Even if he never entered politics, he would be no less mourned

The death of Brian Mulroney on Feb. 29, not unexpected to his friends but still so hard to accept, has incited a profound nostalgia among us. This very gregarious and loyal man assembled a huge number of friends. It has also stripped away the last of the cant and emotionalism of partisanship that for many years partially obscured his extraordinary life and career. As a good friend of nearly 60 years, my mind was flooded with thoughts of uproarious camaraderie and the bacchanalian excesses of youth of far-off days. I never knew anyone as entertaining, engaging, and persevering at the customary pleasurable pursuits of that stage of life. Brian was always ready for another drink, always ready to approach another table of possibly amenable young ladies, always a riveting raconteur, and yet always a gentleman and never a cad, much less an outright debauchee.

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His was one of the very few English-speaking families in Baie-Comeau, Que. 240 miles north-east of Québec City, in 1939. Brian’s father was a mill-worker for the company that produced newsprint for and was owned by Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the legendary proprietor of the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News, then the two largest circulation newspapers in the United States. As a child, Brian sang Irish songs for Colonel McCormick on his summer visits. As a mill-worker’s wage was far from opulent, Brian offered to his father to quit secondary school and take a menial job to contribute to the family’s income. His father thanked him and said: “The only way out of a mill-town is through university and that is where you must go.”

However thoroughly Brian relaxed at times, in important matters he always concentrated fiercely, acted decisively, and had almost unerring tactical judgment. He never forgot his friends, and never forgot his alma mater, St. Francis Xavier University: he raised tens of millions of dollars for it and is monumentally remembered there by the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government. He went on to the faculty of law at Laval University and quickly found himself a place in Montreal’s largest law firm. From there he became one of the most successful labour lawyers in Canada and while maintaining........

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