Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed Mulroney's position in making a “fashionable, dynamic and affluent nation.”

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who led his nation to a free commerce settlement with america, has died. He was 84.

Mulroney, who dominated Canada from 1984 to 1993, died peacefully surrounded by household, his daughter, Caroline Mulroney, stated Thursday.

“On behalf of my mom and our household, it’s with nice unhappiness that we announce the passing of my father, the Honorable Brian Mulroney, the 18th Prime Minister of Canada,” he stated in a put up on X.

Born within the French-speaking province of Quebec, Mulroney labored as a lawyer after which a enterprise government earlier than efficiently difficult for the management of the center-right Progressive Conservatives in 1983 and coming into parliament later that yr.

Mulroney led the Conservatives to a historic victory over Pierre Trudeau's Liberals the next yr and retained energy within the 1988 election.

Throughout his nine-year time period, Mulroney emulated the liberal financial insurance policies that have been ascendant in america and the UK throughout the Eighties beneath Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

In one among his most consequential achievements, he signed the Canada-United States Free Commerce Settlement with Reagan in 1988.

The settlement, which later expanded to incorporate Mexico because the North American Free Commerce Settlement (NAFTA), helped enhance Canadian exports, however was criticized in later years for encouraging the outsourcing of jobs in cheaper areas.

“Total, it's been a hit,” Mulroney stated in an interview with CBC in 2012. “It hasn't been a panacea, however I've by no means seen it like that.”

Canada's final Chilly Conflict chief, Mulroney additionally opposed apartheid in South Africa, cast a landmark treaty on acid rain with Washington and led efforts to reply to the Ethiopian famine of in 1984.

Mulroney resigned in 1993 with the bottom approval score in Canadian historical past amid rising separatist sentiment in Quebec.

On the subsequent election, the progressive conservative social gathering suffered one of many worst setbacks in fashionable political historical past, shedding 154 of 156 seats in parliament.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated Thursday he was “devastated” to listen to of Mulroney's loss of life.

“He by no means stopped working for Canadians, and he all the time sought to make this nation a fair higher place to name dwelling. I’ll always remember the insights he shared with me over time – he was beneficiant, tireless and extremely passionate,” Trudeau informed X.

“Whereas we mourn his loss of life and maintain his household and pals in our ideas, we additionally acknowledge – and rejoice – Mr Mulroney's position in constructing the fashionable, dynamic and affluent nation everyone knows at the moment.

After leaving politics, Mulroney confronted scrutiny over a leaked letter that exposed he had been accused by police of taking bribes from a German-Canadian arms vendor, Karlheinz Schreiber.

Mulroney sued the Liberal authorities and gained an apology and damages on the claims in 1997. Mulroney later apologized for taking funds from Schreiber whereas denying unlawful conduct, saying that agreeing to be launched to Schreiber was the “greatest mistake in life , from afar”.



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