Quebecers remember Brian Mulroney as a born politician with a gift for connecting with people

Quebecers close to former prime minister Brian Mulroney are remembering him as a conscientious man from a small town in Quebec who maintained deep personal connections with people whose paths he crossed as he rose to prominence.

From former Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard to a childhood friend to a prominent member of Montreal's Irish community, all say Mulroney had an uncanny ability to relate to people from all walks of life. 

Mulroney died at the age of 84 Thursday "peacefully and surrounded by family," his daughter, Caroline Mulroney, announced. 

Bouchard, who went from being one of Mulroney's strongest political allies to a formidable foe, only recently reconnected with his friend from university.

After not speaking to Mulroney for about 30 years, reconciling with him — even if only recently — was "absolutely important," said Bouchard. 

Their youth, ambition and respective egos cost them years of a "marvelous friendship," he said. 

The two fell out in 1990 due to a highly public rift over the failure of the Meech Lake constitutional accord, which led to Bouchard co-founding and leading the Bloc Québécois.

Bouchard said he and Mulroney became close friends again in the last month. 

"We felt very strong for what we thought and fought for, so it can explain things, but at the end of the day, it was a lot of years lost," he said. "We were close, close, close."

Mulroney and Bouchard met at age 20, when they were law students at Université Laval in Quebec City. 

Most of their francophone classmates were surprised to learn that the English-speaking Mulroney was in fact not another "rich guy coming from Westmount" (an affluent city on the island of Montreal), Bouchard said — which was a rarity for the university's law cohort. 

"We discovered someone who was very much like us," from a modest background in Baie Comeau, Que., Bouchard said. "He had a difficult time learning French, so we all became his teachers."

Speaking fondly of his charismatic university friend who had a "contagious smile," the former premier said Mulroney "had something in him, obviously, which meant that he had a future in politics."

"He was a very courageous man," Bouchard said. "He's the epitome of a leader that doesn't govern just by looking at the polls."