Mila Mulroney

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Mila (left) and Brian (right) Mulroney greet Pierre Trudeau (Foreground).

Mila Mulroney (born July 13, 1953 in Sarajevo, Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia) is the wife of the 18th Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney. They have one daughter, Caroline, and three sons (Benedict, Mark, and Nicholas). Nicholas was born while the family was in 24 Sussex Drive.

Born Mila Pivnički to Serbian-Orthodox parents, she came with her family from Sarajevo in 1958 to live in Montreal, Quebec, where her father Dimitrije did graduate studies in psychiatry at McGill University. She studied engineering at Concordia University, but did not graduate.

At the age of 19, she married Mulroney, then a 34-year-old lawyer, on May 26, 1973. Both were involved with the Progressive Conservatives in Westmount. Mila played a large role in Brian’s first campaign for the Conservative leadership, and afterward forced him to quit drinking and smoking.

Mila was a radical change from the recent prime minister’s wives—the ardently feminist Maureen McTeer and the “wild child,” Margaret Trudeau. Being a stay-at-home mom, she greatly appealed to that demographic, especially in her responses to criticism from prominent feminists (including, in 1987, remarks from Sheila Copps). Many PC campaign buttons featured both Mulroney’s face and hers, and Ontario Premier Bill Davis commented to Brian, “Mila will get you more votes for you then you will for yourself.”

She took on a greater role than many Prime Ministers’ wives while Brian was in office, acting as a campaigner for several children’s charities. Her role, which some claimed was trying to become a “First Lady,” was criticized (especially when she hired a personal office and staff). Her frequent shopping sprees became tabloid fodder, with some in the press dubbing her “Imelda II” for her love of shoes (she apparently had over 100 pairs).

In her book On the Take, Stevie Cameron accused Mila of trying to sell her old furniture to the government for much more than it was worth.

She is currently a director of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.