OTTAWA—There he was — centre stage, centre of attention and, curiously, until that moment, at the centre of a quiet diplomatic effort to keep channels open with U.S. President Donald Trump.For former prime minister Brian Mulroney, invited onstage by Canadian musician David Foster to sing at a cancer fundraiser held at Trump’s private Palm Beach, Fla., resort Saturday night, it was clearly a bit of fun. In that famous baritone voice and with a twinkle in his eye, Mulroney belted out his old favourite, “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” regaling yet another president.It was an encore performance for Mulroney, who famously sang it with president Ronald Reagan at the so-called Shamrock Summit in Quebec City in 1985.Then, as now, Mulroney was mocked. After a businessman posted video of the performance on Twitter, Mulroney was scorned in comments for cosying up to Trump.Mulroney, apparently, couldn’t care less. His willingness to share an easy evening with the embattled president at his Mar-a-Lago club appears to have had a singular benefit: Mulroney got a first-hand read on how Trump viewed Monday’s meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and whether the businesslike rapport they exhibited for the cameras had really been established behind closed doors.According to sources with knowledge of their talks, Trump told Mulroney he thought “Justin did a hell of a job” and said he liked the young prime minister — a man who, in so many ways, appears his polar political opposite.That’s good news for Canadians — further proof, if any were needed, of the advantage of enlisting Mulroney and his former ambassador, Derek Burney, to help make introductions between Trudeau and his senior team to Trump and many of the senior people around the president.Trump’s appearance with his wife, Melania, at the fundraiser for the Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute was unexpected but not a total su ...
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