On June 4, Canadian Club Toronto is proud to present the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award to The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney – an award that celebrates the lifelong efforts and leadership of extraordinary Canadians.
Mr. Mulroney has made many contributions over the years, through his leadership in politics and business. Since his time as 18th Prime Minister of Canada, he has served in multiple advisory positions and received numerous awards, including Canada’s highest honour, Companion of the Order of Canada.
Please join us as we celebrate his accomplishments and hear from him when he reflects on his illustrious career and discuss what’s next for Mr. Mulroney and Canada.
Mr. Mulroney will be joined in conversation with Adrienne Batra, Editor-in-Chief of the Toronto Sun.
WINNER OF THE CANADIAN CLUB TORONTO LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ, LLD
In September 1984, Brian Mulroney led the Progressive Conservative party to the largest victory in Canadian history, becoming Canada’s eighteenth Prime Minister.
He was re-elected with a majority government four years later thereby becoming the first Canadian Prime Minister in 35 years to win successive majority governments and the first Conservative Prime Minister to do so in 100 years. He resigned in June 1993, having served almost nine years as Prime Minister.
His government introduced bold new initiatives such as the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Canada-U.S. Acid Rain Treaty and the Canada-U.S. Arctic Cooperation Agreement. Prime Minister Mulroney’s government also introduced a wave of privatizations, a low inflation policy, historic tax reform, extensive deregulation and expenditure reduction policies that continue to be the basis of Canada’s impressive economic performance today.
In an important attempt to include Quebec in Canada’s amended constitution, Prime Minister Mulroney was the architect of the Meech Lake Accord.
Mr. Mulroney also served as Co-Chairman of the United Nations World Summit for Children and his government played leading roles in the campaign against apartheid in South Africa, the creation of Le Sommet de la Francophonie and the first Gulf War.
Mr. Mulroney was born in Baie-Comeau, Quebec in 1939, one of six children. His father, Benedict, was an electrician with the Quebec North Shore Paper Company. Mr. Mulroney graduated from St. Thomas College high school, Chatham, N.B., received his honours undergraduate degree from St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, N.S., and a law degree from Université Laval in Quebec City.
He practiced law in Montreal and served as President of the Iron Ore Company of Canada before entering politics by becoming Party Leader in 1983 and Leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons, to which he was first elected in 1983 and re-elected in 1984 and 1988.
Upon resigning, Mr. Mulroney rejoined the Montreal law firm of Norton Rose Fulbright as Senior Partner.
He is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Quebecor inc. (Montreal), and serves as a director of The Blackstone Group L.P. (New York), Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (New Jersey) and Acreage Holdings Inc. (New York).
He also serves as Chairman of the International Advisory Board of Barrick Gold Corporation (Toronto).
Mr. Mulroney is also a Trustee of the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation and the International Advisory Board of HEC Montréal.
Mr. Mulroney has been awarded Canada’s highest honour, Companion of the Order of Canada, and the highest honor of the Government of Quebec, Grand officier de l’Ordre national du Québec. He has received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service and the George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service. He also was honored to receive the James A. Baker III Prize for Excellence in Leadership.
Mr. Mulroney was invited to deliver a eulogy at the funeral of President Ronald Reagan at the National Cathedral in Washington (2004) and one for President George H.W. Bush in the same venue (2018) becoming the first non-American in history to be so honored.
Mr. Mulroney was invited to deliver a eulogy at the funeral of First Lady Nancy Reagan at the Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California (2016)
Mr. Mulroney was invited by the Duke of Marlborough to deliver the Memorial Lecture at Blenheim Palace, Sir Winston Churchill’s birthplace, on the 50th anniversary of Mr. Churchill’s death (2015).
Prime Minister Mulroney was also one of only two Prime Ministers in Canadian history invited to address a Joint Session of the United States Congress (1988).
He has also received the highest recognition from the following governments for his leadership in vital matters affecting their nations:
• Haiti – Grand-Croix de l’Ordre national Honneur et Mérite (1994)
• Ukraine – Order of Kniaz (King) Yaroslav the Wise, First Class (2007)
• Japan – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (2011)
• South Africa – Supreme Companion of O.R. Tambo (Gold) (2015)
• France – Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur (2016)
Mr. Mulroney also has received honorary degrees and awards from universities and other Institutes at home and abroad.
In 2018, Mr. Mulroney was inducted into the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame for his “extraordinary contribution to enriching the quality of life for Canadians with physical disabilities”.
In 2012, Mr. Mulroney received the Horatio Alger Award from the Horatio Alger Association and was subsequently elected to its Board of Directors and has become Vice President of the Board for the Canadian branch.
In 1989, Prime Minister Mulroney received the International Environment Bureau Award for “Outstanding and responsible leadership on both global and national environmental policies and issues”. In 2006, a panel of Canada’s leading environmental groups determined that Mr. Mulroney was “The Greenest Prime Minister in history.”
In 2000, the McGill University North American Studies Institute determined that Mr. Mulroney had the best economic record of any Prime Minister since World War II. In 2003, the Institute for Research on Public Policy placed Mr. Mulroney 2nd in a ranking of the best prime ministers of the previous 50 years. In 2007, Mr. Mulroney’s autobiography, Memoirs, became Canada’s #1 national best seller and was described by the Ottawa Citizen as “the finest and most comprehensive memoir of any Prime Minister in Canadian history”. In 2009, a survey conducted by The Hill Times selected Mr. Mulroney as “the most admired” former Prime Minister of Canada.
In 1973, he married Mila Pivnicki and they have four children: Caroline (1974), Benedict (1976), Mark (1979) and Nicolas (1985). They reside in Montreal, Quebec.
