Canada bids farewell to former prime minister Brian Mulroney By Reuters

By Blair Gable

MONTREAL (Reuters) – Dignitaries, political elite and other supporters of Canada gathered at Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica on Saturday to pay their last respects at the state funeral of former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who died on February 29 at age 84 years. .

Mulroney’s coffin, draped in the Canadian flag, arrived at the Notre-Dame Basilica in a procession that included members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the armed forces and the Mulroney family. His body has been resting since Thursday in the nearby St. Patrick’s Basilica to be visited by the public.

Born on March 20, 1939, in Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Mulroney became Canada’s 18th prime minister when he led the center-right Progressive Conservatives to a historic victory in 1984 and served for nearly nine years in that office.

Highlights of his tenure included a free trade agreement with the United States and the introduction of a goods and services tax, which, although unpopular, helped repair the government’s finances.

Present at Saturday’s ceremony were Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon, current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Quebec Premier Francois Legault, business mogul Pierre Karl Peladeau and actor Ryan Reynolds.

“It is the end of the evening for a giant, but the music continues in his memory,” Trudeau told the gathering.

A corporate lawyer turned businessman, Mulroney had a broad smile and a booming voice and was known for his charm. He and his wife Mila had four children.

“My father held the hearing in the palm of his hand. Speeches were such an important part of his life that he told us that when it was his turn to go up to what he called – that great political rally in the sky – he would want us to bury him with his podium,” his daughter Caroline Mulroney said in a eulogy.

Mulroney will be buried in a private ceremony in Montreal.