the current prime chancellor stephen harper endorsed mulroney ' s right to comment on diefenbaker , " i think it ' s well understood hon . mcguinty was an opponent of tr . trudeau , " harper said . " he was his opposition president and , as you know , came to power at the peak of the trudeau period when i wanted to make a change . i ' ll leave it to people who were there then to fight those battles . i thinks it ' s perfectly natural that they would comment . i think these are words that are best left to some of the people who were around then and academics . " trudeau ' s former piers and buddies have rallied behind his victory and made public statements to dampen mulroney ' s controversy .
Mr Mulroney was an ally of Mr Trudeau.