The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that close associates and friends of Brian Mulroney recall him as a big-thinking Prime Minister who ushered in transformative change for Canada, including major tax reform and continent-spanning trade deals, culminating in the North American Free Trade Agreement. A triple-bylined item led by Nicolas Van Praet says that in the 1980s the Mulroney government privatized a number of Crown corporations, including Air Canada. That successful $200-million stock offering paved the way for subsequent sales of several government-owned businesses, by politicians of all stripes. In 1995, the federal Liberals sold CN Rail, another Montreal-headquartered national champion. "I want to call out Mr. Mulroney's unmatched contributions to Canadian business, innovation and job creation," Calin Rovinescu said in statement. Mr. Rovinescu served as the lead external counsel on Air Canada's privatization and was the airline's chief executive officer from 2009 to 2021. Paul Tellier, who served as clerk of the Privy Council under Mr. Mulroney and later oversaw the CN privatization, said the former PM's instinct that the government had no business running such corporations has been proven correct.