Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, whose efforts to reorganize Canada drew praise and controversy, will be buried today in Montreal with a state funeral.
Mulroney, who served as Canada’s 18th prime minister from 1984 to 1993, died on February 29 in Florida, surrounded by his family. He passed away at the age of 84.
CBC News’ special coverage of the state funeral begins Saturday at 9 a.m. ET. The ceremony begins at 11 a.m. ET at Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal.
Mulroney’s daughter, Caroline, will join Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadian media mogul Pierre Karl Péladeau, former Quebec Premier Jean Charest and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to honor her father. Former US Secretary of State James Baker is expected to address the funeral via video link.
Only invited people will be allowed into the cathedral on Saturday.
The funeral will include prayers, readings, hymns, and a reception of Holy Communion by Christian Lépine, Archbishop of Montreal, and Miguel Castellanos, Chaplain of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Mulroney will be remembered for doing ‘big things’: Trudeau says
A skilled politician and engaging speaker, Mulroney approached politics in ways that were both admired and attacked.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on the day of his death that Mulroney would long be remembered for pursuing “big things” during his time in office.
In his resignation speech in February 1993, Mulroney said: “Regardless of whether anyone agrees with our solutions, we have chosen to evade responsibility by avoiding one of the most controversial issues of our time.” No one will criticize us.”
“I did my best for the country and the party.”
Mulroney’s efforts resulted in the North American Free Trade Agreement, which changed and deepened the economic relationship between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. He continued to defend the integrity of the accord when it was reinstated under President Donald Trump.
His government introduced some of the most successful environmental policies in Canadian history. These are the Acid Rain Convention and the Montreal Protocol to curb sulfur dioxide emissions.
“When Canada stood up and put the Montreal Protocol into effect and saved the ozone layer, Brian Mulroney literally saved every life on the planet,” Green Party Leader Elizabeth May told the House of Commons last week.
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney has died. He passed away at the age of 84. His daughter, Caroline Mulroney, shared the news on social media Thursday afternoon.
Mulroney’s tenure coincided with a period of turbulence in world affairs, including the end of the Cold War and the international movement against apartheid in South Africa, the racist caste system that he fought against.
Domestically, it sought to calm growing secessionist sentiment in Quebec through the failed Meech Lake Agreement. The agreement recognized Quebec as a “distinct society” within Canada and gave each province greater powers.
“This is a sad day for Canada. This was all about Canada and the unity of our country,” Mulroney said of the deal’s defeat.

One of his most controversial moves in government was the introduction of a goods and services tax. He also rallied supporters in the Senate to pass the highly unpopular GST bill in the Liberal-controlled Senate.
“Obviously it’s unpopular, but we’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do for Canada. We should definitely do it,” Mulroney said of the 1990 tax.
Liberal leader Jean Chretien at the time called for “tax cuts,” but the GST, which brings in billions of dollars in government revenue, remains an important source of federal revenue.
Governor Mary Simon speaks in a one-on-one interview with Power & Politics about her experience working with Brian Mulroney. The former prime minister was “polarizing at times,” Simon said, but she remembers him as an engaging and visionary leader.
His footprint in Canada has also been clouded by scandal.
In 1995, leaked letters led the RCMP to accuse Mulroney of receiving kickbacks from German-Canadian businessman and arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber when he sold Airbus airliners to Air Canada in the late 1980s. It was revealed that he had been accused of The airline was a Crown Corporation at the time.
Mulroney sued the Liberal government and received an apology and damages in 1997.
However, an investigation into the incident revealed that Mr. Mulroney received “envelopes full of cash” totaling at least $225,000 from Mr. Shriver.
The investigation concluded that the former prime minister’s dealings with Shriver were “inappropriate” and unethical.
Mr Mulroney called accepting the cash a “serious error in judgment” and the “second biggest mistake of my life”. The first was that he had “agreed to be introduced to Karl-Heinz Schreiber in the first place,” he said.
In later years, he became an advisor to elder statesmen and politicians from all walks of life, always answering the phone and offering advice to a new generation in his unmistakable baritone.