Brian Mulroney: The Champion of U.S.

One of the remaining late-20th-century leaders of the free world has died. Brian Mulroney was Canada’s prime minister from 1984 to 1993 and helped end the Cold War alongside Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. He also led the return of conservatives to federal government in Canada after decades in the wilderness, paving the way for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who served from 2006 to 2015.

While Canada is often seen as a small country on a global stage, Mulroney started to put Canada on the map by championing friendly relations with the U.S. Mulroney’s most enduring legacy is undoubtedly the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which later expanded into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the inclusion of Mexico. Negotiating such a free-trade agreement was a risky political move at the time, but one that would ultimately signal Canada’s openness to the world economy. It also signaled willingness to be a real partner with the U.S. in the face of communism, an inclination that was somewhat absent in the Pierre Trudeau era, marked by the goal of establishing a foreign policy “independent of American influence” (see Pierre Trudeau’s friendly relations with Cuba).

About the Author

Jon Hartley

Jon Hartley is a policy fellow at the Hoover Institution, a research fellow at the University of Texas at Austin Civitas Institute, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a research fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. He is also the host of the Capitalism and Freedom in the 21st Century podcast at the Hoover Institution.

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One of the remaining late-20th-century leaders of the free world has died. Brian Mulroney was Canada’s prime minister from 1984 to 1993 and helped end the Cold War alongside Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. He also led the return of conservatives to federal government in Canada after decades in the wilderness, paving the way for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who served from 2006 to 2015.

While Canada is often seen as a small country on a global stage, Mulroney started to put Canada on the map by championing friendly relations with the U.S. Mulroney’s most enduring legacy is undoubtedly the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, which later expanded into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the inclusion of Mexico. Negotiating such a free-trade agreement was a risky political move at the time, but one that would ultimately signal Canada’s openness to the world economy. It also signaled willingness to be a real partner with the U.S. in the face of communism, an inclination that was somewhat absent in the Pierre Trudeau era, marked by the goal of establishing a foreign policy “independent of American influence” (see Pierre Trudeau’s friendly relations with Cuba).

About the Author

Jon Hartley

Jon Hartley is a policy fellow at the Hoover Institution, a research fellow at the University of Texas at Austin Civitas Institute, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a research fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity. He is also the host of the Capitalism and Freedom in the 21st Century podcast at the Hoover Institution.