Loading articles...

Former PM unveils details of Mulroney Institute today in Antigonish, N.S.

Last Updated Oct 26, 2016 at 3:20 pm MDT

Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney laughs while speaking following the announcement of the $60 million Brian Mulroney Institute of Government and Mulroney Hall at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S. on Wednesday, October 26, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

ANTIGONISH, N.S. – The day Brian Mulroney showed up for classes at St. Francis Xavier University in 1955, he was carrying a cardboard suitcase and wearing the only blazer he had.

Canada’s 18th prime minister recalled his humble beginnings at the central Nova Scotia school on Wednesday during a ceremony to unveil a $60-million plan to create the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government, and construction of Mulroney Hall on the picturesque campus.

Mulroney donated $1 million to the cause and helped raised the rest, mainly through private donations. The Nova Scotia government announced Wednesday it would contribute $5 million.

Former New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna introduced Mulroney to a crowd of about 300, and marvelled at the accomplishments of the two men — both graduates of St. FX.

“Not bad for a boy from Baie Comeau and a boy from Apohaqui, who came to this institution with the ass out of their pants and now stand before you as two of the proudest graduates this university has ever had.”

Mulroney, joined at his alma mater by his wife Mila and daughter Caroline Mulroney Lapham, said before he left for university he mused about working as an apprentice at the paper mill in Baie Comeau, Que., where his father was an electrician.

He said his father, Benedict Mulroney, sat him down on a Sunday night and told him that would never happen.

“I know, Brian, that times are tough, and we could sure use the extra money you would bring in,” Mulroney recalled his father saying. “But I’ve learned that the only way out of a paper mill town is through a university door, and you are going to university.”

Mulroney said the small university taught him about the power of ideas and instilled in him a strong social conscience.

“It opened the door to a wider world,” he told the crowd. “That’s what St. FX represented. Not big city, but big, big opportunity … It’s a high honour for me to be of some service to this special place.”

Fundraising for the project started in 2012 when former St. FX president Sean Riley approached Mulroney and his family.

The university’s current president, Kent MacDonald, said Mulroney did most of the heavy lifting after that, even though he initially didn’t want his name to become synonymous with the institute.

“He, more than anyone else, is responsible for the $60 million … that has been raised for St. FX,” MacDonald said.

The project is unusual because the institute, to be housed in the 75,000-square-foot Mulroney Hall, will focus on undergraduate students studying public policy and governance — subjects typically only available at the graduate level.

About $10 million has been set aside for an endowment that will support student scholarships and bursaries.

The institute will also include exhibits displaying some of Mulroney’s personal memorabilia, such as letters from Nelson Mandela, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.