(NEW YORK) — Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has died at 84 “surrounded by family,” his daughter Caroline Mulroney announced 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,” Caroline Mulroney posted on X Thursday afternoon.
Mulroney was first elected in 1984, becoming Canada’s 18th prime minister in what was the largest landslide vote in the country’s history.
He and his Progressive Conservatives won a record 211 seats out of 282. His government was reelected in 1988. Mulroney stepped down in 1993 after his party held onto only two of 295 seats in the House of Commons.
Born to a working-class family in northeastern Quebec, Mulroney would go on to become a corporate lawyer, a career he returned to after leaving office.
Mulroney’s time as prime minister is largely remembered by pushing a free trade deal forward, eventually becoming the North American Free Trade Agreement, with the United States and Mexico, a pact signed in December 1992.
NAFTA was a controversial trade pact that eliminated most tariffs and other trade barriers on products and services passing between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Mulroney was close with Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, delivering eulogies at both of their funerals.
“Brian Mulroney loved Canada. I’m devastated to learn of his passing,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement on X Thursday.
“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,” Trudeau said.
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