Achi news desk-
Today, a state funeral will be held for former Canadian prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney.
Taking place at the iconic and ornate Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal, the ceremony celebrating his life and legacy is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT, but VIP guests have already begun taking their seats.
The commemoration began on Saturday with the tolling of the cathedral’s carillon bells, 84 times, representing Mulroney’s age at the time of his death.
The funeral procession – including an escort mounted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, an escort from the Canadian Armed Forces, an honor guard, a Royal Canadian Air Force band, RCMP pallbearers and pallbearers – has set off on the snowy journey from the Basilica Saint-Patrick to Notre-Dame Basilica.
Also in the procession are members of the Mulroney family, including his wife Mila, their four children Caroline, Ben, Mark and Nicholas, as well as some grandchildren.
The 17 honorary pallbearers include close friends of the former prime minister, who reflect the different chapters of his life.
Among those tapped to take on this role are: Mulroney’s former chief of staff and ambassador Derek Burney; former senator and one of the Conservatives’ progressive stalwarts, Michel Cogger; award-winning songwriter David Foster; prominent lawyer Jacques Jeansonne; former journalist and Mulroney communications director William J. Fox; biographer L. Ian MacDonald; and Norton Rose Fulbright chairman Waled Soliman.
Inside the sanctuary at Notre-Dame Basilica where attendees – mostly dressed in black – mill around there are four large TV screens, and singers warming up in the background.
The service, which begins at 11 a.m. EDT, will include eulogies from his daughter and Ontario cabinet minister Caroline Mulroney, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, former US secretary of state James Baker, a former Mulroney-era cabinet minister and premier Quebec minister Jean Charest, and obvious. Canadian businessman Pierre Karl Peladeau.
Guests invited to the ceremony include family, friends, current and former government representatives, and dignitaries, as well as representatives of organizations with which Mulroney was closely associated.
Among those expected to attend are actor Ryan Reynolds, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, Galen Weston from Loblaws, former prime minister Stephen Harper, and former broadcaster Peter Mansbridge.
The funeral service, expected to last two hours, will incorporate religious elements, artistic components – including a performance by Mulroney’s granddaughter – and conclude with a 19-gun salute conducted from the clock tower pier in Montreal’s Old Port.
At the end of the ceremony, the bells will toll again 18 times, reflecting his tenure as Canada’s 18th prime minister.
According to a federal government official, the family has planned a private burial for the former prime minister following the funeral.
A funeral concludes a week of mourning
Today’s events follow a week of commemorations in that city and in the nation’s capital, giving Canadians an opportunity to reflect on his contributions and offer their condolences.
Federal party leaders and MPs paid tribute to Mulroney’s political legacy on Monday in the House of Commons, reliving his family sitting in the viewing gallery, with their memories.
Then, over Tuesday and Wednesday, around 2,000 members of the public and a number of other dignitaries attended Mulroney’s lie in state where his casket was placed on a pedestal and draped in the Canadian flag, while his family stood – pillars of strength amid their grief themselves. for hours receiving condolences.
The Ottawa portion of the commemoration ended with Mulroney’s funeral procession making one last somber but symbolic push from Center Block and the Centennial Flame.
The cortege then traveled to Montreal for two additional days of repose at Saint-Patrick’s Basilica, a location of close personal significance to the Mulroney family.
Canada’s 18th prime minister
Mulroney died surrounded by family in February, aged 84.
During his impressive – but at times divisive – political career, Mulroney left an unmistakable mark on the country as he pushed forward with a series of what he later described as “big ticket items.”
Born in 1939 to a working-class family in Baie-Comeau, Que., he worked behind the scenes in conservative politics for years before winning the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party in 1983. Mulroney went on to run a federal campaign leading in 1984, winning a majority with the largest number of seats in Canadian history.
As Canada’s 18th prime minister, Mulroney embarked on a sometimes stormy premiership that in nine years had strengthened and tested the country. He took Canada on a forced march through two major efforts to bring Quebec into the constitutional fold, secured the Acid Rain Treaty among several other environmental initiatives, and introduced the reformed Goods and Services Tax (GST).
On the international stage, Mulroney gave Canada a new sense of respect and presence. He rallied countries against apartheid and built stronger trade ties with the United States.
Although, as a weary country drifted into recession, Mulroney’s polling numbers plunged to a historic low, and in 1993 he declared in a Bloc Middle meeting room that the time had come “for me to step aside,” after doing his “best “. ” for his country, handing over the reins to Kim Campbell a few months later.
After navigating some post-politics reputational turmoil, Mulroney went on to establish himself as a trusted adviser to his Conservative and Liberal political successors, leading prominent Canadians and elected officials of all stripes to remember him as a formidable leader , which he never hesitated to choose. up the phone.
