
