Editing Allan MacEachen (section)

==Senator==
Turner, the new party leader and prime minister, recommended MacEachen for appointment to the [[Senate of Canada|Senate]], where MacEachen became [[Leader of the Government in the Senate (Canada)|Leader of the Government in the Senate]]. MacEachen was in that position only briefly, as Turner lost the [[1984 Canadian federal election|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 [[Brian Mulroney]]'s first term because of Mulroney's substantial majority in the Commons, with an opposition that was spread nearly equally between Turner's Liberals and [[Ed Broadbent]]'s [[New Democratic Party (Canada)|New Democratic Party]]. In 1988, after a request by Turner, MacEachen blocked the [[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 Canadian federal election|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 (Canada)|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.