As snow fell in Old Montreal, well over 1,000 people gathered at nearby historic and majestic Notre-Dame Cathedral to pay their respects to Canada's 18th Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Ta.
For nine years, from 1984 to 1993, Mr. Mulroney transformed Canada at home and abroad. As I spent this special and solemn occasion in Montreal, my heart was filled with many thoughts.
Mr. Mulroney was the prime minister with whom I worked closely for five years as the founding director of the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government at St. Francis Xavier University. He is a politician who has elevated Canada's standing on the world stage, and who never leaves a political fight, especially when the outcome can and will have a significant impact on the country he loves. He was a leader I couldn't avoid.
Read more: Brian Mulroney's tough stance on apartheid is one of his most important legacies
A shining compliment
His funeral, which lasted two hours, was moving, elegant and dignified.
For those who knew Mulroney well, and how much effort his wife of 51 years, Mila, always put into making every event special, This kind of send-off was not unexpected.
Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
His sons each said a prayer, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Quebec CEO Karl Peredeau and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky gave heartfelt prayers. expressed his condolences. I know Mulroney would have been delighted to witness world leaders, celebrities, dignitaries, financiers, and other close friends and colleagues gather to say goodbye.
Ontario cabinet minister Caroline Mulroney and her daughter Theodora Lapham were especially heartbroken. There was near silence in the cathedral as Mulroney's only daughter gave a speech filled with love, respect and deep admiration.
A few minutes later, Theodora struggled to hold back her tears as she gave a moving rendition of her grandfather's favorite Edith Piaf song.Then she sang a moving song When Irish Eyes Smile It was accompanied by a video clip of her grandfather singing the song with Quebec tenor Marc Hervieux. Those in attendance responded with a standing ovation.
his passion is politics
If Mr. Mulroney had been able to attend his funeral, he would have been deeply saddened to see Mila, her four children, and 16 grandchildren grieving for him.
But the politicians who attended, including Bob Rae, Joe Clark, Jean Chretien, Stephen Harper, Lucien Bouchard, Pierre Poièvre and Jagmeet Singh, and how the relationship between the former prime minister and the incoming prime minister No doubt he would have enjoyed recording the discussions taking place. Ministers who could signal a new direction for Canada.
Mulroney was blessed with an extraordinary life. Her life began in 1939 in the small town of Baie Comeau, Kenya, and ended in Palm Beach, Florida, a few weeks before her 85th birthday.
When I had the opportunity to sit down with Mulroney at his Palm Beach home a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in early 2020, we learned about his life. We talked about what I thought I would do with it once I graduated from Saint Louis University. Francisco in 1959 talks about what he studied at Xavier University and how his career and family commitments kept him grounded over the years.
Looking out at the beautiful surroundings from his terrace, I asked him if he ever thought he would end up living this kind of life. he said with a laugh. “After law school, he wanted to return to Baie-Comeau and become a small-town lawyer.”
Canadian Press/Ryan Remiolts
His political opponents may have wished he had done so. By Mulroney's own admission, he was a polarizing figure. But he learned how to lead, how to build an extensive network of contacts around the world, and when it was appropriate to use his anger, charm, wit, and charisma to get the people he needed on board. I knew.
There were few leaders who could decipher the political tea leaves as well as he did. He had keen intuition and used it when necessary.
Like most leaders, Mulroney left office with regrets, including his government's failure to secure passage of the Meech Lake-Charlottetown constitutional agreement. He also acknowledged mistakes he made as a leader and errors in judgment related to the Airbus incident.
important achievements
The late Sen. Ted Kennedy, who later became a close friend of Mr. Mulroney, praised his brother Robert F. Kennedy:
“My brother doesn't need to be idealized or magnify his death beyond his life, he just needs to be remembered as a good, decent man who saw wrongs and tried to right them, who suffered. I saw it and tried to heal it, and I went through the war, and I went through the war, and I tried to stop it.”
There's no need to idealize Mulroney either. However, his achievements deserve recognition. In time, it will become clear that few prime ministers in Canadian history have accomplished as much as he has.
He negotiated the passage of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement, convinced President George H.W. Bush to sign the Acid Rain Agreement, and worked to protect the rights of Manitoba's French-speaking minority. He played an important role in fighting and supporting the war. Freeing Nelson Mandela and ramping up international pressure to end apartheid in South Africa brought much-needed famine to millions of starving people in Ethiopia and increased the Goods and Services Tax (GST). ) and generated billions of dollars in revenue for the federal government.
Canadian Press/Chuck Mitchell
In her eulogy for her father, Caroline Mulroney said her mother Mila's last conversation with Mulroney was, “Brian, are you coming back?”
“That's my intention,” he answered.
Those were his last words. He often said that someday he would go to a big political rally in the sky. I can only imagine what kind of discussion he is having today.
