By Charmaine Noronha and Rob Gillies | Associated Press
TORONTO — Brian Mulroney, the former Canadian prime minister who forged closer ties with the United States through a sweeping free trade agreement and whose Progressive Conservative party suffered a devastating defeat just after he left office, died Thursday. He was 84.
The country’s 18th prime minister died peacefully and surrounded by family, his daughter Caroline Mulroney said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Mulroney’s family said this past summer that he was improving daily after a heart procedure that followed treatment for prostate cancer in early 2023.
Leader of the Progressive Conservative party from 1983 to 1993, Mulroney served almost a decade as prime minister after he was first elected in 1984 after snagging the largest majority in Canadian history with 211 of 282 seats.
The win would mark Canada’s first Conservative majority government in 26 years. His government was re-elected in 1988.
Mulroney entered the …