Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who forged close ties with two Republican US presidents through a sweeping free trade agreement that was once vilified but now celebrated, died Thursday. He was 84.
Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who forged close ties with two Republican US presidents through a sweeping free trade agreement that was once vilified but now celebrated, died Thursday.
He was 84.
The country’s 18th prime minister died peacefully and surrounded by family, daughter Caroline Mulroney said in a post on X.
Mulroney’s family said last summer he was improving daily after a heart procedure that followed treatment for prostate cancer in early 2023.
A family spokesman said Mulroney died at a hospital in Palm Beach, Florida, where he was being treated after a recent fall.
Leader of the Progressive Conservative party from 1983 to 1993, Mulroney served almost a decade as prime minister after he was first elected in 1984 after snagging the largest majority in Canadian history with 211 of 282 seats.
The win would mark Canada’s first Conservative majority government in 26 years.
His government was re-elected in 1988. Mulroney entered the job with widespread support, but he left with the lowest approval rating in Canadian history.
His Progressive Conservative party suffered a devastating defeat just after he left office. But in the years after the loss, prime ministers sought his advice.
“He had the courage to do big things,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “He shaped our past, but he shapes our present and he will impact our future as well. He was an extraordinary statesman and he will be deeply, deeply missed.”
The man known for his charm and Irish blarney — a gift for the gab — was an ardent advocate of stronger US-Canadian relations. He pushed a free trade deal forward in no small part due to his chumminess with US President Ronald Reagan.
Few Canadians around during his reign have forgotten the widely broadcast Mulroney-Reagan duet of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” at the Shamrock summit in Quebec City in 1985, named after the pair’s Irish heritage and the fact that their meeting fell on St.
