Remembering a distinguished old pen pal

Mar. 7—Brian Mulroney was the 18th prime minister of Canada between 1984 and 1993, during the U.S. presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. He was born in the Quebec city of Baie-Comeau on March 20, 1939 and died in Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 29, at the age of 84.

In Niagara County, Mulroney's name appeared in the pages of The Niagara Gazette after he responded to a 19-year-old Niagara County Community College student's letter voicing concerns of a possible trade war between the United States and Canada.

Lockport resident Amy McQuay lived in Lewiston in 1986 and often walked to DiCamillo's Bakery where the Toronto Star newspaper was sold. One day she picked up the international publication and learned about about a heavy tariff being imposed on Canadian products, the "cedar shingles and shakes tariff."

At the time, McQuay remembers now, she was quite concerned.

"I didn't know anything about it, but I heard there could be a trade war between us and them," she said.

So, she did what any concerned individual might have done before the advent of Google, Facebook and social media: she wrote a letter. To Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

"We must not let any more barriers or tariffs get in the way of trade talks. I hope that we can get rid of the barriers to help prevent a trade war," McQuay wrote in a rough draft of her letter that she has kept tucked away in a scrapbook the past 37 years.

McQuay said she looked up Mulroney's address in a Canadian encyclopedia at school, found the right amount of postage and put her letter in a mailbox off Center Street. Two weeks later, to her surprise, she received a reply from the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada.

"I said, 'Dad, Dad! I got a letter from the Prime Minister of Canada!'," McQuay remembered. "He was like, 'What?' so I handed it to him and he read it over. 'Huh,' he said. Congratulations!'"

McQuay would write to Mulroney five more times, the last time in 1993 when he resigned his post. Each time, she said, Mulroney wrote back to her. One of his messages came via telegram, to let her know that he could not attend the Lewiston Queenston Friendship Festival that year, but wished her well.

McQuay ended up writing letters to several other Canadian politicians, about their opposition to free trade and Mulroney's platform.

Last week, in light of Mulroney's passing, McQuay reached out to the Gazette to let it be known that she still has Mulroney's replies in her possession. It seems she maintained in interest in the life of her old pen pal; Mulroney wrote the eulogy for Reagan's funeral in 2004, and he was an adviser to many world leaders even after he left office, she noted.

When she heard about Mulroney's passing, McQuay said, "I went to my room and cried. I just cried."

Mulroney's funeral will take place in Montreal on March 23. McQuay said she won't be able to attend, but she'll keep his letters and eventually leave them to New York State as a part of history.