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Quick Facts
Biography
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau PC CC CH QC FRSC (/ˈtruːdoʊ, truːˈdoʊ/ TROO-doh, troo-DOH, [pjɛʁ tʁydo]; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), mostly referred to as simply Pierre Trudeau, or by the initials PET, was a Canadian politician who was the 15th prime minister of Canada and leader of the Liberal Party, between 1968 and 1984, with a brief period as Leader of the Opposition, from 1979 to 1980. His tenure of 15 years and 164 days makes him Canada's third longest-serving Prime Minister, behind William Lyon Mackenzie King and John A. Macdonald.
Trudeau rose to prominence as a lawyer, intellectual, and activist in Québec politics. He joined the Liberal Party of Canada and was elected to the Canadian Parliament in 1965, quickly being appointed as Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson's Parliamentary Secretary. In 1967, he was appointed Minister of Justice. Trudeau's outgoing personality caused a media sensation, inspiring "Trudeaumania", and helped him to win the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1968, when he was appointed Prime Minister of Canada.
From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, Trudeau's personality dominated the political scene to an extent never before seen in Canadian political life. After his appointment as Prime Minister, he won the 1968, 1972 and 1974 elections, before narrowly losing in 1979. He won a fourth election victory shortly afterwards, in 1980, and eventually retired from politics shortly before the 1984 election.
Despite his personal motto, "Reason before passion", his personality and political career aroused polarizing reactions throughout Canada during his time in office. Admirers praised what they consider to be the force of Trudeau's intellect and his political acumen, maintaining national unity over the Quebec sovereignty movement, suppressing a Québec terrorist crisis, fostering a pan-Canadian identity, and in achieving sweeping institutional reform, including the implementation of official bilingualism, patriation of the Constitution, and the establishment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Critics accused him of arrogance, of economic mismanagement, and of unduly centralizing Canadian decision-making to the detriment of the culture of Québec and the economy of the Prairies.
His eldest son, Justin Trudeau, became the 23rd and current Prime Minister, following the 2015 election and 2019 election, and is the first prime minister of Canada to be a descendant of a former prime minister.
Early life
The Trudeau family can be traced to Marcillac-Lanville in France in the 16th century and to a Robert Truteau (1544–1589). In 1659 the first Trudeau to arrive in Canada was Étienne Trudeau or Truteau (1641–1712), a carpenter and home builder from La Rochelle.
Pierre Trudeau was born at home at 5779 Durocher Avenue, Outremont, Montreal, Canada on October 18, 1919, to Charles-Émile "Charley" Trudeau (1887–1935), a French-Canadian businessman and lawyer, and Grace Elliott, who was of mixed Scottish and French-Canadian descent. He had an older sister named Suzette and a younger brother named Charles Jr.. Trudeau remained close to both siblings for his entire life. Trudeau attended the prestigious Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf (a private French Jesuit school), where he supported Québec nationalism. Trudeau's paternal grandparents were French-speaking Quebec farmers. His father, Charles-Émile Trudeau had acquired a chain of gas stations, some "profitable mines, the Belmont amusement park in Montreal and the Royals, the city's minor-league baseball team" by the time Trudeau was fifteen. When his father died in Orlando, Florida on April 10, 1935, Trudeau and each of his siblings inherited $5,000, a considerable sum at that time, which meant that he was financially secure and independent. His mother, Grace, "doted on Pierre" and he remained close to her throughout her long life. After her husband died, she left the management of her inheritance to others and spent a lot of her time with work for the Roman Catholic Church and other charities, travelling frequently to New York, Florida, Europe, and Maine, sometimes with her children. Already in his late teens, Trudeau was "directly involved in managing a large inheritance.
Early education
From the age of six until twelve, Trudeau attended the primary school, Académie Querbes, in Outremont, where he became immersed in the Catholic religion. The school which was for both English and French Catholics, was an exclusive school with very small classes and he excelled in mathematics and religion. From his earliest years, Trudeau was fluently bilingual which would later prove to be a "big asset for a politician in bilingual Canada."
As a teenager, he attended the most prestigious secondary school in Québec, the Jesuit French-language Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, known for educating elite francophone families in Québec. Trudeau's son, who is currently Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, also attended the Collège. Other alumni include Quebec Premiers Robert Bourassa and Pierre-Marc Johnson. As well, André Boisclair and Pierre-Karl Péladeau, who were Leaders of the Official Opposition of Quebec, also studied there.
In his seventh and final academic year, 1939-1940, Trudeau focused on winning a Rhodes Scholarship. In his application he wrote that he had prepared for public office by studying public speaking and publishing many articles in Brébeuf. His letters of recommendations praised him highly. Father Boulin, who was the head of the college, said that during his seven years at the college (1933 - 1940), Trudeau had won a "hundred prizes and honourable mentions" and "performed with distinction in all fields". Trudeau graduated from Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in 1940 at the age of twenty-one.
Trudeau did not win the Rhodes Scholarship. He consulted a number of people on his options including Henri Bourassa, the economist Edmond Montpetit, and Father Robert Bernier, a Franco-Manitoban. Following their advice, he chose a career in politics, and a degree in law at the Université de Montréal.
The Second World War
In his obituary, The Economist described Trudeau as "parochial as a young man", who "dismissed the second world war as a squabble between the big powers, although he later regretted "missing one of the major events of the century". In his 1993 Memoir, Trudeau wrote that the outbreak of the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 and his father's death were the two "great bombshells" that marked his teenage years. In his first year at university, the prime topics of conversation were the Battle of France, the Battle of Britain, and the London blitz. He wrote that in the early 1940s, when he was in his early twenties, he thought, "So there was a war? Tough. It wouldn't stop me from concentrating on my studies so long as that was possible..[I]f you were a French Canadian in Montreal [at that time], you did not automatically believe that this was a just war. In Montreal in the early 1940s, we still knew nothing about the Holocaust and we tended to think of this war as a settling of scores among the superpowers."
Young Trudeau was opposed to overseas conscription and in 1942, he campaigned for the anti-conscription candidate Jean Drapeau (later the Mayor of Montreal) in In an Outremont. Trudeau described a speech he heard in Montreal by Ernest Lapointe, who was then Prime Minister William Mackenzie King's top adviser on issues relating to Quebec and French-speaking Canada. Lapointe had been a Liberal MP during the 1917 conscription crisis, in which the Canadian government had deployed up to 1,200 soldiers to suppress the Quebec City anti-conscription Easter Riots in March and April 1918. In a final and bloody conflict, soldiers fired on the crowds. At least five men were killed by gunfire and there were over 150 casualties and $300,000 in damage. In 1939, it was Lapointe who helped draft the Liberal's policy against conscription for service overseas. Lapointe was aware that a new conscription crisis would destroy national unity that Mackenzie King had been trying to build since the end of World War 1. Trudeau never forgave Lapointe for "lying" and breaking his promise. His criticisms of King's war time policies, such as "suspension of habeas corpus", the "farce of bilingualism and French-Canadian advancement in the army. The forced "voluntary enrolment", was scathing.
As a university student Trudeau joined the Canadian Officers' Training Corps (COTC). They trained at the local armoury in Montreal during the school term and undertook further training at Camp Farnham each summer. Although the National Resources Mobilization Act was enacted in 1940, preparing the way for conscription to serve overseas, there was no conscription until the 1944 in response to the Invasion of Normandy in June, 1944.
Education
Trudeau continued his full time studies in law at the Université de Montréal while in the COTC, during the war, from 1940 until his graduation in 1943.
Following his graduation in 1943, Trudeau articled for a year, and in the fall of 1944, began his master's in political economy at what is now called Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and was then known as the Graduate School of Public Administration. In his Memoir, he admitted that it was at Harvard's "super-informed environment", that he realized the "historic importance" of the war and that he had "missed one of the major events of the century in which [he] was living. Harvard had become a major intellectual centre as facism in Europe led to the great intellectual migration to the United States. 978-0676975222
Trudeau's Harvard dissertation was on the topic of Marxism, communism and Christianity. At Harvard, predominantly Protestant American Harvard University, Trudeau, who living for the first time outside of Quebec, felt like an outsider as a French Catholic. As his sense of isolation deepened, in 1947, he decided to continue his work on his Harvard dissertation in Paris, France. He studied at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris. The Harvard dissertation remained unfinished when Trudeau entered a doctoral program to study under the socialist economist Harold Laski at the London School of Economics (LSE). This cemented Trudeau's belief that Keynesian economics and social science were essential to the creation of the "good life" in democratic society. He did not finish his LSE dissertation. Over a five-week period he attended many lectures and became a follower of personalism after being influenced most notably by Emmanuel Mounier. He also was influenced by Nikolai Berdyaev, particularly his book Slavery and Freedom. Max and Monique Nemni argue that Berdyaev's book influenced Trudeau's rejection of nationalism and separatism.
In the summer of 1948, Trudeau embarked on world travels to find a sense of purpose. At the age of twenty-eight, he travelled to Poland where he visited Auschwitz, then Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Middle East, including Jordan and southern Iraq. Although he was very wealthy, Trudeau traveled with a back pack in "self-imposed hardship". He used his British passport instead of his Canadian passport in his travels through Pakistan, India, China, and Japan, often wearing local clothing to blend in. According to The Economist, when Trudeau returned to Canada in 1949 after an absence of five years, his mind was "seemingly broadened" from his studying at Harvard, the Institut d'Études Politiques, and the LSE and his travels. He was "appalled at the narrow nationalism in his native French-speaking Quebec, and the authoritarianism of the province's government.
Quiet Revolution
Beginning while Trudeau was travelling overseas, a number of events took place in Quebec that were precursors to the Quiet Revolution in Quebec. These include the 1948 Refus global, the publication of Les insolences du Frère Untel, the 1949 Asbestos Strike, and the 1955 Richard Riot. Artists and intellectuals in Quebec signed the Refus global on August 9, 1948 in opposition to the repressive rule of Premier of Quebec Maurice Duplessis and the decadent "social establishment" in Quebec, including the Catholic Church. When he returned to Montreal in 1949, Trudeau quickly became a leading figure opposing Duplessis' rule. Trudeau actively supported the workers in the Asbestos Strike who opposed Duplessis in 1949. Trudeau was the co-founder and editor of Cité Libre, a dissident journal that helped provide the intellectual basis for the Quiet Revolution. In 1956 he edited an important book on the subject, La grève de l'amiante, which argued that the asbestos miners' strike of 1949 was a seminal event in Québec's history, marking the beginning of resistance to the conservative, Francophone clerical establishment and Anglophone business class that had long ruled the province.
Career
Because of his labour union activities in Asbestoes, Trudeau was blacklisted by Premier Duplessis and he was unable to teach law at the Université de Montréal. He surprised his closest friends in Quebec when he became a civil servant in Ottawa in 1949. He worked for the federal government until 1951 in the Privy Council Office of the Liberal Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent as an economic policy advisor. He wrote in his memoirs that he found this period very useful later on, when he entered politics, and that senior civil servant Norman Robertson tried unsuccessfully to persuade him to stay on.
His progressive values and his close ties with Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) intellectuals (including F. R. Scott, Eugene Forsey, Michael Kelway Oliver and Charles Taylor) led to his support of and membership in that federal democratic socialist party throughout the 1950s.
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. He admired the labour unions, which were tied to the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), and tried to infuse his Liberal party with some of their reformist zeal. By the late 1950s Trudeau began to reject social democratic and labour parties, arguing that they should put their narrow goals aside and join forces with Liberals to fight for democracy first. In economic theory he was influenced by professors Joseph Schumpeter and John Kenneth Galbraith while he was at Harvard. Trudeau criticized the Liberal Party of Lester Pearson when it supported arming Bomarc missiles in Canada with nuclear warheads.
He was offered a position at Queen's University teaching political science by James Corry, who later became principal of Queen's, but turned it down because he preferred to teach in Québec. During the 1950s he was blacklisted by the United States and prevented from entering that country because of a visit to a conference in Moscow, and because he subscribed to a number of left-wing publications. Trudeau later appealed the ban and it was rescinded.
Political career
In 1965, Trudeau joined the Liberal party, along with his friends Gérard Pelletier and Jean Marchand. These "three wise men" ran successfully for the Liberals in the 1965 election. Trudeau himself was elected in the safe Liberal riding of Mount Royal, in western Montreal. He would hold this seat until his retirement from politics in 1984, winning each election with large majorities. His decision to join the Liberal Party of Canada rather than the CCF's successor, the New Democratic Party (NDP) was partly based on his belief that the federal NDP could not achieve power. He also doubted the feasibility of the centralizing policies of the party. He felt that the party leadership tended toward a "deux nations" approach he could not support.
Upon arrival in Ottawa, Trudeau was appointed as Prime Minister Lester Pearson's parliamentary secretary, and spent much of the next year travelling abroad, representing Canada at international meetings and bodies, including the United Nations. In 1967 he was appointed to Pearson's cabinet as Minister of Justice.
Justice minister and leadership candidate
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As Minister of Justice, Trudeau was responsible for introducing the landmark Criminal Law Amendment Act, an omnibus bill whose provisions included, among other things, the decriminalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults, the legalization of contraception, abortion and lotteries, new gun ownership restrictions as well as the authorization of breathalyzer tests on suspected drunk drivers. Trudeau famously defended the segment of the bill decriminalizing homosexual acts by telling reporters that "there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation", adding that "what's done in private between adults doesn't concern the Criminal Code". Trudeau paraphrased the term from Martin O'Malley'seditorial piece in The Globe and Mail on December 12, 1967. Trudeau also liberalized divorce laws, and clashed with Québec Premier Daniel Johnson, Sr. during constitutional negotiations.
At the end of Canada's centennial year in 1967, Prime Minister Pearson announced his intention to step down, and Trudeau entered the race for the Liberal leadership. His energetic campaign attracted massive media attention and mobilized many young people, who saw Trudeau as a symbol of generational change. Going into the leadership convention, Trudeau was the front-runner and a clear favourite with the Canadian public. However, many Liberals still had reservations given that he joined the Liberal Party in 1965 and that his views, particularly those on divorce, abortion, and homosexuality, were seen as radical and opposed by a substantial segment of the party. During the convention, prominent Cabinet Minister Judy LaMarsh was caught on television profanely stating that Trudeau wasn't a Liberal.
Nevertheless, at the April 1968 Liberal leadership convention, Trudeau was elected as the leader on the fourth ballot, with the support of 51% of the delegates. He defeated several prominent and long-serving Liberals including Paul Martin Sr., Robert Winters and Paul Hellyer. As the new leader of the governing Liberals, Trudeau was sworn in as Prime Minister two weeks later on April 20.
Prime Minister, 1968–79
First and second governments, 1968–74
Trudeau soon called an election, for June 25. His election campaign benefited from an unprecedented wave of personal popularity called "Trudeaumania", which saw Trudeau mobbed by throngs of youths. Trudeau's main national opponents were PC leader Robert Stanfield and NDP leader Tommy Douglas, both popular figures who had been Premiers, respectively, of Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan (albeit in Trudeau's native Québec, the main competition to the Liberals was from the Ralliement créditiste, led by Réal Caouette). As a candidate Trudeau espoused participatory democracy as a means of making Canada a "Just Society". He defended vigorously the newly implemented universal health care and regional development programmes, as well as the recent reforms found in the Omnibus bill.
On the eve of the election, during the annual Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade in Montreal, rioting Québec sovereignists threw rocks and bottles at the grandstand where Trudeau was seated, chanting "Trudeau au poteau!" (Trudeau – to the stake!). Rejecting the pleas of his aides that he take cover, Trudeau stayed in his seat, facing the rioters, without any sign of fear. The image of the defiant Prime Minister impressed the public, and he handily won the election the next day.
Domestic affairs
Trudeau's first government implemented many procedural reforms to make Parliament and the Liberal caucus meetings run more efficiently, significantly expanded the size and role of the Prime Minister's office, and substantially expanded the welfare state, with the establishment of new programmes.
Bilingualism and multiculturalism
Trudeau's first major legislative push was implementing the majority of recommendations of Pearson's Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism via the Official Languages Act, which made French and English the co-equal official languages of the federal government. More controversial than the declaration (which was backed by the NDP and, with some opposition in caucus, the PCs) was the implementation of the Act's principles: between 1966 and 1976, the francophone proportion of the civil service and military doubled, causing alarm in some sections of anglophone Canada that they were being disadvantaged.
Trudeau's Cabinet fulfilled Part IV of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism's report by announcing a "Multiculturalism Policy" on October 8, 1971. This statement recognized that while Canada was a country of two official languages, it recognized a plurality of cultures – "a multicultural policy within a bilingual framework". This annoyed public opinion in Québec, which believed that it challenged Québec's claim of Canada as a country of two nations.
The 1999 National Film Board (NFB) documentary featuring young Canadians including the writer John Duffy, focused on how Trudeau's efforts to create a bilingual Canada affected them in the 1970s.
October Crisis
Trudeau's first serious test came during the October Crisis of 1970, when a Marxist group, the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped British Trade Consul James Cross at his residence on October 5. Five days later Québec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte was also kidnapped. Trudeau, with the acquiescence of Premier of Quebec Robert Bourassa, 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 violence by saying "Just watch me". Laporte was found dead on October 17 in the trunk of a car. The cause of his death is still debated. Five of the FLQ members were flown to Cuba in 1970 as part of a deal in exchange for James Cross' life, although they eventually returned to Canada years later, where they served time in prison.
Although this response is still controversial and was opposed at the time as excessive by parliamentarians like Tommy Douglas and David Lewis, it was met with only limited objections from the public.
Constitutional affairs
After consultations with the provincial premiers, Trudeau agreed to attend a conference called by British Columbia Premier W. A. C. Bennett to attempt to finally patriate the Canadian constitution. Negotiations with the provinces by Minister of Justice John Turner created a draft agreement, known as the Victoria Charter, that entrenched a charter of rights, bilingualism, and a guarantee of a veto of constitutional amendments for Ontario and Québec, as well as regional vetoes for Western Canada and Atlantic Canada, within the new constitution. The agreement was acceptable to the nine predominantly-English speaking provinces, while Québec's Premier Robert Bourassa requested two weeks to consult with his cabinet. After a strong backlash of popular opinion against the agreement in Québec, Bourassa stated Québec would not accept it.
World affairs
In foreign affairs, Trudeau kept Canada firmly in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but often pursued an independent path in international relations. He established Canadian diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, before the United States did, and went on an official visit to Beijing. He was known as a friend of Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba.
Trudeau was the first world leader 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".
1972 election
In the federal election of 1972, the Liberals won a minority government, with the New Democratic Party led by David Lewis holding the balance of power.
Requiring NDP support to continue, the government would move to the political left, including the creation of Petro-Canada.
1974 election
In May 1974 the House of Commons passed a motion of no confidence in the Trudeau government, defeating its budget bill after Trudeau intentionally antagonized Stanfield and Lewis. The election of 1974 focused mainly on the current economic recession. Stanfield proposed the immediate introduction of wage and price controls to help end the increasing inflation Canada was currently facing.Trudeau mocked the proposal, saying to a newspaper reporter that it was the equivalent of a magician saying "Zap! You're frozen", and instead promoted a variety of small tax cuts to curb inflation. A campaign tour featuring Trudeau's wife and infant sons was popular, and NDP supporters scared of wage controls moved toward the Liberals.
The Liberals were re-elected with a majority government with 141 of the 264 seats, prompting Stanfield's retirement. The Liberals won no seats in Alberta, though, where Peter Lougheed was a vociferous opponent of Trudeau's 1974 budget.
Third government, 1974–79
While popular with the electorate, Trudeau's promised minor reforms had little effect on the growing rate of inflation, and he struggled with conflicting advice on the crisis. In September 1975 the popular Finance Minister John Turner resigned over a perceived lack of support in countervailing measures. In October 1975, in an embarrassing about-face, Trudeau and new Finance Minister Donald Macdonald introduced wage and price controls by passing the Anti-Inflation Act. The breadth of the legislation, which touched on many powers traditionally considered the purview of the provinces, prompted a Supreme Court reference that only upheld the legislation as an emergency requiring Federal intervention under the British North America Act. During the annual 1975 Christmas interview with CTV, Trudeau discussed the economy, citing market failures and stating that more state intervention would be necessary. However, the academic wording and hypothetical solutions posed during the complex discussion led much of the public to believe he had declared capitalism itself a failure, creating a lasting distrust among increasingly neoliberal business leaders.
Trudeau continued his attempts at increasing Canada's international profile, including joining the G7 group of major economic powers in 1976 at the behest of U.S. President Gerald Ford. On July 14, 1976, after long and emotional debate, Bill C-84 was passed by the House of Commons by a vote of 130 to 124, abolishing the death penalty completely and instituting a life sentence without parole for 25 years for first-degree murder.
Trudeau faced increasing challenges in Québec, starting with bitter relations with Bourassa and his Liberal government in Québec. After a rise in the polls after the rejection of the Victoria Charter, the Québec Liberals had taken a more confrontational approach with the Federal government on the constitution, French language laws, and the language of air traffic control in Québec. Trudeau responded with increasing anger at what he saw as nationalist provocations against the Federal government's bilingualism and constitutional initiatives, at times expressing his personal contempt for Bourassa.
Partially in an attempt to shore up his support, Bourassa called a surprise election in 1976 that resulted in René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois (PQ) winning a majority government. The PQ had chiefly campaigned on a "good government" platform, but promised a referendum on independence to be held within their first mandate. Trudeau and Lévesque had been personal rivals, with Trudeau's intellectualism contrasting with Lévesque's more working-class image. While Trudeau claimed to welcome the "clarity" provided by the PQ victory, the unexpected rise of the sovereignist movement became, in his view, his biggest challenge.
As the PQ began to take power, Trudeau faced the prolonged failure of his marriage, which was covered in lurid detail on a day-by-day basis by the English language press. Trudeau's reserve was seen as dignified by contemporaries and his poll numbers actually rose during the height of coverage, but aides felt the personal tensions left him uncharacteristically emotional and prone to outbursts.
In 1976, Trudeau, succumbing to pressure from the Communist Chinese, issued an order barring Taiwan from participating as China in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, although technically it was a matter for the IOC.His action strained relations with the United States – from President Ford, future President Carter and the press – and subjected Canada to international condemnation and shame.
As the 1970s wore on, growing public exhaustion towards Trudeau's personality and the country's constitutional debates caused his poll numbers to fall rapidly in the late 1970s. At the 1978 G7 summit, he discussed strategies for the upcoming election with West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who advised him to announce several spending cuts to quell criticism of the large deficits his government was running.
After a series of defeats in by-elections in 1978, Trudeau waited as long as he could to call a statutory general election in 1979. He finally did so in 1979, only two months from the five-year limit provided under the British North America Act.
Relations with United States
Relations deteriorated on many points in the Nixon years (1969–74), including trade disputes, defence agreements, energy, fishing, the environment, cultural imperialism, and foreign policy. They changed for the better when Trudeau and President Jimmy Carter (1977-81) found a better rapport. The late 1970s saw a more sympathetic American attitude toward Canadian political and economic needs, the pardoning of draft evaders who had moved to Canada, and the passing of old sore points such as Watergate and the Vietnam War. Canada more than ever welcomed American investments during the "stagflation" (high inflation and high unemployment at the same time) that hurt both nations in the 1970s.
Defeat and opposition, 1979–80
In the election of 1979, Trudeau and the Liberals faced declining poll numbers and the Joe Clark–led Progressive Conservatives focusing on "pocketbook" issues. Trudeau and his advisors, to contrast with the mild-mannered Clark, based their campaign on Trudeau's decisive personality and his grasp of the Constitution file, despite the general public's apparent wariness of both. The traditional Liberal rally at Maple Leaf Gardens saw Trudeau stressing the importance of major constitutional reform to general ennui, and his campaign "photo-ops" were typically surrounded by picket lines and protesters. Though polls portended disaster, Clark's struggles justifying his party's populist platform and a strong Trudeau performance in the election debate helped bring the Liberals to the point of contention.
Though winning the popular vote by four points, the Liberal vote was concentrated in Québec and faltered in industrial Ontario, allowing the PCs to win the seat-count handily and form a minority government. Trudeau soon announced his intention to resign as Liberal Party leader and favoured Donald Macdonald to be his successor.
However, before a leadership convention could be held, with Trudeau's blessing and Allan MacEachen's manoeuvring in the house, the Liberals supported an NDP subamendment to Clark's budget stating that the House had no confidence in the budget. In Canada, as in most other countries with a Westminster system, budget votes are indirectly considered to be votes of confidence in the government, and their failure automatically brings down the government. Liberal and NDP votes and Social Credit abstentions led to the subamendment passing 139-133, thereby toppling Clark's government and triggering a new election for a House less than a year old. The Liberal caucus, along with friends and advisers persuaded Trudeau to stay on as leader and fight the election, with Trudeau's main impetus being the upcoming referendum on Québec sovereignty.
Trudeau and the Liberals engaged in a new strategy for the February 1980 election: facetiously called the "low bridge", it involved dramatically underplaying Trudeau's role and avoiding media appearances, to the point of refusing a televised debate. On election day Ontario returned to the Liberal fold, and Trudeau and the Liberals defeated Clark and won a majority government.
Prime Minister, 1980–84
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As a result of the February 18, 1980 Canadian federal election, the 32nd Canadian Parliament was controlled by a Liberal Party majority, led by Prime Minister Trudeau and the 22nd Canadian Ministry.Trudeau formally retired on June 30, ending his 15-year tenure as Prime Minister. He was succeeded by John Turner, a former Cabinet minister under both Trudeau and Lester Pearson.
The Liberal victory in 1980 highlighted a sharp geographical divide in the country: the party had won no seats west of Manitoba. Trudeau, in an attempt to represent Western interests, offered to form a coalition government with Ed Broadbent's NDP, which had won 22 seats in the west, but was rebuffed by Broadbent out of fear the party would have no influence in a majority government.
The first challenge Trudeau faced upon re-election was the May 20, 1980 Quebec referendum on Québec sovereignty, called by the Parti Québécois government under René Lévesque. Trudeau immediately initiated federal involvement in the referendum, reversing the Clark government's policy of leaving the issue to the Québec Liberals and Claude Ryan. He appointed Jean Chrétien as the nominal spokesman for the federal government, helping to push the "Non" cause to working-class voters who tuned out the intellectual Ryan and Trudeau. Unlike Ryan and the Liberals, he refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the referendum question, and noted that the "association" required consent from the other provinces.
In the debates in the legislature during the campaign leading up to the referendum Lévesque said that Trudeau's middle name was Scottish, and that Trudeau's aristocratic upbringing proved that he was more Scottish than French. A week prior to the referendum, Trudeau delivered one of his most well-known speeches, in which he extolled the virtues of federalism and questioned the ambiguous language of the referendum question. He described the origin of the name Canadian. Trudeau promised a new constitutional agreement should Québec decide to stay in Canada, in which English-speaking Canadians would have to listen to valid concerns made by the Quebecois. On May 20, sixty percent of Quebecers voted to remain in Canada. Following the announcement of the results, Trudeau said that he "had never been so proud to be a Quebecer and a Canadian".
In their first budget, delivered in October 1980 by Trudeau's long-time loyalist, Finance Minister Allan MacEachen, the National Energy Program was introduced. It became one of the Liberal's most contentious policies. The NEP was fiercely protested by the Western provinces. The western provinces blamed the devastating oil bust of the 1980s on the NEB which led to what many termed "Western alienation". Peter Lougheed, then Premier of Alberta entered into tough negotiations with Trudeau and they reached a revenue-sharing agreement on energy in 1982.
This first budget, was one of a series of unpopular budgets delivered in response to the severe global economic recession which affected much of the developed world in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In his budget speech, MacEachen said that the global oil price shocks—in 1973 and again in 1979—had caused a "sharp renewal of inflationary forces and real income losses" in Canada and in the industrial world...They are not just Canadian problems ... they are world-wide problems." Leaders of developed countries raised their concerns at the Venice Summit, at meetings of Finance Ministers of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Bank of Canada wrote that there was a "deeply troubling air of uncertainty and anxiety" about the economy.
Amongst the policies introduced by Trudeau's last term in office were an expansion in government support for Canada's poorest citizens
By 1984, the Progressive Conservatives held a substantial lead in opinion polls under their new leader Brian Mulroney.
In February 1984, Trudeau retired from politics after polls indicated that the Liberals would almost certainly be defeated at the next election had he remained in office. He described his own decline in popularity as "long walk in the snow". On February 29, after what he described as a "long walk in the snow", Trudeau announced he would not lead the Liberals into the next election.
Before handing power to Turner, Trudeau took the unusual step of appointing Liberal Senators from Western provinces to Cabinet, in the 22nd Canadian Ministry. He advised Governor General Jeanne Sauvé to appoint over 200 Liberals to patronage positions.He and Turner then crafted a legal agreement calling for Turner to advise an additional 70 patronage appointments. The sheer volume of appointments, combined with questions about the appointees' qualifications, led to condemnation from across the political spectrum. However, an apparent rebound in the polls prompted Turner to call an election for September 1984, almost a year before it was due. Turner's appointment deal with Trudeau came back to haunt the Liberals at the English-language debate, when Mulroney demanded that Turner apologize for not advising that the appointments be canceled—advice that Sauvé would have been required to follow by convention. Turner claimed that "I had no option" but to let the appointments stand, prompting Mulroney to tell him, "You had an option, sir--to say 'no'--and you chose to say 'yes' to the old attitudes and the old stories of the Liberal Party."
In the 1984 Canadian federal election, Mulroney won the largest landslide majority government (by total number of seats) in Canadian history. The Liberals, with Turner as leader, lost 95 seats, in what was then, the worst defeat of a sitting government at the federal level. In the 1993 Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives faced a larger defeat, when cut to two seats.
Patriation of the constitution
In 1982 Trudeau succeeded in repatriating the Constitution. The British Parliament passed an act ceding to the Canadian federal government, full responsibility for amending Canada's national charter. Earlier in his tenure, he had met with opposition from the provincial governments, most notably with the Victoria Charter. Provincial premiers were united in their concerns regarding an amending formula, a court-enforced Charter of Rights, and a further devolution of powers to the provinces. In 1980, Chrétien was tasked with creating a constitutional settlement following the Québec referendum in which Quebecers voted to remain in Canada.
After chairing a series of increasingly acrimonious conferences with first ministers on the issue, Trudeau announced the intention of the federal government to proceed with a request to the British parliament to patriate the constitution, with additions to be approved by a referendum without input from provincial governments. Trudeau was backed by the NDP, Ontario Premier Bill Davis, and New Brunswick Premier Richard Hatfield and was opposed by the remaining premiers and PC leader Joe Clark. After numerous provincial governments challenged the legality of the decision using their reference power, conflicting decisions prompted a Supreme Court decision that stated unilateral patriation was legal, but was in contravention of a constitutional convention that the provinces be consulted and have general agreement to the changes.
After the court decision, which prompted some reservations in the British parliament of accepting a unilateral request, Trudeau agreed to meet with the premiers one more time before proceeding. At the meeting, Trudeau reached an agreement with nine of the premiers on patriating the constitution and implementing the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with the caveat that provincial legislatures would have the ability to use a notwithstanding clause to protect some laws from judicial oversight. The notable exception was Lévesque, who, Trudeau believed, would never have signed an agreement. The objection of the Québec government to the new constitution became a source of continued acrimony between the federal and Québec governments, and would forever stain Trudeau's reputation amongst nationalists in the province.
The Canada Act, which included the Constitution Act, 1982 and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, was proclaimed by Queen Elizabeth II, as Queen of Canada, on April 17, 1982.
Retirement
Trudeau joined the Montreal law firm Heenan Blaikie as counsel and settled in the historic Maison Cormier in Montreal following his retirement from politics. Though he rarely gave speeches or spoke to the press, his interventions into public debate had a significant impact when they occurred. 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. His opposition to both Accords was considered one of the major factors leading to the defeat of the two proposals.
He also continued to speak against the Parti Québécois and the sovereignty movement with less effect.
Trudeau also remained active in international affairs, visiting foreign leaders and participating in international associations such as the Club of Rome.He met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and other leaders in 1985; shortly afterwards Gorbachev met President Ronald Reagan to discuss easing world tensions.
He published his memoirs in 1993. The book sold hundreds of thousands of copies in several editions, and became one of the most successful Canadian books ever published.
In his old age, he was afflicted with Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer, and became less active, although he continued to work at his law practice 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 on November 13, 1998.
Death
Pierre Elliott Trudeau died on September 28, 2000, and was buried in the Trudeau family crypt, St-Rémi-de-Napierville Cemetery, Saint-Rémi, Québec. His body lay in state in the Hall of Honour in Parliament Hill's Centre Block to allow Canadians to pay their last respects. Several world politicians, including former US President Jimmy Carter and Fidel Castro, attended the funeral. His son Justin delivered the eulogy during the state funeral which led to widespread speculation in the media that a career in politics was in his future. Eventually, Justin did enter politics, was elected to the House of Commons in late 2008, became the leader of the federal Liberal Party in April 2013, and led the Liberals to victory on October 19, 2015. Justin Trudeau was appointed prime minister on November 4, 2015, the first time a father and son had both held the position in Canada.
Personal life
Religious beliefs
Trudeau was a Roman Catholic and attended church throughout his life. While mostly private about his beliefs, he made it clear that he was a believer, stating, in an interview with the United Church Observer in 1971: "I believe in life after death, I believe in God and I'm a Christian." Trudeau maintained, however, that he preferred to impose constraints on himself rather than have them imposed from the outside. In this sense, he believed he was more like a Protestant than a Catholic of the era in which he was schooled.
Michael W. Higgins, a former President of St. Thomas University, has researched Trudeau's spirituality and finds that it incorporated elements of three Catholic traditions. The first of these was the Jesuits who provided his education up to the college level. Trudeau frequently displayed the logic and love of argument consistent with that tradition. A second great spiritual influence in Trudeau's life was Dominican. According to Michel Gourgues, professor at Dominican University College, Trudeau "considered himself a lay Dominican". He studied philosophy under Dominican Father Louis-Marie Régis and remained close to him throughout his life, regarding Régis as "spiritual director and friend". Another skein in Trudeau's spirituality was a contemplative aspect acquired from his association with the Benedictine tradition. According to Higgins, Trudeau was convinced of the centrality of meditation in a life fully lived. Trudeau meditated regularly after being initiated into Transcendental Meditation by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He took retreats at Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, Québec and regularly attended Hours and the Eucharist at Montreal's Benedictine community.
Although never publicly theological in the way of Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair, nor evangelical, in the way of Jimmy Carter or George W. Bush, Trudeau's spirituality, according to Michael W. Higgins, "suffused, anchored, and directed his inner life. In no small part, it defined him."
Marriage and children
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Described as a "swinging young bachelor" when he became prime minister in 1968, Trudeau also dated Hollywood star Barbra Streisand in 1969 and 1970. They had a serious romantic relationship but (contrary to one published report) there was no express marriage proposal.
On March 4, 1971, while Prime Minister, he quietly married Margaret Sinclair at St. Stephen's Roman Catholic parish church in North Vancouver.
Contrary to his publicized exploits, Trudeau was an intense intellectual with robust work habits and little time for family or fun. As a result, Margaret felt trapped and bored in the marriage, feelings that were exacerbated by her bipolar depression, with which she was later diagnosed.
The couple had three sons: the first two, 23rd and current Prime Minister Justin (born 1971), and Alexandre (born 1973), were both born on Christmas Day two years apart. Their third son, Michel (1975–1998), died in an avalanche while skiing in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park. They separated in 1977, and were finally divorced in 1984.
When his divorce was finalized in 1984, Trudeau became the first Canadian Prime Minister to become a single parent as the result of divorce. In 1984, Trudeau was romantically involved with Margot Kidder (a Canadian actress famous for her role as Lois Lane in Superman: The Movie and its sequels) in the last months of his prime-ministership and after leaving office.
In 1991, Trudeau became a father again, with Deborah Margaret Ryland Coyne, to his only daughter, Sarah. Coyne later stood for the 2013 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election and came fifth in a poll won by Justin.
Judo
Trudeau began practising the Japanese martial art judo sometime in the mid-1950s when he was in his mid-thirties, and by the end of the decade he was ranked ikkyū (brown belt). Later, when he travelled to Japan as Prime Minister, he was promoted to shodan (first-degree black belt) by the Kodokan, and then promoted to nidan (second-degree black belt) by Masao Takahashi in Ottawa before leaving office. Trudeau began the night of his famous "walk in the snow" before announcing his retirement in 1984 by going to judo with his sons.
Legacy
Trudeau remains well regarded by many Canadians. However, the passage of time has only slightly softened the strong antipathy he inspired among his opponents. Trudeau's strong personality, contempt for his opponents and distaste for compromise on many issues have made him, as historian Michael Bliss puts it, "one of the most admired and most disliked of all Canadian prime ministers". "He haunts us still", biographers Christina McCall and Stephen Clarkson wrote in 1990. Trudeau's electoral successes were matched in the 20th century only by those of Mackenzie King.
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. His role in this effort, and his related battles with Québec on behalf of Canadian unity, cemented his political position when in office despite the controversies he faced—and remain the most remembered aspect of his tenure afterwards.
Some consider Trudeau's economic policies to have been a weak point. Inflation and unemployment marred much of his tenure as prime minister. When Trudeau took office in 1968 Canada had a debt of $18 billion (24% of GDP) which was largely left over from World War II, when he left office in 1984, that debt stood at $200 billion (46% of GDP), an increase of 83% in real terms. However, these trends were present in most western countries at the time, including the United States.
Many politicians still use the term "taking a walk in the snow", the line Trudeau used to describe how he arrived at the decision to leave office in 1984. Other popular Trudeauisms frequently used are "just watch me", the "Trudeau Salute", and "Fuddle Duddle".
Maclean's 1997 and 2011 scholarly surveys ranked him twice as the fifth best Canadian prime minister.
Constitutional legacy
One of Trudeau's most enduring legacies is the 1982 patriation of the Canadian constitution—which replaced Canada's ties to Britain with its own constitution, the 1982 1982 Constitution Act. This included a domestic amending formula and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is seen as advancing civil rights and liberties and has become a cornerstone of Canadian values for most Canadians. It also represented the final step in Trudeau's liberal vision of a fully independent Canada based on fundamental human rights and the protection of individual freedoms as well as those of linguistic and cultural minorities. Court challenges based on the Charter of Rights have been used to advance the cause of women's equality, re-establish French school boards in provinces such as Alberta and Saskatchewan, and to mandate the adoption of same-sex marriage all across Canada. Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, has clarified issues of aboriginal and equality rights, including establishing the previously denied aboriginal rights of Métis. Section 15, dealing with equality rights, has been used to remedy societal discrimination against minority groups. The coupling of the direct and indirect influences of the charter has meant that it has grown to influence every aspect of Canadian life and the override (notwithstanding clause) of the charter has been infrequently used.
Canadian conservatives claim the constitution has resulted in too much judicial activism on the part of the courts in Canada. It is also heavily criticized by Québec nationalists, who resent that the 1982 amendments to the constitution were never ratified by any Québec government and the constitution does not recognize a constitutional veto for Québec.
Bilingualism
Bilingualism 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, New Brunswick, and Manitoba). While official bilingualism has settled some of the grievances Francophones had towards the federal government, many Francophones had hoped that Canadians would be able to function in the official language of their choice no matter where in the country they were.
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. In this way, his conception broadened beyond simply the relationship of Québec to Canada.
Multiculturalism
On October 8, 1971, Pierre Trudeau introduced the Multiculturalism Policy in the House of Commons.It was the first of its kind in the world, and was then emulated in several provinces, such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and other countries most notably Australia, which has had a similar history and immigration pattern.Beyond the specifics of the policy itself, this action signalled an openness to the world and coincided with a more open immigration policy that had been brought in by Trudeau's predecessor Lester B. Pearson.
Cultural legacy
In the last years of his tenure, he ensured both the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian Museum of Civilization had proper homes in the national capital region. The Trudeau government also implemented programs which mandated Canadian content in film, and broadcasting, and gave substantial subsidies to develop the Canadian media and cultural industries. Though the policies remain controversial, Canadian media industries have become stronger since Trudeau's arrival.
Legacy in western Canada
Trudeau's posthumous reputation in the Western Provinces is notably less favourable than in the rest of English-speaking Canada, and he is sometimes regarded as the "father of Western alienation".To many westerners, Trudeau's policies seemed to favour other parts of the country, especially Ontario and Québec, at their expense. Outstanding among such policies was the National Energy Program, which was seen as unfairly depriving western provinces of the full economic benefit from their oil and gas resources, in order to pay for nationwide social programs, and make regional transfer payments to poorer parts of the country. Sentiments of this kind were especially strong in oil-rich Alberta where unemployment rose from 4% to 10% following passage of the NEP. Estimates have placed Alberta's losses between $50 billion and $100 billion because of the NEP.
More particularly, two incidents involving Trudeau are remembered as having fostered Western alienation, and as emblematic of it. During a visit to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on July 17, 1969, Trudeau met with a group of farmers who were protesting the Canadian Wheat Board. The widely remembered perception is that Trudeau dismissed the protesters' concerns with"Why should I sell your wheat?" – however, he had asked the question rhetorically and then proceeded to answer it himself. Years later, on a train trip through Salmon Arm, British Columbia, he "gave the finger" to a group of protesters through the carriage window – less widely remembered is that the protesters were shouting anti-French slogans at the train.
Legacy in Québec
Trudeau's legacy in Québec is mixed. Many credit his actions during the October Crisis as crucial in terminating the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) as a force in Québec, and ensuring that the campaign for Québec separatism took a democratic and peaceful route. However, his imposition of the War Measures Act—which received majority support at the time—is remembered by some in Québec and elsewhere as an attack on democracy. Trudeau is also credited by many for the defeat of the 1980 Quebec referendum.
At the federal level, Trudeau faced almost no strong political opposition in Québec during his time as Prime Minister. For instance, his Liberal party captured 74 out of 75 Québec seats in the 1980 federal election. Provincially, though, Québécois twice elected the pro-sovereignty Parti Québécois. Moreover, there were not at that time any pro-sovereignty federal parties such as the Bloc Québécois. Since the signing of the Constitution Act, 1982 in 1982 and until 2015, the Liberal Party of Canada had not succeeded in winning a majority of seats in Québec. He was disliked by the Quebecois nationalists.
Legacy with respect to indigenous peoples in Canada
In 1969, Trudeau along with his then Minister of Indian Affairs Jean Chrétien, Trudeau proposed the 1969 White Paper (officially entitled Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian policy). Under the legislation of the White Paper, Indian Status would be eliminated. First Nations Peoples would be incorporated fully into provincial government responsibilities as equal Canadian citizens, and reserve status would be removed imposing the laws of private property in indigenous communities. Any special programs or considerations that had been allowed to First Nations people under previous legislation would be terminated, as the special considerations were seen by the Government to act as a means to further separate Indian peoples from Canadian citizens. This proposal was seen by many as racist and an attack on Canada's aboriginal population. The Paper proposed the general assimilation of First Nations into the Canadian body politic through the elimination of the Indian Act and Indian status, the parcelling of reserve land to private owners, and the elimination of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. The White Paper prompted the first major national mobilization of Indian and Aboriginal activists against the federal government's proposal, leading to Trudeau setting aside the legislation.
Intellectual contributions
Trudeau was a strong advocate for a federalist model of government in Canada, developing and promoting his ideas in response and contrast to strengthening Québec nationalist movements, for instance the social and political atmosphere created during Maurice Duplessis' time in power.
Federalism in this context can be defined as "a particular way of sharing political power among different peoples within a state...Those who believe in federalism hold that different peoples do not need states of their own in order to enjoy self-determination. Peoples ... may agree to share a single state while retaining substantial degrees of self-government over matters essential to their identity as peoples".
As a social democrat, Trudeau sought to combine and harmonize his theories on social democracy with those of federalism so that both could find effective expression in Canada. He noted the ostensible conflict between socialism, with its usually strong centralist government model, and federalism, which expounded a division and cooperation of power by both federal and provincial levels of government. In particular, Trudeau stated the following about socialists:
[R]ather than water down ... their socialism, must constantly seek ways of adapting it to a bicultural society governed under a federal constitution. And since the future of Canadian federalism lies clearly in the direction of co-operation, the wise socialist will turn his thoughts in that direction, keeping in mind the importance of establishing buffer zones of joint sovereignty and co-operative zones of joint administration between the two levels of government
Trudeau pointed out that in sociological terms, Canada is inherently a federalist society, forming unique regional identities and priorities, and therefore a federalist model of spending and jurisdictional powers is most appropriate. He argues, "in the age of the mass society, it is no small advantage to foster the creation of quasi-sovereign communities at the provincial level, where power is that much less remote from the people."
Trudeau's idealistic plans for a cooperative Canadian federalist state were resisted and hindered as a result of his narrowness on ideas of identity and socio-cultural pluralism: "While the idea of a 'nation' in the sociological sense is acknowledged by Trudeau, he considers the allegiance which it generates—emotive and particularistic—to be contrary to the idea of cohesion between humans, and as such creating fertile ground for the internal fragmentation of states and a permanent state of conflict".
This position garnered significant criticism for Trudeau, in particular from Québec and First Nations peoples on the basis that his theories denied their rights to nationhood.First Nations communities raised particular concerns with the proposed 1969 White Paper, developed under Trudeau by Jean Chrétien.
Supreme Court appointments
Trudeau chose the following jurists to be appointed as justices of the Supreme Court of Canada by the Governor General:
- Bora Laskin (March 19, 1970 – March 17, 1984; as Chief Justice, December 27, 1973)
- Joseph Honoré Gérald Fauteux (as Chief Justice, March 23, 1970 – December 23, 1973; appointed a Puisne Justice December 22, 1949)
- Brian Dickson (March 26, 1973 – June 30, 1990; as Chief Justice, April 18, 1984)
- Jean Beetz (January 1, 1974 – November 10, 1988)
- Louis-Philippe de Grandpré (January 1, 1974 – October 1, 1977)
- Willard Zebedee Estey (September 29, 1977 – April 22, 1988)
- Yves Pratte (October 1, 1977 – June 30, 1979)
- William 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
According to Canadian protocol, as a former Prime Minister, he was styled "The Right Honourable" for life.
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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 post-nominal "PC" for life.
- He was styled "The Right Honourable" for life on his appointment as Prime Minister on April 20, 1968.
- Trudeau was made a Companion of Honour in 1984.
- He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada (post-nominal "CC") on June 24, 1985.
- He was granted arms, crest, and supporters by the Canadian Heraldic Authority on December 7, 1994.
Other honours include:
- The Canadian news agency Canadian Press named Trudeau "Newsmaker of the Year" a record ten 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." In informal and unscientific polls conducted by Canadian Internet sites, users also widely agreed with the honour.
- In 1983–84, he was awarded the Albert Einstein Peace Prize, for negotiating the reduction of nuclear weapons and Cold War tension in several countries.
- In 2004, viewers of the CBC series The Greatest Canadian voted Trudeau the third greatest Canadian.
- Trudeau was awarded a 2nd dan black belt in judo by the Takahashi School of Martial Arts in Ottawa.
- Trudeau was ranked No.5 of the first 20 Prime Ministers of Canada (through Jean Chrétien in a survey of Canadian historians. The survey was used in the book Prime Ministers: Ranking Canada's Leaders by Jack Granatstein and Norman Hillmer.
- In 2009 Trudeau was posthumously inducted into the Q Hall of Fame Canada, Canada's Prestigious National LGBT Human Rights Hall of Fame, for his pioneering efforts in the advancement of human rights and equality for all Canadians.
Honorary degrees
Trudeau received several Honorary Degrees in recognition of his political career.
- Honorary Degrees
Location | Date | School | Degree |
---|---|---|---|
Alberta | 1968 | University of Alberta | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) |
Ontario | 1968 | Queen's University | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) |
Sudan | 1969 | University of Khartoum | |
North Carolina | 1974 | Duke University | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) |
Ontario | 1974 | University of Ottawa | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) |
Japan | 1976 | Keio University | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) |
Indiana | 16 May 1982 | University of Notre Dame | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) |
Nova Scotia | 1982 | St. Francis Xavier University | |
Quebec | 5 November 1985 | McGill University | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) |
British Columbia | 30 May 1986 | University of British Columbia | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) |
Macau | 1987 | University of Macau | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) |
Quebec | 1987 | Université de Montréal | |
Ontario | 31 March 1991 | University of Toronto | Doctor of Laws (LL.D) |
Honorific eponyms
- Geographic locations
- British Columbia: Mount Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Premier Range, Cariboo Mountains
- Schools
- Manitoba: Collège Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau, Winnipeg.
- Ontario: École élémentaire Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau, Toronto.
- Ontario: Pierre Elliott Trudeau French Immersion Public School, St. Thomas.
- Ontario: Pierre Elliott Trudeau High School, Markham.
- Ontario: Pierre Elliott Trudeau Public School, Oshawa.
- Quebec: Pierre Elliott Trudeau Public School, Blainville.
- Quebec: Pierre Elliott Trudeau Public School, Gatineau.
- Parks
- Ontario: Pierre Elliot Trudeau Park, Vaughan, Ontario - park also has a statue of Trudeau.
- Organisations
- Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation
- Montréal–Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) in Dorval, Montreal (renamed January 1, 2004).
Order of Canada citation
Trudeau was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada on June 24, 1985. His citation reads:
Lawyer, professor, author and defender of human rights this statesman served as Prime Minister of Canada for fifteen years. Lending substance to the phrase "the style is the man," he has imparted, both in his and on the world stage, his quintessentially personal philosophy of modern politics.
Major biographies
In 1990, Stephen Clarkson and Christina McCall published a major biography Trudeau and Our Times in two volumes. Volume 1, The magnificent obsession reprinted in 1997, was the winner of the Governor General's Award. The most recent reprint was in 2006.
In film
Through hours of archival footage and interviews with Trudeau himself, the documentary Memoirs details the story of a man who used intelligence and charisma to bring together a country that was very nearly torn apart.
Trudeau's life was also depicted in two CBC Television mini-series. The first one, Trudeau (with Colm Feore in the title role), depicts his years as Prime Minister. Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making with Stéphane Demers as the young Pierre, and Tobie Pelletier as him in later years) portrays his earlier life.
The 1999 feature-length documentary by the National Film Board (NFB) entitled Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the '70s Generation explores the impact of Trudeau's vision of Canadian bilingualism through interviews with eight Canadians—including John Duffy—on how Trudeau's concept of nationalism and bilingualism affected them personally in the 1970s.
In the documentary mini-series The Champions directed by Donald Brittain, Trudeau was the co-subject along with René Lévesque.
In 2001, the CBC produced a full-length documentary entitled Reflections.
Writings
- Memoirs. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1993. ISBN 0-7710-8588-5
- Towards a just society: the Trudeau years, with Thomas S. Axworthy, (eds.) Markham, Ont.: Viking, 1990.
- The Canadian Way: Shaping Canada's Foreign Policy 1968–1984, with Ivan Head
- Two innocents in Red China. (Deux innocents en Chine rouge), with Jacques Hébert 1960.
- Against the Current: Selected Writings, 1939–1996. (À contre-courant: textes choisis, 1939–1996). Gerard Pelletier (ed)
- The Essential Trudeau. Ron Graham, (ed.) Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, c1998. ISBN 0-7710-8591-5
- The asbestos strike. (Grève de l'amiante), translated by James Boake 1974
- Pierre Trudeau Speaks Out on Meech Lake. Donald J. Johnston, (ed). Toronto: General Paperbacks, 1990. ISBN 0-7736-7244-3
- Approaches to politics. Introd. by Ramsay Cook. Prefatory note by Jacques Hébert. Translated by I. M. Owen. from the French Cheminements de la politique. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1970. ISBN 0-19-540176-X
- Underwater Man, with Joe MacInnis.New York:Dodd, Mead & Company, 1975.ISBN 0-396-07142-2
- Federalism and the French Canadians. Introd. by John T. Saywell. 1968
- Conversation with Canadians. Foreword by Ivan L. Head. Toronto, Buffalo: University of Toronto Press 1972. ISBN 0-8020-1888-2
- The best of Trudeau. Toronto: Modern Canadian Library. 1972 ISBN 0-919364-08-X
- Lifting the shadow of war. C. David Crenna, editor. Edmonton: Hurtig, c1987. ISBN 0-88830-300-9
- Human rights, federalism and minorities. (Les droits de l'homme, le fédéralisme et les minorités), with Allan Gotlieb and the Canadian Institute of International Affairs