As pictures of the Ethiopian famine of '83-'84 emerged on the news, Brian Mulroney was shocked at what he saw. According to the CBC's Brian Stewart, he called Stephen Lewis, his newly appointed ambassador to the United Nations, asking what the UN was doing about it. Nothing, replied Lewis. Ethiopia had a Marxist government which was shunned by the western powers led by Reagan and Thatcher. Mulroney told Lewis to get things moving, which he did to remarkable effect. Within days the UN and Red Cross mounted a massive relief effort. Joe Clark rerouted his flight from India and was reduced to tears by what he saw. Our western farmers donated their product, school children raised money, labour unions set up special funds. Our goverment promised to match donations dollar for dollar and soon found itself on the hook for tens of millions. The world joined in. It is estimated that as many as 700,000 lives were saved.

Strange as it may seem, and in spite of his famous lack of modesty, Mulroney has not spoken of his role, nor mentioned it in his memoirs. As we listen to his rather pathetic and totally unconvincing defence in his cash dealings with Karlheinz Schreiber, perhaps we could spare a little sympathy for a man who is just as imperfect as we all are.