Brian Mulroney, one of Canada's most consequential prime ministers, is dead at 84

Brian Mulroney — who, as Canada's 18th prime minister, steered the country through a tumultuous period in national and world affairs — has died. He was 84.

His daughter Caroline Mulroney shared the news Thursday afternoon on social media.

"On behalf of my mother and our family, it is with great sadness we announce the passing of my father, The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, Canada's 18th Prime Minister. He died peacefully, surrounded by family," she said on X, formerly Twitter.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remembered Mulroney as someone who "had the courage to do big things."

"He was committed to this country — loved it with all his heart — and served it many, many years and many different ways," Trudeau told reporters on Thursday night. "He was an extraordinary statesman and he will be deeply deeply missed."

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Mulroney was one of Canada's "greatest-ever statesmen." The Opposition leader said he often sought advice from Mulroney, saying that the former prime minister had an "incredibly encyclopedic mind."

"He loved to have conversation. He was a brilliant conversationalist and a wonderful storyteller," Poilievre told reporters late Thursday.

Mulroney was one of Canada's most controversial prime ministers. Unafraid to tackle the most challenging issues of his era, Mulroney pursued politics in a way that earned him devoted supporters — and equally passionate critics.

Mulroney was a gifted public speaker and a skilled politician. As prime minister, he brokered a free trade deal with the U.S. and pushed for constitutional reforms to secure Quebec's signature on Canada's supreme law — an effort that ultimately failed.

He introduced a national sales tax to raise funds against ballooning budget deficits, privatized some Crown corporations and stood strongly against racial apartheid in South Africa during one of the most eventful tenures of any Canadian prime minister.

"Whether one agrees with our solutions or not, none will accuse us of having chosen to evade our responsibilities by side-stepping the most controversial issues of our time," Mulroney said in his February 1993 resignation address.

"I've done the very best for my country and my party."

Mulroney was born to working class Irish-Canadian parents in the forestry town of Baie-Comeau in 1939. His father was a paper mill electrician in this hardscrabble outpost in Quebec's northeast.

Mulroney grew up with a bicultural world view in an isolated community split between French and English speakers — an upbringing that would prove to be politically useful later.