Pierre Trudeau
| File:Ptrudeau.jpg | ||
| Rank: | 15th | |
| First Term: | April 20 1968 - June 4 1979 | |
| Second Term: | March 3 1980 - June 30 1984 | |
| Predecessor: | Lester Pearson | |
| Successors: | Joe Clark, John Turner | |
| Date of Birth: | Monday, October 18, 1919 | |
| Place of Birth: | Montreal, Quebec | |
| Spouse: | Margaret Trudeau | |
| Profession: | lawyer | |
| Political Party: | Liberal | |
Pierre Philippe Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 - September 28, 2000) was the fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 3, 1979 and from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Pierre Trudeau was a flamboyant, charismatic, controversial intellectual. A politically cunning politician, he led Canada through some of its most tumultuous times. An energetic figure, he wore sandals to Parliament, dated celebrities like Barbra Streisand, Liona Boyd, and Margot Kidder, flashed an obscene hand gesture to British Columbian protesters, and once did a pirouette behind the back of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
As Minister of Justice under Lester B. Pearson, he was responsible for removing laws against sodomy from the Criminal Code of Canada, famously remarking, "The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation." As Prime Minister, he patriated the Canadian Constitution from the British Parliament to Canada and gave his country the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In 1968 he was elected as the Liberal Party's new leader, and thus Prime Minister in a somewhat surprising vote. Many prominent, long-serving Liberals had been running, including Paul Martin Sr., but much vote splitting occured, and Trudeau emerged the leader. Some questioned if he was perhaps too liberal and radical for the nation's top job, which led to some initial alienation from the party's conservative wing.
In 1971 the bachelor Prime Minister married Vancouver socialite Margaret Sinclair, a woman who at 22 was less than half Trudeau's age. They would have three children before a well-publicized divorce in 1977.
As Prime Minister, he declared a brief period of national martial law using the War Measures Act in 1970 to deal with the October Crisis when terrorist cells in Quebec from the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped James Cross, the British High Commissioner, then kidnapped and murdered Quebec Cabinet Minister, Pierre Laporte. Although the action has been highly controversial since the incident, much of the public, at least in Eglish Canada, approved of the Prime Minister's vigorous response to the terrorist crisis. This included Trudeau's confident approach to the situation typified when he was asked how far he would go to stop the terrorists. He replied "Just watch me." Many believe, however, that the imposition of the War Measures Act contributed to the alienation of many Quebeckers from Canada and in the end weakened national stability.
Trudeau wanted to give Canada a greater role on the world's stage, and made many diplomatic visits to foreign nations. He became the first western leader to visit Communist China, where he was greated with much fanfare. Over the years Trudeau forged many close personal relationships with fellow world leaders, including Fidel Castro, Jimmy Carter, and Michael Manley.
His relationship with former President Richard Nixon was strained at best. Nixon detested what he perceived as Trudeau's elitist snobbery and socialist policies, and once famously described the Prime Minister as "that asshole."
In the 1979 election Trudeau lost the Prime Ministership to Conservative Leader Joe Clark. A few months later Clark suffered a humiliating vote of no confidence and Trudeau easily defeated him in the next election. In 1984 after taking a famous "long walk in the snow" Trudeau agreed to step down as Prime Minister, ending his almost unbroken 16 year rule of Canada.
He was a long-time member of the Club of Rome.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau died on September 28, 2000 and is buried in the Trudeau family crypt, St-Remi-de-Napierville Cemetery, Saint-Remi, Quebec.
A plan to rename Mount Logan, Canada's tallest mountain, for Mr. Trudeau was considered, but ultimately rejected. Instead, it was announced on August 21, 2003 that Montreal Dorval International Airport would be renamed Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in his honour.
Many Canadians, perticularly in western Canada, disliked Mr. Trudeau and his policies . This is because Mr. Trudeau's policies were considered to be biased toward Ontario and Quebec, and left out Alberta and British Columbia. Another point is the Mirabel International Airport debacle, which effectivly resulted in Montreal's Mirabel airport, which is located quite a ways from Montreal, and is in many ways a failure. His imposition of the War Measures Act is still remembered by many, especially in Quebec, as an attack on democracy. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was weakened when the Supreme Court ruled that it did not apply to the common law, and many believe that its chief beneficiaries have been corporations. At an rate it has done nothing to relieve major restrictions on Canadian civil liberties such as double jeopardy and the presumption of guilt in libel cases. Finally, his policies to provide a more rewarding role for Quebec in Confederation and to make Canada less dependent on the United States were manifestly unsuccessful – Quebec almost left Confederation in 1995, and Canada now has a free trade agreement with the United States. Many Canadians therefore regard him as a man of great ambitions which failed.
Nevertheless, Mr. Trudeau is highly regarded and considered a great Canadian leader by a great many Canadians. In particular, although it is sometimes viewed as a political move to distract the population from the weak economy, many believe that his creation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the 1982 constitution has had a profoundly positive effect on the nation. It is seen as advancing civil rights and liberties and has become, the notwithstanding clause aside, for many Canadians a deeply respected institution.
| Prime Minister of Canada | ||
| Preceded by: Lester Pearson | First leadership (1968-1979) | Followed by: Joe Clark |
| Preceded by: Joe Clark | Second leadership (1980-1984) | Followed by: John Turner |