Attention politics junkies: This just in from CTV’s public affairs department:
Triumph & Treachery: The Brian Mulroney Story, A Landmark Political Special and CTV Exclusive Premiering September 9
Toronto, ON (August 21, 2007) – Leading Canadian broadcaster CTV announced a landmark political special, with the exclusive English television broadcast of Triumph & Treachery: The Brian Mulroney Story. The 90-minute timely special will make its television premiere Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 7 p.m. (check local listings) on CTV, just one day before the hotly anticipated book launch of Brian Mulroney: Memoirs, landing September 10 in stores across Canada.
The CTV exclusive production follows an innovative partnership between CTV and publisher McClelland & Stewart. French-language TVA will air the special in conjunction with Quebecor’s Les Éditions de l'Homme. It’s the first time The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney has granted such a comprehensive interview since leaving office in 1993. And helming the interview and guiding viewers through the special is CTV Chief Anchor and Editor Lloyd Robertson. Triumph & Treachery: The Brian Mulroney Story will be broadcast in HD (High Definition) television, the first time a prime ministerial documentary program has been presented in this format.
“This is a Brian Mulroney Canadians have never seen before,” said Robertson. “He opens up and shares intimate details about world leaders such as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Nelson Mandela. He also lashes out at his political opponents and deals with the controversies that have followed him through the years.”
In both his 1,100-page memoirs, which spans the years from 1939 to 1993, and his interviews with Robertson, Mr. Mulroney talks frankly about his political career – sharing, often for the first time, his personal views on the momentous events that transpired during his tenure as prime minister. He reflects on his great political triumphs such as leading the Progressive Conservatives to back-to-back majority governments, guiding the country through a recession and leading the global opposition to apartheid in South Africa. He also openly discusses the emotional failure of the Meech Lake Accord, the rise of the Bloc Québécois and shares his personal opinions on some of the people who openly betrayed him throughout his political career.
Outside of politics, Mr. Mulroney shares intimate stories about his triumphs in early life – including his personal struggles with alcohol and growing up as one of six children in the working-class community of Baie-Comeau, on Quebec’s North Shore.
“Politics aside, Mr. Mulroney’s rise from poverty to the highest office in Canada is an incredible story of drive and determination,” said Doug Gibson, the editor of Mr. Mulroney’s Memoirs at McClelland & Stewart.
The CTV special features rare photos and archive footage of Mr. Mulroney as a child and private family videos during his time in office. CTV captures his emotional return to the streets of Baie Comeau where he visits the house he grew up in for the first time in 50 years. The former prime minister also travels to Parliament Hill – and returns to the floor of the House of Commons for the first time since he retired from politics in 1993.