Brian Mulroney remembered as a 'giant' and trailblazer in driving free trade

Kim Campbell, who served as Canada's prime minister in 1993, remembers her predecessor for his pragmatism.

«He's had a remarkable and consequential life… What's interesting about Brian Mulroney was his willingness to rethink things, and learn new things and change his mind,» she told David Cochrane, host of CBC News Network's

«He spent much of his early life thinking that free trade between Canada and the United States would be a non-starter, » said Campbell, who also served in Mulroney's Conservative cabinet.

But the negotiation of a free trade agreement with the United States — and later Mexico — is one of the most controversial policies of the Mulroney era.

Canada's 18th prime minister for nine years died earlier this week at age 84.

He was first elected to lead the country in 1984 after running a campaign promising to «refurbish» the Canada-U.S. relationship amid years of tension.

Those who worked with Mulroney's government say his ability to foster personal relationships helped seal an eventual trade deal with the U.S.

The seeds for the agreement were sown at the 1985 Shamrock Summit, when Mulroney hosted U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Quebec City. Both of Irish extraction, they famously sang lines from the folk song A at the meeting that started on St. Patrick's Day.

Fred Ryan, who served as Reagan's chief of staff, told CBC News Network that Mulroney left an impression on the president that helped pave the way to free trade negotiations.

The two «found they had a common world-view, they had a pride in their Irish heritage and they had a shared sense of humour — and that combination enabled those two men to find common ground to get things done in ways that really hadn't happened before,» Ryan told CBC's Hillary