Memoirs

Politics was always Brian Mulroney's real love. As an undergraduate in Nova Scotia he amazed his friends by getting Prime Minister Diefenbaker on the phone, and he rose fast in the Tory ranks in Quebec as a young Montreal lawyer. He tried for the leadership of the party in 1976, losing to Joe Clark, then returned to win a rematch in 1983. The next year, he ran the most successful election campaign in Canadian history, winning 211 seats, and taking office in September 1984. His first term in office was a stormy one, marked by the launch of the Meech Lake Accord and the Free Trade Agreement with the United States. In 1988, however, he was re-elected after a rollercoaster campaign, and his second term in office was just as controversial, featuring the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords still a source of bitter regret for him, as opportunities missed. This book falls into two main sections: first, his rise out of a working-class family in Baie-Comeau. Second, his immersion into the world of Ottawa politics, in opposition and then in power. The years in power are dealt with in fascinating detail, and we receive his candid accounts of backstage dealings with Trudeau, Clark, and other Canadian leaders and on the international scene with Reagan, Thatcher, Mitterrand, Kohl, Gorbachev, Mandela, Clinton, and many more. This big book has a huge cast of major players. Brian Mulroney is determined to make this the best prime minister's memoirs this country has ever seen, and a full-time researcher has been helping him for three years. This account of his career is colourful and forthright, and a number of opponents will be sorry that they caught his attention. The manuscript is full of personal touches and reflects the fact that he wrote it by hand, reading it aloud for rhythm and impact. Studded with entries from his private journal, this book by a son, brother, husband, and father is deeply personal, and includes some surprisingly frank admissions. The book establishes the scale of his achievements, and reveals him as a man of great charm.Memoirswill allow that little-known Brian Mulroney to engage directly with the reader. This book is full of surprises, as we fall under the spell of a great storyteller.

The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney is a Montreal lawyer who has had a fascinating career. Born in 1939, into a mill worker’s family in an isolated Quebec town, he grew up bilingual. As the first in his family to go to university, at St. Francis Xavier, then Laval Law School, he took on responsibility for the family on his father’s death. He became a successful lawyer in Montreal, specializing in labour law and coming to prominence as a member of the Cliche Commission on violence and corruption in the construction industry (where he worked through death threats). He was head of the Iron Ore Company of Canada from 1977 to 1983, capping a successful legal and business career.

Since retiring from office in 1993 (the point at which this book ends), he has worked as a lawyer with Ogilvy Renault in Montreal, and on the boards of a number of major companies.


From the Hardcover edition.