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Brian Mulroney, Canada’s 18th prime minister, has died at the age of 84, according to a statement from his family.
Caroline Mulroney, Mr. Mulroney’s daughter and an Ontario cabinet minister, said in a social media post on Thursday evening it was with great sadness that the family announced his death. “He died peacefully, surrounded by family,” the statement said.
Last year, Mr. Mulroney underwent treatment for cancer in Montreal. The House of Commons adjourned early Thursday evening. MPs made the decision unanimously to mark Mr. Mulroney’s death.
Read more:
- Brian Mulroney, Canada’s deal maker, played for keeps
- Opinion: Brian Mulroney spent a lifetime in admiration of, and in negotiation with, the United States
- Opinion: Brian Mulroney advanced a compelling new vision for North America
Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney poses in his Montreal offices, Jan. 20, 2011.Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail
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Airdrops show Palestinians in Gaza still not receiving much-needed aid, say humanitarian leaders
International humanitarian leaders say the fact that governments are resorting to airdropping aid to Palestinians in Gaza is evidence of a continuing failure to get supplies to people in need, even as Canada considers joining the effort.
A video posted by CNN on Tuesday shows people in Gaza swimming desperately to packages that had plunged into the ocean after a plane carrying an aid airdrop reportedly missed its target. Chaos unfolded on a nearby beach as men wielded bats and people fought over the supplies.
Meanwhile, Gaza health authorities said more than 100 Palestinians had been shot dead by Israeli forces on Thursday while waiting for an aid delivery near Gaza City. Israel said many of the victims had been run over by aid trucks.
Read more:
Humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip sitting on the tarmac before being loaded onto a military aircraft at undisclosed location in Jordan on Feb. 29, 2024.-/Getty Images
Canada has stopped sharing dangerous pathogens with China through its high-security infectious-disease laboratory, but other collaborations continue despite past security breaches and a warning from Canada’s spy agency of the threat Beijing poses.
Health Minister Mark Holland told reporters in Ottawa Thursday that there has not been a hard stop to all work between infectious-disease researchers at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg and China.
He made the disclosure a day after he tabled explosive documents in the House of Commons that revealed scientists at the lab had engaged in clandestine meetings with China and collaborated with Chinese military researchers. The documents show two scientists who worked at the lab and were married had provided confidential scientific information to China and were fired after a probe concluded one of them, Xiangguo Qiu, posed “a realistic and credible threat to Canada’s economic security.”
The National Microbiology Laboratory is shown in Winnipeg on May 19, 2009.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
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Also on our radar
Alexey Navalny’s family, hundreds of supporters lay opposition leader to rest after prison death: Hundreds of people gathered to bid farewell to Alexey Navalny at a funeral Friday in Moscow under a heavy police presence, following a battle with authorities over the release of his body after his still-unexplained death in an Arctic penal colony.
Newest Russian drones feature knock-off versions of Canadian technology, Ukrainian officials say: After more than a year of seeing Canadian-made parts turn up inside explosive drones striking Ukrainian cities, military scientists in Kyiv say newer versions of the Iranian-designed Shaheds no longer use antenna equipment produced by Ottawa-based Tallysman Wireless.
Anand ‘extremely surprised’ to learn ArriveCan contractor was also Defence Department employee: Treasury Board President Anita Anand said the federal government is suspending all contracts with Dalian Enterprises, a private business that received millions of dollars to work on the ArriveCan app while its president has been working simultaneously as a public servant.
Canadian economy returns to growth, with heavy assist from U.S.: The Canadian economy is nearing a soft landing as it resumed growth in the final months of 2023, allowing the country to skirt a recession in what was otherwise a sluggish year.
Toronto AI company Cohere to indemnify customers who are sued for any copyright violations: Cohere, a Toronto-based generative AI company, said it will indemnify customers who are sued for copyright violations, as the industry faces litigation over whether artificial-intelligence models that produce text and other media are unfairly profiting from the creative work of others.
Speculation mounts that Bank of Canada could accelerate end of QT: A growing number of Bay Street analysts are betting that the Bank of Canada will stop shrinking its balance sheet and resume buying bonds in the coming months, potentially capping a multiyear experiment earlier than expected and kicking off a new phase for monetary policy.
Readers poll: Which artists would you choose to be in your dream 2024 supergroup?
All week long, The Globe has asked readers to vote for a hypothetical 2024 version of a We Are the World-style band – and today’s the last day to vote. Which artists will make it to the final group? Cast your votes now and see the results this Saturday.
Morning markets
Global shares were buoyant on Friday after U.S. consumer price data contained no nasty surprises, keeping intact hopes of central bank rate cuts in coming months. With investors now betting on both the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank lowering borrowing costs in June, Europe’s Stoxx 600 index rose 0.4 per cent in early trading, extending a record high.
Futures trading implied Wall Street’s S&P 500 stock index, which also hit a record in the previous session, would open slightly higher later in the day. The Canadian dollar was trading at 73.66 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
The Prosperity Problem: Canada needs to think inside the patent box
“Canadians are creative thinkers. What’s missing is the leap from coming up with an idea to finding a way to make scads of money from it. Innovation is about profiting from invention: the computer mouse dates back to the late 1960s; Steve Jobs a decade later realized the mouse was a perfect tool for his personal computer.” – The Editorial Board
With Alberta renewables ban, business common sense goes out the window
“Why is renewables investment undesirable? Well, renewables are seen as competitors to oil and gas. In contrast, oil and gas companies support new technologies such as carbon capture and storage and small modular reactors (which have not had additional regulations attached to their development), because those are seen as complementary.” – Duane Bratt
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by David Parkins
Living better
Dining out with food allergies: Who’s responsible for your safety?
Globally, food allergies are on the rise. Today, it’s estimated that 7.5 per cent of Canadians are affected by food allergies whose effects range from inconvenient to fatal. Other than themselves, whom can they depend on to protect them from allergens, and who is ultimately responsible for ensuring that food allergy requests are handled with the appropriate care? Skepticism of diners has gone up and down over the years (various restrictive fad diets didn’t help). But genuine allergies are nowadays so common that today’s kitchen leaders should have no tolerance for cooks who are intolerant of allergy requests.
Moment in time: March 1, 1973
Pink Floyd releases The Dark Side of the Moon
L-R: David Gilmour (Dave Gilmour), Nick Mason (hidden), Roger Waters, Rick Wright performing live onstage at Kent State University on the "Dark Side Of The Moon" tour in Ohio on March 10, 1973.John Lynn Kirk/Getty Images
“And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes, I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.” This line, near the end of Pink Floyd’s 1973 album, was a reference to their departed bandmate Syd Barrett. But it may as well have signified that The Dark Side of the Moon was the band’s artistic and commercial breakthrough after eight albums of unfocused acid-pop and psychedelia. In the 51 years since its release, it has become so much more. It’s not the greatest-selling album of all time, but it has placed on the Billboard 200 chart for more than 950 weeks. (It popped back on in February, 2022, extending its record.) The rich production, replete with sound effects such as ticking clocks and cash registers, made Dark Side the ultimate headphones record. The cover – black background, triangle prism, refracted rainbow of light – became iconic. And the themes of alienation and desperation in the album’s 42 minutes cemented the transition from the 1960s, serving as an epitaph for the hippie era. “All that is now, and all that is gone, and all that’s to come, and everything under the sun, is in tune,” they sang. “But the sun is eclipsed by the moon.” David Milstead
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