Brian Mulroney passed away last week. He was an extremely consequential prime minister – the policies of his that caused the most rage are still in place and while Trudeau the Father is probably more well-known internationally, Mulroney did more to truly affect and change Canada. I was in complete agreement with free trade, being a firm believer that freer trade is always better for everyone, but people back then lost their minds over it. And by people, I mean leftists, mostly. And Canadian “celebrities.” Of course, this all changed when Donald Trump became U.S. president and challenged NAFTA, causing many who had previously opposed NAFTA to defend it with all their might. (I wrote about that in the Wall Street Journal.) Anyway, my strongest memory of Mulroney, oddly enough, is of the party convention where he was selected as Tory leader. One of my brothers claimed that Mila Mulroney was wearing pink in order to appear submissive and set herself apart from Joe Clark’s wife, Maureen McTeer, who famously kept her own last name, and I guess did not wear pink. I suggested that perhaps Mila just liked pink. Ah no, I was scolded! She is anti-feminist and the proof is in the pink! Blah blah blah…Now we would call that “mansplaining.” And my four brothers – and father – all did it to an excessive degree. My two remaining brothers still do it, though thankfully I do not have much to do with either. Isn’t it odd the things we remember? The things that news events bring up to us?

Here is a clip of that convention and indeed, Mila is in a lovely pink dress. I think she just liked pink.