'Enormous loss': Former Liberal cabinet minister Marc Lalonde has died at age 93

Justin Trudeau, right, greets former Liberal finance minister Marc Lalonde who was part his father's, Pierre Trudeau's, cabinet at the Liberal Leadership Convention Friday, Dec. 1, 2006 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ian Barrett

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed that former federal Liberal minister Marc Lalonde has died at age 93.

Lalonde was the principal secretary to former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau from 1968 to 1972.

Trudeau said in a tweet on Sunday evening that Lalonde "was brilliant" and that his death represents an "enormous loss" to Canada.

Trudeau says Lalonde "ultimately transformed the way we thought about health and, in doing so, he no doubt changed -- and saved -- countless lives."

The Canadian Museum of History says Lalonde interrupted a legal and academic career to serve as a special legal adviser to former prime minister John Diefenbaker's minister of justice, E. Davie Fulton, from 1959 to 1960.

The museum says Lalonde also became a special adviser to former prime minister Lester Pearson in 1967 and successfully ran for Parliament in 1972, serving as minister of national health and welfare from 1972 to 1977.