Canadian statesman and prime minister (196879, 19804), born in Montreal, Quebec, SE Canada. He studied at Montreal, Harvard, and London universities, became a lawyer, helped to found the political magazine Cité Libre (1950), and was professor of law at Montreal (19615). Elected an MP in 1965, he became minister of justice (1967), an outspoken critic of separatism for Quebec, and in 1968 succeeded Pearson as federal leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister. His term of office saw the October Crisis (1970) in Quebec, the introduction of the Official Languages Act, federalist victory during the Quebec Referendum (1980), and the introduction of Canada's constitution (1982). He resigned as leader of the Liberal Party and from public life in 1984.
Honourable Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau,PC, CC, CH, QC, MA, LLD, FRSC
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| 15th Prime Minister of Canada | |
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In office April 20, 1968 – June 5, 1979 March 3, 1980 – June 30, 1984 |
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| Preceded by |
Lester B. Pearson Joe Clark |
| Succeeded by |
Joe Clark John Turner |
| Born |
October 18, 1919 Montreal, Quebec |
| Died |
September 28, 2000 Montreal, Quebec |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse | Margaret Trudeau |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau PC, CC, CH, QC, MA, LLD, FRSC [pjɛʀ ɛliʌt tʀydo] (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was the fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984. Trudeau was a charismatic figure who, from the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, dominated the Canadian political scene and aroused passionate reactions. Admirers praise the force of Trudeau's intellect. Detractors fault Trudeau for poor administrative practices, arrogance, and lack of understanding of Canada outside Quebec (and arguably the far North). Nevertheless, few would dispute that Trudeau was a towering figure who helped redefine Canada.
Trudeau led Canada through some of its most tumultuous times and was often the centre of controversy.
Early life and career
Born in Montreal to Charles-Émile Trudeau, a wealthy French Canadian businessman and lawyer, and Grace Elliott, who was of French and Scottish descent. Trudeau attended the prestigious Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf (a private French Roman Catholic school) where he was affiliated with the ideas of clerical fascism and Quebec nationalism. Lalonde asserts that Trudeau's later intellectual development as an "intellectual rebel, anti-establishment fighter on behalf of unions and promoter of religious freedom" was a product of his experiences once he left Quebec to study in the United States, France and England and travel the world, an experience which allowed him to break from Jesuit influence and study French philosophers such as Jacques Maritain and Emmanuel Mounier as well as John Locke and David Hume..
Trudeau earned a law degree at the Université de Montréal in 1943, followed by a master's in political economy at Harvard in 1944. Trudeau later claimed that he was willing to become involved in the war, but believed that to do so would be to turn his back on a Quebec population that he considered to have been betrayed by the King government.
From the late 1940s through the mid-1960s, Trudeau was primarily based in Montreal and was seen by many as a dilettante. Throughout the 1950s, Trudeau was a leading figure in the opposition to the rule of Premier of Quebec Maurice Duplessis, as the founder and editor of Cité Libre, a dissident journal that helped provide the intellectual basis for the Quiet Revolution.
Trudeau was interested in Marxist ideas in the late 1940s. Trudeau later appealed the ban, and it was rescinded.
An associate professor of law at the Université de Montréal from 1961 to 1965, Trudeau's views evolved towards a liberal position in favour of individual rights counter to the state and made him an opponent of Québec nationalism. Trudeau criticized the Liberal Party of Lester Pearson when it supported arming Bomarc nuclear missiles in Canada with nuclear warheads. Trudeau himself was elected in the safe Liberal riding of Mount Royal in western Montreal, succeeding House Speaker Allan Macnaughton. Trudeau would hold this seat for almost 20 years.
Justice minister
As justice minister, Pierre Trudeau was responsible for removing laws against homosexuality from the Criminal Code of Canada, famously remarking: "The view we take here is that there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation." Trudeau also liberalized divorce laws, and clashed with Quebec Premier Daniel Johnson, Sr., during constitutional negotiations. Trudeau was persuaded to run for the Liberal leadership, and ran an energetic campaign that mobilized and inspired many youths who had been influenced by the 1960s counterculture, and who saw Trudeau as a symbol of generational change.
At the April 1968 Liberal leadership convention, Trudeau was elected leader of the party on the fourth ballot, defeating several prominent, long-serving Liberals including Paul Martin Sr., Robert Winters and Paul Hellyer. However, he benefited from an unprecedented wave of personal popularity called "Trudeaumania" which saw Trudeau mobbed by throngs of youths.
A significant moment in the 1968 federal election occurred during the annual Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade when rioting Québec separatists threw rocks and bottles at the grandstand where Trudeau was seated. Defying his aides' pleas to take cover, Trudeau stayed in his seat facing the rioters, without a change in expression or a sign of fear.
Prime Minister
As prime minister, Trudeau espoused participatory democracy as a means of making Canada a "Just Society." Trudeau responded by invoking the War Measures Act, which gave the government sweeping powers of arrest and detention without trial. Trudeau presented a determined public stance during the crisis, answering the question of how far he would go to stop the terrorists with "Just watch me."
Trudeau's first years would be most remembered for the passage of his implementation of official bilingualism. Long a goal of Trudeau, this legislation requires all Federal services to be offered in French and English.
Trudeau was the first world leader to agree to meet John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono on their 'tour for world peace'. Lennon said, after talking with Trudeau for 50 minutes, that Trudeau was "a beautiful person" and that "if all politicians were like Pierre Trudeau, there would be world peace."
On March 4, 1971, the prime minister married Margaret Sinclair, a woman who, at 22, was less than half Trudeau's age.
In foreign affairs, Trudeau kept Canada firmly in the NATO Alliance, but often pursued an independent path in international relations.
In the election of 1972, Trudeau's Liberal Party won with a minority government, with the New Democratic Party holding the balance of power.
In May 1974, the House of Commons passed a motion of no confidence in Trudeau's government. The election of 1974 saw Trudeau and the Liberals re-elected with a majority government with 141 of the 264 seats. Trudeau later instituted Wage and Price Controls, something which he had mocked Robert Stanfield for proposing during the election campaign. A worsening economy, burgeoning national debt, and growing public antipathy towards Trudeau's perceived arrogance caused his poll numbers to fall rapidly. Trudeau delayed the election as long as he could, but was forced to call one in 1979.
Defeat and opposition
In the election of 1979, Trudeau's government was defeated by the Progressive Conservatives, led by Joe Clark, who formed a minority government. Trudeau announced his intention to resign as Liberal Party leader; The Liberal Party persuaded Trudeau to stay on as leader and fight the election. Trudeau defeated Clark in the February 1980 election, and won a majority government.
Return to power
Trudeau's victory in 1980 highlighted a sharp geographical divide in the country: the Liberals had won no seats west of Manitoba. Trudeau had to resort to appointing Senators to Cabinet to ensure representation from all regions. A series of difficult budgets by long-time loyalist Allan MacEachen in the early 80s did not improve Trudeau's economic reputation.
Two very significant events for Canada occurred during Trudeau's final term in office. In the debates between Trudeau and Levesque, Canadians were treated to a contest between two highly intelligent, articulate and bilingual politicians who, despite being bitterly opposed, were each committed to the democratic process. Trudeau promised a new constitutional agreement with Québec should it decide to stay in Canada, and the "No" side (that is, No to sovereignty) ended up receiving around 60% of the vote.
Trudeau had attempted patriation of the Constitution earlier in his career, but always ran into a combined force of provincial Premiers on the issue of an amending formula. After he threatened to go to London alone, a Supreme Court decision led Trudeau to meet with the Premiers one more time. Trudeau reached an agreement with nine of the Premiers, with the notable exception of Lévesque.
Trudeau's approval ratings slipped after the bounce from the 1982 patriation, and by the beginning of 1984, opinion polls showed the Liberals were headed for certain defeat if Trudeau remained in office. On February 29, after a "long walk in the snow", Trudeau decided to step down, ending his 15-year tenure as Prime Minister.
Final years
Shortly after his retirement from politics, Trudeau joined the Montreal law firm Heenan Blaikie as counsel. Trudeau wrote and spoke out against both the Meech Lake Accord and Charlottetown Accord proposals to amend the Canadian constitution, arguing that they would weaken federalism and the Charter of Rights if implemented. In his final years, Trudeau commanded broad respect in Canada, but was regarded with suspicion in Québec due to his role in the 1982 constitutional deal which was seen as having excluded that province, while dislike for him remained commonplace in Western Canada. Trudeau also remained active in international affairs, visiting foreign leaders and participating in international associations such as the Club of Rome.
In the last years of his life, Trudeau was afflicted with Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer, and became less active, although he continued to work at his law office until a few months before his death at the age of 80. He was devastated by the death of his youngest son, Michel Trudeau, who was killed in an avalanche in November 1998.
Death
Pierre Elliott Trudeau died on September 28, 2000, and was buried in the Trudeau family crypt, St-Remi-de-Napierville Cemetery, Saint-Remi, Québec. He was survived by his ex-wife Margaret, his sons Justin Trudeau and Alexandre "Sacha" Trudeau, and his daughter, Sarah, whom he fathered with Deborah Coyne. During the state funeral of Pierre Trudeau, Justin delivered an emotional yet articulate eulogy that led to wide-spread speculation in the media that a career in politics was in his future.
Religious views
Following his death and to the surprise of many, it became known that Trudeau was in fact deeply religious.
Legacy
Trudeau's most enduring legacy may lie in his contribution to Canadian nationalism, and of pride in Canada in and for itself rather than as a derivative of the British Commonwealth.
Some people consider Trudeau's economic policies to have been a weak point. When Trudeau took office in 1968 Canada had a debt of $18 billion (24% of GDP);
Cultural legacy
Few outside the museum community recall the tremendous efforts Trudeau made, in the last years of his tenure, to see to it that the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Civilization finally had proper homes in the National capital. The Trudeau government also implemented programs which mandated Canadian content in film, radio, et. Though the policies remain controversial, Canadian media industries have become stronger since Trudeau's arrival.
On the other side of the ledger, Trudeau was criticized as denigrating or even erasing large segments of Canada's historic culture to fit his programs, and using his government's media subsidies to that end.
Legacy with respect to the west
Many Canadians, particularly those in Western Canada, disliked many of Trudeau's policies. One issue was ideological: many Canadians saw Trudeau's legacy as moving Canada away from its historic traditions and attachments, and sharply to the left of the political spectrum. Trudeau's policies were thought by many westerners to favour Ontario and Quebec, at the expense of Alberta and British Columbia.
Legacy with respect to Quebec
Trudeau's legacy in Quebec is mixed. Trudeau is also credited by many for the defeat of the 1980 Quebec referendum.
While Pierre Trudeau had no viable political opposition in Quebec at the federal level in his time (for instance, his Liberal party captured 74 out of 75 Quebec seats in the 1980 federal election), Québécois hedged their bets by twice electing the pro-sovereignty Parti Québécois provincially.
Bilingualism
See also: Bilingualism in CanadaBilingualism is one of Trudeau's most lasting accomplishments, having been fully integrated into the Federal government's services, documents, and broadcasting (Not, however, in provincial governments, except for Ontario and New Brunswick).
However, Trudeau's ambitions in this arena have been overstated: Trudeau once said that he regretted the use of the term "bilingualism", because it appeared to demand that all Canadians speak two languages. In fact, Trudeau's vision was to see Canada as a bilingual confederation in which all cultures would have a place.
Constitutional legacy
One of Trudeau's most enduring legacies is the 1982 patriation of the Canadian constitution, including a domestic amending formula and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It also represented the final step in Trudeau's vision of a fully independent and nationalist Canada.
The value of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms continues to be debated in some quarters: Canadians are still subject to double jeopardy (Although the Trudeau government limited this power through Parliament), and there is as much controversy when the courts interpret Charter rights broadly as there is when the courts restrict or qualify them.
Overview
Trudeau remains well-regarded by many Canadians. Trudeau is seen by many as embodying the spirit of his age: youth, ambition, and rebellion against conformity.
Trudeau was formerly widely admired for welcoming Jews into the Ottawa elite. As late as 1944, when he was 25 years old, Trudeau admired the writings of France’s notoriously antisemitic polemicist Charles Maurras. “All kinds of people have been all kinds of things in their youth,” commented immigration activist Rivka Augenfeld, who credits the mature Trudeau with working to create “a climate of openness, pluralism, and tolerance and respect for differences.”
Supreme Court Appointments
Trudeau recommended the following names for appointment by the Governor General as Justices to the Supreme Court of Canada:
Bora Laskin - (March 19, 1970 - March 17, 1984) (appointed by Governor General Roland Michener as Chief Justice in 1973) Joseph Honoré Gérald Fauteux (Chief Justice) - March 23, 1970 – December 23, 1973) (appointed a Puisne Justice by Governor General Earl Alexander on the advice of Louis St. Laurent in 1949) Brian Dickson - (March 26, 1973 - June 30, 1990) (appointed by Governor General Jeanne Sauvé as Chief Justice in 1984) Jean Beetz - (January 1, 1974 - November 10, 1988) Louis-Philippe de Grandpre - (January 1, 1974 - October 1, 1977) Willard Zebedee Estey - (September 29, 1977 - April 22, 1988) Yves Pratte - (October 1, 1977 - June 30, 1979) William Rogers McIntyre - (January 1, 1979 - February 15, 1989) Antonio Lamer - (March 28, 1980 - January 6, 2000) Bertha Wilson - (March 4, 1982 - January 4, 1991) Gerald Le Dain - (May 29, 1984 - November 30, 1988)Honours
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The following honours were bestowed upon him by the Governor General, or by Queen Elizabeth II herself: Trudeau was made a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on April 4, 1967, giving him the style "The Honourable" and postnomial "PC" for life. |
Other honours include: The Canadian news agency Canadian Press named Trudeau "Newsmaker of the Year" a record 10 times, including every year from 1968 to 1975, and two more times in 1978 and 2000. In 1999, CP also named Trudeau "Newsmaker of the 20th Century." Trudeau declined to give CP an interview on that occasion, but said in a letter that he was "surprised and pleased." The Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School in Markham, Ontario is named in his honour. The Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) in Montreal, Quebec was named in his honour, effective January 1, 2004. In 2004, viewers of the CBC series The Greatest Canadian voted Trudeau the third greatest Canadian. The government of British Columbia named a peak in the Cariboo Mountains Mount Pierre Elliott Trudeau, on June 10, 2006. |
Television dramatizations
Trudeau's life is depicted in two Canadian Broadcasting Corporation television mini-series.
Bibliography
Books about TrudeauBergeron, Gérard. The Trudeau decade. Paddling with the current: Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Étienne Parent, liberalism and nationalism in Canada. "The northern magus: Pierre Trudeau and Canadians. A Rose is a rose: a tribute to Pierre Elliott Trudeau in cartoons and quotes. Young Trudeau: Son of Quebec, Father of Canada, 1919-1944. Pierre Elliott Trudeau - L'intellectuel et le politique, Montréal: Fides, 2005, 480 pages Southam, Nancy. Le vrai visage de Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Montréal: Les Intouchables, April 19, 2006 ISBN 2-89549-217-4 |
Works by TrudeauMemoirs. ISBN 0-7710-8588-5 Towards a just society: the Trudeau years, with Thomas S. (Grève de l'amiante), translated by James Boake 1974 Pierre Trudeau Speaks Out on Meech Lake. |
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