Milica "Mila" Mulroney is the wife of the 18th Prime Minister of Canada, Brian Mulroney. She was notable for taking on a greater role during her husband's tenure compared to previous spouses of Canadian prime ministers, and criticism for lavish spending habits.
Early life
Mulroney was born Milica Pivnički to Serbian Orthodox parents Dimitrije "Mita" Pivnički and Bogdanka in Sarajevo, PR Bosnia-Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia. Her first years were spent in the city of Sarajevo where her father was assigned to practise medicine by Yugoslav Titoist authorities. In 1956, Dr. Pivnički took a research fellowship position at the Royal Victoria Hospital'sAllan Memorial Institute of Psychiatry in Montreal in order to circumvent the strict exit rules in Yugoslavia and get his family out of the country. While his pregnant wife Bogdanka waited to join him, she moved with young Milica back to their hometown of Novi Bečej, Serbia. Finally, two years later, in 1958, she and their two children emigrated to Canada and joined Dimitrije in Montreal. Mila, the elder child, studied engineering at Concordia University, but did not graduate. At age 19, she married Brian Mulroney, then a 34-year-old lawyer, on May 26, 1973. Both were involved with the Progressive Conservatives in Westmount. They have one daughter, Caroline, and three sons, Ben, Mark, and Nicolas. Their youngest child, Nicolas, was born while the family was living in 24 Sussex Drive.
During Brian Mulroney tenure
Mila was a radical change from the wives of recent prime ministers — the feminist Maureen McTeer and the "wild child" Margaret Trudeau. Being a housewife, she greatly appealed to that demographic, especially in her responses to criticism from prominent feminists. Many PC campaign buttons featured both Mulroney's face and hers, and Ontario PremierBill Davis commented to Brian, "Mila will get you more votes for you than you will for yourself." She took on a greater role than many Prime Ministers' wives while Mulroney 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. Her frequent shopping sprees became tabloid fodder, with some in the press dubbing her "Imelda" for her love of shoes. In her book On the Take, Stevie Cameron accused Mila of trying to sell her old furniture to the government for much more than its value. Sr foreign policy advisor at the late Ted Kennedy's Senate Office in Washington, DC briefed Senator Kennedy in 1995 as “liking free stuff.”
