‘A great friend’ to the U.S.: Clinton, Bush reflect on Brian Mulroney
Global News
Former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush recall Brian Mulroney’s political career, advice, friendship – and his singing voice.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Brian Mulroney was the type of politician who took risks to do what he “thought was right in the long run” and an “old friend” after the two men left elected politics.
In special memorial program airing Saturday on all Corus AM radio stations, Clinton praised Mulroney’s willingness to move ahead on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) despite skepticism about the deal among the Canadian public at the time.
“You have to take some risks in … and he was willing to do that,” Clinton told Global for the special Remembering Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney: A Family Tribute.
“I still think we did the right thing with NAFTA, and I think the results prove it. And the fact (the deal) had to be upgraded after 25 years doesn’t bother me a bit.”
Corus is the parent company of Global News.
Clinton was one among many former politicians, celebrities and regular Canadians paying tribute to the former prime minister, who passed away in Florida last month at the age of 84.
Hundreds came to Ottawa this week to pay their respects while Mulroney laid in state at the Sir John A. MacDonald building, just steps from Parliament where the former prime minister served from 1983 to 1993.
On Thursday, Mulroney will lie in repose at St. Patrick’s Basilica in Montreal before his state funeral at Notre Dam Basilica on Saturday.
