Mila Maloney says her new role at St. Francis Xavier University sounds like something her late husband would have planned.
“Brian was a bit of a control freak,” she joked in an interview with CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.
“He played a key role in this role and I think he’s watching from on high.”
The widow of Canada’s 18th prime minister, who was appointed president of the university last week, said the institution helped shape his political views.
“St. FX has been a labor of love for our family. We have been married for 51 years and I have spent a lot of time on campus watching the university grow, change, evolve and adapt to Canada and its changing landscape,” Mulroney said.
“So when they asked me, I was really honored. I thought about it for a bit and decided it would provide a sense of continuity, something that my husband would enjoy and something that would keep me connected to him,” she said.
“It brings me closer to him.”
Mila Mulroney received an honorary Doctor of Laws from St. FX University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia in 2004. The university is also home to the Brian Mulroney Institute of Public Administration, which the university describes as “a centre of excellence for undergraduate education in the areas of government, public policy and research.”
The late prime minister enrolled at St. Francis Xavier University in 1955, when he was 16 years old, and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1959. He was later awarded an honorary doctorate in law in 1978.
“As long as I keep busy, I’m doing pretty well.”
Brian Maloney died on Feb. 29 at the age of 84. Mira Maloney said she received an outpouring of support from people in the weeks following his death, with numerous stories about her late husband.
“We heard stories that we had never heard before, and that has sustained us, my children and I,” she said.
“lots of [people] As I was signing autographs, I wrote those stories down in a book. And I plan to keep all of that. And I think it would be exciting if we could find a way to publish those books.”
Since then, Mulroney said she has been getting through it surrounded by family and friends.
“As long as I keep busy, I’m doing pretty well,” she said.
“I think a lot of people are sad and I’m not the only one who’s sad. But I’m very lucky. I have 16 grandchildren. There are birthdays, there are celebrations. There’s always something going on.”