Brian Mulroney Thatcher were the first foreign dignitaries to eulogize at a funeral for an American president. Two years later, at the request of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mulroney traveled to Washington, DC along with Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the United States, as Canada's representatives at the state funeral of former president Gerald Ford. In February 2005, as part of a physical examination, a CT scan revealed two small lumps in one of Mulroney's lungs. In his youth, Mulroney had been a heavy smoker. His doctors performed a biopsy, which ruled out cancer. (His surgery is sometimes cited as an example
Electoral history of Brian Mulroney ranks seventh out of twenty-three prime ministers for time in office, serving one term of eight years, 281 days. He was the fifth of eight prime ministers from Quebec, the others being Sir John Abbott, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Louis St. Laurent, Pierre Trudeau, Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Justin Trudeau. Mulroney was involved in politics from a young age, being active in the Progressive Conservative party while in university. Although he did not run for office, he was well-established within the party. In 1976 he ran for the leadership, but came in third, behind Joe Clark and Claude Wagner. However,