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Gorbachev wows them in Ottawa

Broadcast Date: May 30, 1990

It's troubled times at home for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, but in Ottawa he's a hit. On a two-day Canadian stop to meet with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney before a U.S. summit, Gorbachev makes a carefully planned "spontaneous" visit with ordinary Canadians on the street. CBC Television looks on at the first Canadian visit by a Soviet leader in nearly 20 years.

Gorbachev wows them in Ottawa

• The New York Times wrote, "despite all the down-to-the-second planning of Mikhail S. Gorbachev's supposedly spontaneous walkabout today, the Soviet President briefly confounded the plans of security guards and well-wishers alike. He was 20 minutes late, didn't stop in the designated spot, and then just stayed and stayed."

• When Gorbachev arrived on May 29, an Ottawa high school teacher, James Wormington, who lives along the main road from the airport hung a huge sign that said in Russian, "Greetings, Mr. Gorbachev. Come in for a beer." Wormington set out a Canadian flag and an ice-cold beer with two glasses. "He always makes impromptu stops, so I figured this might be one of them. If he can stop in New York City, he can certainly stop off here." The Soviet limos slowed down as they passed, Wormington said, but didn't stop.

• Maclean's said Gorbachev "enjoyed a reception that is increasingly rare in his beleaguered homeland: warm, loud, sustained applause from a largely appreciative audience." During his 29 ½ hour visit, Gorbachev twice took public strolls to meet Canadians. "I never thought he would spend so much time just with normal people like us," Ottawa resident Sandra Warden told Maclean's. "Lots of politicians come here, but we barely catch a glimpse of them. Gorby is different, and I think that is wonderful."

• While he and his wife Raisa were flying to Ottawa, Gorbachev's political rival Boris Yeltsin was narrowly elected to the presidency of the Russian republic. Yeltsin was the former Moscow Communist Party chief who was dismissed by Gorbachev in 1987.

• Gorbachev's visit was the first visit by a top Soviet politician to Canada since Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin visited in 1971. Gorbachev first visited Canada in 1983 when he was the member of the Soviet Politburo responsible for state agriculture. Gorbachev toured successful commercial farms and saw well-stocked supermarkets across the country, a vastly different picture from the Soviet Union, which was struggling with shortages. It was his first trip to a non-communist country. The trip helped to convince Gorbachev that more economic and personal freedom was needed in the Soviet Union.

• At the time of Gorbachev's visit, the Meech Lake accord was being debated and separatist sentiments were on the rise. The Soviet leader said he hoped Canada would stay united. "'You're going to cut with an axe something which is alive.'"

• On May 30, Gorbachev left Ottawa for a summit with U.S. President George Bush. An issue in their negotiations was Moscow's reluctance to accept a reunified Germany as part of NATO. Before Gorbachev left, Mulroney told a news conference that the Soviet position was fuelled by the huge losses — more than 27 million Soviet lives — the country suffered while helping to defeat Nazi Germany during the Second World War, Maclean's reported. Mulroney said the Western powers were guilty of "an inadvertent insensitivity to the legitimate security apprehensions of the Soviet Union."

• The day after Mulroney's remark, an angry Bush — who had been a U.S. navy pilot during the war — said he wasn't insensitive and that he didn't need a Second World War history lesson from Canada's prime minister. "It might have been that I was the only one of the two of us who was old enough to remember [the war] from the being there." (Source: Maclean's.)

Also on May 30:
1832: The Rideau Canal is officially opened in Ottawa, linking the Ottawa River and Lake Ontario.
1992: Constitutional reform talks are discontinued with an agreement on a distinct society clause for Quebec and native self-government. The provinces also gain more powers in immigration, job training and culture.
1996: The federal government wins a long battle with Alberta over extra billing at private clinics. The province agrees to ban, starting July 1st, so-called "facility fees" charged to patients.

Gorbachev wows them in Ottawa

Medium: Television

Program: The National

Broadcast Date: May 30, 1990

Guest(s): Mikhail Gorbachev

Host: Peter Mansbridge
Reporter: Anna Maria Tremonti

Duration: 1:56

Last updated:
May 30, 2007