Economists and politicians of all party stripes are marking a special moment in Canadian history.

Thursday marks 25 years since the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States.

Experts say it modernized a nation and helped foster the largest trade between any two countries.

Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed were two of the FTA’s biggest champions.

A quarter of a century later, Mulroney says it’s still a great deal for Canadians.

“The economic side, which is job creation, greater investment, millions of new jobs, trade, expanded to $750-billion a year,” he says.

Mulroney believes the agreement, which he attributes to his warm relationship with the Ronald Reagan administration, has helped make Canadians feel more confident as a people.

“It made Canadians think as winners, they didn’t worry about the United States as much, they didn’t feel an inferiority status in regards to them,” he explains. “And they said look, if we can win as they’ve done in the American market, we can win anywhere. So they’ve gone out as happy warriors around the world.”

Mulroney says Canadians needs to step up efforts to sign more free trade agreements; particularly with new powerhouses like China, India and Brazil.

He adds government and industry must work together to secure new avenues of enterprise.

The agreement hasn’t been without its critics, though.

Opponents of the trade pact say Canada’s share of total U.S. imports is now lower than when the agreement took flight in 1987.

They say the value of our exports to the U.S. is at about the same level as before the deal – 19 per cent of the GDP.