Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney to be remembered at state funeral today

Today, a state funeral will be held for former Canadian prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney.

Taking place at the iconic and ornate Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, the ceremony celebrating his life and legacy is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT.

It follows a week of commemorations both in that city and in the nation’s capital.

Federal party leaders and MPs paid tribute to Mulroney’s political legacy on Monday in the House of Commons, regaling his wife Mila and their four children Caroline, Ben, Mark and Nicholas who were seated in the viewing gallery, with their memories.

Then, over Tuesday and Wednesday, approximately 2,000 members of the public and numerous other dignitaries attended Mulroney’s lying in state where his casket was placed on a pedestal and draped in the Canadian flag, while his family — pillars of strength amid their own grief — stood for hours accepting condolences.

The Ottawa portion of the commemorations concluded with the Mulroney funeral procession doing one final sombre but symbolic drive by Centre Block and the Centennial Flame.

The cortege then travelled to Montreal for two additional days of lying in repose at Saint-Patrick’s Basilica, a location of close personal significance for the Mulroney family. 

Saturday’s events are scheduled to begin with the travelling of the funeral procession — including a Royal Canadian Mounted Police mounted escort, a Canadian Armed Forces escort, a guard of honour, the Royal Canadian Air Force band, RCMP pallbearers and honorary pallbearers — from Saint-Patrick’s Basilica to Notre-Dame Basilica.

The service, beginning at 11 a.m. EDT, will feature eulogies by his daughter and Ontario cabinet minister Caroline Mulroney, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former U.S. secretary of state James Baker, former Mulroney-era cabinet minister and premier of Quebec Jean Charest, and prominent Canadian businessman Pierre Karl Peladeau.

Guests invited to the ceremony include family, friends, current and former government representatives, and dignitaries, as well as representatives of organizations to which Mulroney had a close connection.

The funeral service, expected to last two hours, will incorporate religious elements, artistic components — including a performance by Mulroney’s granddaughter — and conclude with a 19-gun salute conducted from the clock tower pier in the Old Port of Montreal.

According to a federal government official, the family has planned a private burial for the former prime minister following the funeral.

Mulroney died surrounded by family in February, at age 84. 

Over his impressive — yet at times divisive — political career, Mulroney left an unmistakable mark on the country as he pressed forward on a series of what he later described as “big ticket items.”

Born in 1939 to a working class family in Baie-Comeau, Que., he worked behind the scenes in conservative politics for years before clinching the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1983. Mulroney went on to run a commanding 1984 federal campaign, winning a majority with the largest number of seats in Canadian history.

As Canada’s 18th prime minister, Mulroney embarked on an at-times stormy prime ministership that in nine years both strengthened and tested the country. He took Canada on a forced march through two major efforts to bring Quebec into the constitutional fold, secured the Acid Rain Accord, and introduced the reviled Goods and Services Tax (GST).

On the international stage, Mulroney gave Canada a new sense of respect and presence. He rallied countries against apartheid and built stronger trade ties with the United States.

Though, as a weary country drifted into a recession, Mulroney’s polling numbers plummeted to a historic low, and in 1993 he declared in a Centre Block meeting room that the time had come “for me to step aside,” after doing his “very best” for his country, handing the reins over to Kim Campbell a few months later.

After navigating some post-politics reputational turmoil, Mulroney went on to cement himself as a trusted adviser to his political successors both Conservative and Liberal, leading prominent Canadians and elected officials of all stripes to remember him as a formidable leader, who never hesitated to pick up the phone.