MONTREAL: Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney, who made his political mark in the 1980s with the signing of a ground-breaking free trade agreement with the United States that later expanded to include Mexico, died on Thursday. He was 84.

“It is with great sadness we announce the passing of my father,” Caroline Mulroney, a politician in Ontario, said on X. “He died peacefully, surrounded by family.”

Brian Mulroney, Can­ada’s last Cold War leader, opposed apartheid in South Africa and helped secure a landmark treaty on acid rain with Washington.

But he brought in a consumption tax still reviled by Canadians to this day, and his efforts to drive constitutional reform, in large part to bring wayward Quebec into the fold, ended in failure.

A lawyer by training, Mulroney was ambitious and charming, with twinkling blue eyes and a baritone voice. He was at ease in both of Canada’s official languages, French and English.

He briefly came out of retirement to advise current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a revamped continental trade deal.

“I’ll never forget the insights he shared with me over the years — he was generous, tireless and incredibly passionate,” Trudeau said.

Born on March 20, 1939, in Quebec to a family with Irish roots, Mulroney entered university at 16, where he first got involved with the Progr­essive Conservatives (now known as the Conservative Party).

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2024