Pierre Trudeau
Pierre Philippe Yves Elliott
Trudeau (October 18, 1919 -
September 28, 2000) was the
fifteenth prime minister of Rank: 15th
Canada from April 20, 1968 First Term: April 20, 1968 - June 4, 1979
to June 3, 1979 and from
March 3, 1980 to June 30, Second Term: March 3, 1980 - June 30, 1984
1984. Predecessor: Lester Pearson
Successors: Joe Clark, John Turner
Born in Montreal, Quebec,
Pierre Trudeau was a Date of Birth: Monday, October 18, 1919
flamboyant, charismatic, Place of Birth: Montreal, Quebec
controversial intellectual.
A politically cunning Spouse: Margaret Trudeau
politician, he led Canada Profession: lawyer
through some of its most Political Party: Liberal
tumultuous times. An
energetic figure, he wore sandals in the House of Commons, dated celebrities
like Barbra Streisand, Liona Boyd, and Margot Kidder, repeatedly used
obscenity to insult his opponents, and once did a pirouette behind the back
of Queen Elizabeth II.
As minister of justice under Lester B. Pearson, he was responsible for
removing laws against sodomy from the Criminal Code of Canada, famously
remarking, "The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation." As
Prime Minister, he patriated the Canadian Constitution from the British
Parliament to Canada and incorporated in it the Canadian Charter of Rights
and Freedoms.
In 1968 he was elected as the Liberal Party's new leader, and thus prime
minister in a somewhat surprising vote. Many prominent, long-serving
Liberals had been running, including Paul Martin Sr., but much vote
splitting occured, and Trudeau emerged the leader. Some questioned if he was
perhaps too liberal and radical for the nation's top job, which led to some
initial alienation from the party's conservative wing.
He became leader espousing participatory democracy as a means of making
Canada a Just Society. His apparently sincere desire for greater citizen
involvement in government appears to have been frustrated by lack of support
within his party, and he later opposed greater involvement for citizens in
representative democracy. He did vigorously defend the newly implemented
universal health care and regional development programs as means of making
society more just.
In 1971 the bachelor prime minister married Vancouver socialite Margaret
Sinclair, a woman who at 22 was less than half Trudeau's age. They would
have three children before a well-publicized divorce in 1977.
As prime minister, he declared a brief period of martial law in Quebec using
the War Measures Act in 1970 to deal with the October Crisis when terrorist
cells in Quebec from the Front de Libˇration du Quˇbec (FLQ) kidnapped James
Cross, the British High Commissioner, then kidnapped and murdered Quebec
Cabinet Minister, Pierre Laporte. Although the action has been highly
controversial since the incident, most of the public, including most
Quebeckers, appeared to support the prime minister's vigorous response to
the terrorist crisis. This included Trudeau's confident approach to the
situation typified when he was asked how far he would go to stop the
terrorists. He replied "Just watch me."
Trudeau wanted to give Canada a greater role on the world's stage, and made
many diplomatic visits to foreign nations. He became the first western
leader to visit Communist China, where he was greated with much fanfare.
Over the years Trudeau forged many close personal relationships with fellow
world leaders, including Fidel Castro, Jimmy Carter, and Michael Manley.
Trudeau also wanted to make Canada less dependent on the United States. He
instituted a Foreign Investment Review Board to approve (and disapprove)
foreign investment and attempted to improve commercial relations with
Europe. His relationship with American president Richard Nixon was strained
at best. Nixon detested what he perceived as Trudeau's elitist snobbery and
socialist policies, and on the White House tapes once famously described the
prime minister as "that asshole."
In the 1979 election Trudeau's government fell to the Progressive
Conservatives led by Joe Clark. A few months later Clark suffered a
humiliating vote of no confidence and Trudeau easily defeated him in the
next election. In 1984 after taking a famous "long walk in the snow" Trudeau
agreed to step down as prime minister, ending his almost unbroken 16 year
rule of Canada.
He was a long-time member of the Club of Rome.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau died on September 28, 2000 and is buried in the
Trudeau family crypt, St-Remi-de-Napierville Cemetery, Saint-Remi, Quebec.
A plan to rename Mount Logan, Canada's tallest mountain, for Mr. Trudeau was
considered, but ultimately rejected. Instead, it was announced on August 21,
2003 that Montreal Dorval International Airport would be renamed Pierre
Elliott Trudeau International Airport in his honour.
Many Canadians, perticularly in western Canada, disliked Mr. Trudeau and his
policies . This is because Mr. Trudeau's policies were considered to be
biased toward Ontario and Quebec, and left out Alberta and British Columbia.
Another point is the Mirabel International Airport debacle, which effectivly
resulted in Montreal's Mirabel airport, which is located quite a ways from
Montreal, and is in many ways a failure. His imposition of the War Measures
Act is still remembered by many, especially in Quebec, as an attack on democracy.
His promise to implement participatory democracy came to naught. The Charter
of Rights and Freedoms was weakened when the Supreme Court ruled that it did
not apply to the common law, and its notwithstanding clause has been used to
circumvent its provisions. Despite the Charter Canadians are still subject
to double jeopardy and the presumption of guilt in libel law, and the
Supreme Court has taken a lenient view of what constitutes reasonable
grounds for suspending the rights guaranteed by the Charter. The Charter
does appear, however, to have clarified issues of aboriginal rights; it has,
for example, been used to establish the previously denied aboriginal rights
of Mˇtis. Finally, his policies to provide a more rewarding role for Quebec
in Confederation and to make Canada less dependent on the United States were
manifestly unsuccessful ? Quebec almost left Confederation in 1995, and
Canada now has a free trade agreement with the United States. Many Canadians
therefore regard him as a man of great ambitions which failed.
Nevertheless, Mr. Trudeau is highly regarded and considered a great Canadian
leader by a great many Canadians. In particular, although it is sometimes
viewed as a political move to distract the population from the weak economy,
many believe that his creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and
Freedoms in the 1982 constitution has had a profoundly positive effect on
the nation. It is seen as advancing civil rights and liberties and has
become, the notwithstanding clause aside, for many Canadians a deeply
respected institution.
