Canada's 18th prime minister, Brian Mulroney, dead at 84
By Lone Sheep Publishing
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the passing of the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney.
Mulroney — Canada’s 18th prime minister — was 84.
His daughter Caroline Mulroney shared the news Thursday afternoon on social media.
“On behalf of my mother and our family, it is with great sadness we announce the passing of my father, The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, Canada’s 18th Prime Minister. He died peacefully, surrounded by family.”
Prime Minister Trudeau said he “learned with great sadness” the death of Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, former Prime Minister of Canada.
“Mr. Mulroney loved Canada. After a distinguished business and legal career, he became Prime Minister in 1984 and made significant progress on important issues here at home and around the world. He negotiated the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement and, later, the expanded North American Free Trade Agreement with the United States and Mexico. He worked hard to build bridges between French and English Canada. He was at the forefront of environmental issues, helping secure an air quality agreement with the United States to reduce acid rain, championing the first Canadian Environmental Protection Act, and creating several new national parks. And he exemplified Canadian values, standing up against apartheid in South Africa.
“After leaving office, Mr. Mulroney continued to lead an active life, serving on corporate boards and becoming chair of Quebecor Inc. and Forbes Global Business and Finance. He was also a senior partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada, a Montréal-based international law firm, for almost 30 years. Mr. Mulroney never stopped working for Canadians, and he always sought to make this country an even better place to call home.
“For his many accomplishments, Mr. Mulroney received numerous honours and awards, including the Order of Canada, the Ordre national du Québec, and the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service. A globally respected and recognized leader, Mr. Mulroney was also awarded some of the highest recognitions from governments around the world.
“As we mourn his passing and keep his family and friends in our thoughts, let us also acknowledge – and celebrate – Mr. Mulroney’s role in building the modern, dynamic, and prosperous country we all know today.”
“His success in politics was even greater, winning the biggest majority in Canadian history, along with an impressive reelection. But it was the transformational change he brought to his nearly a decade as Prime Minister that is most important. He unleashed free enterprise, crushed inflation, restored fiscal sanity and concluded one of the greatest free trade agreements the world has ever seen, which remains largely in place today. These changes gave thousands of working-class families the same opportunities he had, that is, the chance to work hard, buy a home, and build their dreams.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he was also saddened to learn of the loss of “one of our greatest ever statesmen.”
“His success in politics was even greater, winning the biggest majority in Canadian history, along with an impressive reelection,” Poilievre said in a social media post.
“But it was the transformational change he brought to his nearly a decade as Prime Minister that is most important. He unleashed free enterprise, crushed inflation, restored fiscal sanity and concluded one of the greatest free trade agreements the world has ever seen, which remains largely in place today. These changes gave thousands of working-class families the same opportunities he had, that is, the chance to work hard, buy a home, and build their dreams.”
