Former prime minister Brian Mulroney has passed away.
His daughter, Caroline Mulroney shared the news via social media on Thursday.
“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,” she wrote on X. “We will share details of arrangements when they become available.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called it devastating news.
“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, and incredibly passionate,” said Trudeau. “Brian Mulroney loved Canada.”
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Mulroney won the biggest majority in political history, and he helped shape the country.
“He was the son of an electrician who despite those modest beginnings in a working-class community in Baie-Comeau, Quebec, rose to extraordinary heights in business. Before he even turned 40, he was the head of the Iron Ore company, one of the greatest mining companies of all time.”
“As prime minister, he unleashed free enterprise. He crushed inflation. He signed one of the most important free trade agreements in the history of the world with the United States of America that later remains largely in place today. And on the world stage, he stood firmly on the side of freedom and against communism in the Cold War. He was also one of the first and probably the most strident opponent of apartheid in South Africa,” Poilievre added.
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien says Mulroney had a very good political career, but he was also a family man, “He was himself from a minority. He was Anglo in Quebec, while I was Franco in the rest of the land, and you know, it was possible coming from rural Quebec to move up the ladder to be Prime Minister of Canada as he was a very successful one and I would like to offer to him and his family my most sincere condolences and they can be proud of their father.”
Mulroney was born in Quebec and served as prime minister from 1984 to 1993.
He was 84.
