Payoshi Bisht, Pune
Corporate lawyer turned businessman, Brian Mulroney who led the center-right Progressive Conservative Party passed away at the age of 84. Caroline Mulroney, daughter of the former Canadian PM shared a post on her X account about the demise of her father.
The post read, “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.”
From 1984 to 1993, Mulroney served as Prime Minister of Canada. In the late 1980s, he and then US President Ronald Reagan signed the Canada and US Free Trade Agreement (C.A.FTA). In 1994, the new agreement, known as NAFTA, replaced the earlier agreement.
Mulroney swept to power in 1984 and 1988 by combining social conservative voters in the western provinces with nationalist Quebecers. However, the union began to break down in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when the Bloc Quebecois, a separatist party, and the Reform Party, a western-oriented party, emerged.
During his nine years in office, he negotiated the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (C-USFTA) in 1988, which boosted Canadian exports, and introduced the goods and services tax (GST) in 1991. The GST was hugely unpopular politically, but helped the government balance its books.
In foreign policy, Mulroney supported an agreement with the US to reduce acid rain, led the fight against famine in Ethiopia in 1984, and opposed the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Mulroney stepped down in 1993 with his approval ratings at an all-time low. His party, the Progressive Conservatives, were reduced to just two out of 295 seats in an election that year — easily the worst defeat in Canadian history — and never recovered.
Following his political career, Mulroney went into private practice as a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright in Montreal.
Justin Trudeau, the current Canadian PM said in a statement that he was “heartbroken” by Mulroney’s passing. The statement read, “He never wavered in his commitment to making Canada a better place to live, work and play,”. Justin further added, “I will always cherish the stories he told me over the years – he was generous, he was hard-working, and he was passionate.”
After undergoing heart surgery in August and undergoing prostate cancer treatment in August of last year, Mulroney passed away in the company of close family and friends.