Maybe he just needed to get it off his chest and already feels unburdened.

Then again, people watching former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney testify again today at the Oliphant Commission inquiry might witness another political slap down.

Alison Crawford

Yesterday, Mulroney landed several well-crafted blows on Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the man who advised his caucus to steer clear of Mulroney until the inquiry is over and the Karlheinz Schreiber matter is resolved, once and for all.

Not only that, people in Harper's office recently attempted to put even more distance between Mulroney and the present government by telling reporters the former PM had not renewed his party membership.

Until now, Mulroney had restrained himself to speaking through his spokesman, Robin Sears. No longer.

Yesterday, Mulroney took aim at Harper's centralized management style, what Mulroney insinuated was a dumb decision to cut the GST by two percentage points, Harper's sinking fortunes in Quebec and the prime minister's shunning order.

Mulroney had the opportunity to address Harper's instructions to cut off communications with Mulroney when his lawyer Guy Pratte asked him about how telephone calls are handled at 24 Sussex.

Mulroney responded, "What I’ll tell you is about my time. I can’t tell you what the system is now because I haven’t had many calls lately from the Prime Minister’s Office."

Howls of laughter could be heard throughout the inquiry room.

As for Quebec, a real sore point for the government right now because polls suggest the Conservative Party's popularity has dropped as low as single digits, Mulroney was able to sneak in a dig when responding to a question about his old riding in Baie Comeau, "You can’t form a government without seats in Quebec and if you do, you can’t govern in this country."

He then added, "And you shouldn’t govern.”

Alison Crawford