Liberal cabinet praises Mulroney, back on Parliament Hill as NAFTA broker
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet praised former prime minister Brian Mulroney for giving them useful advice during a closed-door meeting Thursday on the upcoming renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
It was part of an unprecedented display of non-partisan co-operation, a healing of old political wounds and unity in the name of managing a new, wildly unpredictable U.S. presidency.
There was also a hint of deja vu. A smiling Mulroney, who departed politics more than a quarter century ago, said it was “as if I never left” as he exited the hallway from the Centre Block’s cabinet room.
Trudeau was not at the meeting of his cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations; he was in New York City for a women’s leadership summit. His ministers, however, said Mulroney made a valuable contribution.