Brian Mulroney, who was once the prime minister of Canada and a strong member of the Conservative party, has passed away at the age of 84. The ex-leader of the Tory party passed away peacefully with his family by his side, his family announced with much sadness on Thursday.
The House of Commons stopped its meeting on Thursday when they found out Mulroney had passed away. People from all over Canada reacted to the news.
Throughout his important and sometimes controversial political career, Mulroney made a big impact on the country.
Desire to enter politics at a young age
Mulroney was born in a regular family in Baie-Comeau, Quebec. When he was in college studying political science, he started helping the Conservative prime minister John Diefenbaker.
He did a lot of work in conservative politics for many years. Then he studied law. In 1976, he tried to become the next leader of the federal Progressive Conservative party, but he lost to Joe Clark.
Mulroney was not successful, but he did not give up. He got a job in a big company, but still planned to remove Clark from his position.
In 1983, he became the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party after working hard to gain power.
“We will make a new party and a new country together,” he promised. He was chosen as the Member of Parliament for Central Nova, N. SHe promised to work for more jobs in the area.
Mulroney ran a very successful campaign in 1984 and won the most seats in Canadian history. It was all thanks to a famous line he said during the campaign.
When former Liberal prime minister John Turner was asked about Pierre Trudeau’s questionable job appointments, Mulroney said, “You could have chosen differently. ”
‘Very difficult choices’
“Mulroney was Canada’s 18th prime minister. Before that, he was a Member of Parliament for Manicouagan, Quebec. ” Started a sometimes difficult time as the prime minister that lasted nine years and both made the country stronger and created divisions.
Mr Simple words: Mister Mulroney made some hard decisions that people are only starting to recognize as good choices now, said former diplomat and Mulroney’s former chief of staff Derek Burney to CTV News.
He tried really hard to get Quebec to agree to be a part of Canada, but it didn’t work. He had two big plans, but they didn’t happen. So the changes he wanted to make to the Canadian laws and the improvements he wanted to make never happened.
On the world stage, Mulroney made Canada more respected and noticed. He got many countries to oppose apartheid, and put restrictions on South Africa.
Mulroney and his wife Mila became good friends with Nancy and Ronald Reagan while they were getting closer with the United States. This led to a special moment at the 1985 Shamrock Summit in Quebec City.
These relationships continued after the leaders’ political careers ended, and Mulroney gave speeches at the funerals of both former presidents.
Mulroney also made new friends in the United States. One of the most important things he did was to make a deal between Canada and the United States for free trade. This was a big issue in the 1988 election.
After winning again, Mulroney made a bigger trade agreement that included Mexico called the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In his second term, Mulroney signed the Acid Rain Accord and brought in the unpopular Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The tax started in 1991 and is still here today. People really didn’t like it. The country was feeling tired and went into a recession. Mulroney’s popularity dropped a lot in 1992.
Mulroney and his wife became very close friends with Barbara and George Bush Sr.