Every argument that Margaret Thatcher ever made internationally didn't have a great deal to do with her contempt for Communism - she never really got into that. What she talked about was giving freedom to tens of millions of people in Central and Eastern Europe. She was an inspirational leader when it came to discussing her belief in freedom. More visceral and moral.

Brian Mulroney

Categorized in : People Giving Leader

If your only objective is to be popular, you're going to be popular but you will be known as the Prime Minister who achieved nothing.

Brian Mulroney

ministers prime objectives

Like all of us, there were many facets to Margaret Thatcher's personality. In private she was kind, thoughtful, charming. Very attentive to her interlocutors. She took time to be concerned - she knew all about my children and wife Mila and so on.

Brian Mulroney

thoughtful wife children

You can't be chasing 15 rabbits. Otherwise, the public mind cannot follow you.

Brian Mulroney

chasing mind rabbits

At summits Margaret Tatcher was the only woman. Always perfectly coiffed, splendidly dressed - beautiful maroon or dark blue suits. That lovely diamond brooch. She would never speak to an issue without having absolutely exhausted the research on the file. She spoke very confidently because of it.

Brian Mulroney

lovely dark beautiful

My second biggest mistake in life, for which I have no one to blame but myself, is having accepted payments in cash from Karlheinz Schreiber. My biggest mistake in life was pretending that I wasn't trying to avoid paying taxes on that money.

Brian Mulroney

paying-taxes mistake trying

This country is made up of small towns and big dreams.

Brian Mulroney

towns dream country

In politics, madame, you need two things: friends, but above all an enemy.

Brian Mulroney

political inspiration two

Trudeau's contribution was not to build Canada but to destroy it, and I had to come in and save it.

Brian Mulroney

save-nature canada contribution

I think the government has to reposition environment on top of their national and international priorities.

Brian Mulroney

motivational inspirational thinking

Nobody has achievements like this ... you cannot name a Canadian prime minister who has done as many significant things as I did, because there are none.

Brian Mulroney

significant-things achievement names

You have to spend your political capital on great causes for your country.

Brian Mulroney

political causes country

I commend Sri Chinmoy for his faith and serenity, and I hope he will continue to exert his calming and constructive influence on the international community for many years to come.

Brian Mulroney

serenity community years

I would go to them and I would explain this is the price of going forward. We're going to move ahead in all these other areas. We're moving ahead in tax reform and GST, we are moving ahead on trade, but this will not be done at the cost of the environment.

Brian Mulroney

reform cost moving

For example, the Prime Minister earlier this year talked about the importance of the Arctic to our future. He's right. A hundred years from now, the strength of Canada is going to be coming from our resources in the Arctic.

Brian Mulroney

canada example years

Whether the process proves to be Kyoto or something else, let's acknowledge the urgency of global warming.

Brian Mulroney

kyoto global-warming process

I am not denying anything I did not say.

Brian Mulroney

explanation

So that was Reagan's political problem. As a rancher in California, he was an environmentalist himself. But the President of the United States doesn't control everything that happens in Washington.

Brian Mulroney

everything-happens-for-a-reason california political

Margaret Thatcher inherited the sick man of Europe in 1979 and transformed it into a powerhouse. When she left office, it was Britain redefined. And of course the frosting on the cake was her action in the Falklands, where she gave Britain back some of its pizzazz, addressed some past yearning and great memories. So she gave them back their pride. That was the first great thing she did.

Brian Mulroney

pride memories past

When I appointed the Minister of the Environment to major cabinet status, the Planning and Priorities committee, the signals that that sent through Ottawa were major, because that's what the bureaucracy understands.

Brian Mulroney

ottawa priorities cabinets

We decided that the environment was an integral part of our policies and the political thrust of our government. We gave it the priority and we sustained it with the money required to make it happen.

Brian Mulroney

priorities political government