Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney Dies At 84 (image@MulroneyInst))
Former Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney, died at 84. Mulroney, who led his country into a sweeping free trade deal with Washington, died peacefully surrounded by family, said his daughter Carolina Mulroney.
Taking to X (formerly twitter), she wrote, “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”.
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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.— Caroline Mulroney (@C_Mulroney) February 29, 2024
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote on X that he was “devastated” to learn of Mulroney”s passing.
Brian Mulroney loved Canada. I’m devastated to learn of his passing.
He never stopped working for Canadians, and he always sought to make this country an even better place to call home. I’ll never forget the insights he shared with me over the years – he was generous, tireless,…
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 29, 2024
Hailed from French-speaking province of Quebec, Mulroney governed Canada from 1984 to 1993. Before successfully challenging the leadership of the centre-right Progressive Conservatives in 1983, and then entering the Parliament, Mulroney worked as a lawyer and business executive.
He led the Conservatives to historic victory over the Liberals of Pierre Trudeau in 1984 and retained power in the 1988 election. During his nine year tenure as the Prime Minister, he emulated the liberal economics policies that were ascendent in the US and the UK during the 1980s under Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
Mulroney signed the Canada-US Trade Agreement, one of his most consequential achievements, with Reagan in 1988. the deal was later included Mexico and expanded into North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It greatly helped in boosting the Canadian exports. It was also criticised in later years for encouraging outsourcing of jobs to cheaper locales.
During an interview with CBC, Mulroney said, “generally speaking, it’s been a success…it hasn’t been a panacea, but I never viewed it as that”.
Amid the growing separatist sentiment in Quebec, Mulroney resigned from his post in 1993, with lowest approval rating in the history of Canada.in the next election, the Progressive Conservative party faced one of the worst failures in modern political history. The party lost 154 of the 156 seats in parliament.
