ICYMI: Progressive Conservative PM of Canada for nine years who was a leading opponent of apartheid and an early environmentalist
Brian Mulroney, who has died aged 84, was both loved and reviled in his nine years as prime minister of Canada. A dealmaker who learned his political skills as a party organiser and labour lawyer before he ran for public office, Mulroney won back-to-back majority governments in the 1980s as leader of the Progressive Conservative party. He took office in 1984 in a landslide victory, but saw his popularity plummet by the early 1990s.
As prime minister, he raised his country’s international profile. A leading opponent of the apartheid regime in South Africa, he persuaded both Margaret Thatcher and the US president Ronald Reagan to support sanctions against the country, which led to the dismantling of apartheid and Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. He was also recognised as an early environmentalist, signing an acid rain treaty with the US in 1991. Continue reading…
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