Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Elliot Trudeau (1919-1980) was the 15th Canadian prime minister, and a towering figure in Canadian politics even to this day. He was prime minister of Canada for 15 years in two spells, Apr. 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and March 3, 1980 to June 29, 1984. In longevity and importance, he compares to William Lyon Mackenzie King, who was prime minister for 21 years in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.

Trudeau, leader of the Liberal Party, is best known for repatriating the Canadian constitution, for his anti-American foreign policy, his failed efforts to seize Alberta's oil, and his aggressive defeat of terrorism by the War Measures Act during Québec's October Crisis in 1970.

Career

Trudeau was born October 18, 1919, the son of a wealthy businessman Charles-Emile Trudeau and Grace Elliot. Bilingual from an early age, he was educated in French-language Jesuit schools, and was a devout Catholic all his life. He attended the University of Montreal, Harvard University, Université de Paris and the London School of Economics. A lawyer primarily interested in public affairs; he was a legal adviser to trade unions, and he was closely involved in the 1949 strike of asbestos miners.

Quebec politics

He gained renown for his work in the field of civil liberties when Quebec was ruled, 1944-1959, by the authoritarian Duplessis regime. He helped the provincial Liberals win in Quebec in 1960, but then turned away from their growing separatism. However, Trudeau turned from the Quebec Liberals, who sought to emphasize Quebec's French character. Trudeau was always a strong advocate of the Canadian federal system, and repeatedly opposed all efforts to strengthen the provinces at the expense of the national government in Ottawa. He also opposed nuclear warheads for Canada and campaigned in the 1963 federal election for the New Democrats, a moderate socialist party, against the Liberals. Meanwhile the "Quiet Revolution" was transforming and modernizing Quebec, bringing democracy, secularism, and a determination that Quebec should be feed from the long-time control of English-speaking businessmen. Trudeau

Parliament 1965-

In 1965, Trudeau along with two colleagues Gérard Pelletier and Jean Marchand, rejoined the national Liberal Party with the stated purpose of reforming it from within. The three quickly became the leading French-Canadians in the national Liberal organization. He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1965, and repeatedly reelected until his death. Almost immediately the young and charismatic Trudeau was seen as a Liberal Party star and he was made Justice Minister in 1967. Working with Prime Minister Lester Pearson, he became the chief government spokesman against the efforts of Quebec's premier, Daniel Johnson , to claim special status for the province. Trudeau argued for strong but equal provinces and equal French and English language rights throughout Canada. French separatism was growing, and was incited by French President Charles de Gaulle, who visited Montreal crying out the separatist slogan "Vive le Québec libre" to a crowd in Montréal; Pearson issued an official rebuke and de Gaulle promptly went home, as Trudeau tried to staunch the damage.

After Pearson retired in late 1967 Trudeau was elected Liberal leader and riding a wave of dubbed "Trudeaumania", became the Canadian Prime Minister on April 19 1968. Being the first Canadian Prime Minister born in the 20th century he was flamboyant and controversial but was also an intellectual. He immediately called for elections, campaigning for "one united Canada" against the opposition Conservatives, who favored a special accommodation with Quebec. He won a firm majority, with strong representation across Canada.

FLQ

During his first 4 years in power Trudeau faced several politically volatile situations. The most dramatic was his facing down a home grown terrorist threat of the Front de Liberation du Québec (or the FLQ). For several years separatist thoughts were rising in the French-speaking province, and the FLQ decided to remove Quebec from Canada by force. In October 1970, Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, for the first and only time in Canadian history. This gave the state broad powers of arrest and detention in a time of crisis. When asked how far and how long he would take the measures, Trudeau famously replied "Just watch me". Although the FLQ kidnappings would end with the death of Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte, the FLQ had its back broken by military presence in the province who arrested only 2 dozen or so radicals. The general public overwhelmingly supported the emergency powers and the presence of the military in Quebec. When the crisis was over, Trudeau revoked the powers of the War Measures Act.

1974 win

The Trudeau government was little interested in economic growth, and allowed prosperity give way to stagnation and recession as unemployment and inflation proved intractable. Trudeau was reelected with only a minority government in the 1972 election, in part because of a slowing economy. In the 1974 election Trudeau won a majority, after ridiculing Conservative economic policies, which he had to adopt himself a year later. The economy performed poorly through the late 1970s and Trudeau lost his first general election to the Conservatives in 1979 under the young Joe Clark.

1980 win

However this minority was short lived. In 1980 Trudeau won another majority over Conservative Joe Clark. Trudeau reformed the Canadian constitution and entrench a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In economic policy his goal was to use the riches of Alberta oil to fund national programs, despite the vehement objections of the Albertans. His National Energy Program caused a bitter dispute over the nationalization of oil companies, to increase Canadian control and generate federal revenues from the energy sector. Petro Canada was founded as a Crown Corporation, although the Canadian government has since sold its stake in the company.

Retirement

Trudeau retired from politics on June 30th, 1984 and was succeeded by John Turner. Trudeau remained active in Law until late in his life and passed away on September 28, 2000 at the age of 80. Trudeau is remembered well in Canada, following his death the highest peak was to be named after him although this was later withdrawn at the protest of Canadian Geographic society. Trudeau was often cited for poor administrative and economic practices, as well as personal arrogance, and not having an understanding of Canada outside Quebec. Trudeau did lead Canada through a time of growth and by the end of his terms Canada was a very different place.

Bibliography

• Canadian Encyclopedia online]
• Bothwell, Robert, Ian Drummond, and John English. Canada since 1945 (2d. ed. 1989). college textbook
• Clarkson, Stephen, and Christina McCall. Trudeau and Our Times. (2 vol 1990-1994), standard political biography
• Cohen, Andrew, J. L. Granatstein, eds. Trudeau's shadow: the life and legacy of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. (1999).
• Couture, Claude, and Vivien Bosley. Paddling with the Current: Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Etienne Parent, Liberalism, and Nationalism in Canada (1998)
• Ricci, Nino. Extraordinary Canadians: Pierre Elliott Trudeau (2009), popular biography