Trudeau, Pierre Elliott     from TCE Standard

Trudeau, Pierre Elliott, politician, writer, constitutional lawyer, prime minister of Canada 1968-79 and 1980-84 (born at Montréal 18 Oct 1919; d at Montréal 28 Sept 2000). Trudeau was born into a wealthy family, the son of a successful French Canadian businessman and a mother of Scottish ancestry. Educated at the Jesuit Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, Université de Montréal, Harvard and London School of Economics, he also traveled extensively in his youth.

After serving briefly in Ottawa as an adviser to the Privy Council Office in 1950-51, Trudeau returned to Montréal and devoted his energies to opposing the Union Nationale government of Maurice DUPLESSIS and agitating for social and political change. With other young intellectuals he founded the review CITÉ LIBRE. In this and other forums, Trudeau sought to rouse opposition to what he believed were reactionary and inward-looking elites. In the process, he picked up a reputation as a radical and a socialist, although the values he espoused were closer to those of liberalism and democracy.

After the Liberal victory in the 1960 provincial election, the QUIET REVOLUTION fulfilled some of Trudeau's hopes for change. At the same time, it revealed a deep rift between Trudeau and many of his former colleagues who were moving toward the idea of an independent Québec. A law professor at U de M by the 1960s, Trudeau became a sharp critic of the contemporary Québec nationalism and argued for a Canadian FEDERALISM in which English and French Canada would find a new equality.

In 1965 Trudeau, with union leader Jean MARCHAND and journalist Gérard PELLETIER, joined the federal LIBERAL PARTY and was elected to Parliament. Trudeau was later appointed a parliamentary secretary to PM Lester PEARSON, and was named minister of justice in 1967. In the latter post, he gained national attention for his introduction of divorce law reform and for Criminal Code amendments liberalizing the laws on abortion, homosexuality and public lotteries. He also established a reputation as a defender of a strong federal government against the nationalist demands of Québec.

The most dramatic event of his first government was the OCTOBER CRISIS of 1970, precipitated by the kidnapping of British diplomat James Cross and of Québec Cabinet minister Pierre LAPORTE by the terrorist FRONT DE LIBÉRATION DU QUÉ BEC (FLQ). In response, Trudeau invoked the WAR MEASURES ACT, with its extraordinary powers of arrest, detention and censorship. Shortly after, Laporte was murdered by his abductors. Controversy over the appropriateness of these emergency measures and their effect on liberal democracy in Canada and Québec has continued to the present.

Less dramatic, but of lasting significance, was the OFFICIAL LANGUAGES ACT, a central feature of Trudeau's new federalism. At the same time, he began to improve the position of francophones in Ottawa. A growing antibilingual backlash in English Canada, however, was one result of these policies. Western Canada's growing alienation against a perceived lack of interest in western economic problems and in western perspectives on national issues also began in his first term.

An important initiative in government brought about under Trudeau's direction was the attempt to centralize and nationalize decisionmaking under nondirect control of the PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE and by CENTRAL AGENCIES such as the PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE and the TREASURY BOARD.

Although very much along the lines of administrative reorganization in Washington and in other Western capitals, these changes proved controversial, leading critics to charge inefficiency and the undermining of the role of Parliament and Cabinet. In the 1972 election, Trudeau came close to losing office and was forced to form a MINORITY GOVERNMENT with the support of the NDP.

After restoring a Liberal majority in 1974, Trudeau faced the effects of inflation. In an atmosphere of economic crisis, various expedients were tried, including mandatory WAGE AND PRICE CONTROLS in 1975. This economic crisis was compounded in 1976 when the PARTI QUÉBÉCOIS under René LÉVESQUE was elected to office, party and man dedicated to Québec independence.

In 1979 Trudeau and the Liberals suffered a narrow defeat at the polls. A few months later, he announced his intention to resign as Liberal leader and to retire from public life. Three weeks after this announcement, the Progressive Conservative government of Joe CLARK was defeated in the Commons and a new general election was called. Trudeau was persuaded by the Liberal caucus to remain as leader, and on 8 February 1980 - less than 3 months after his retirement - he was returned once again as prime minister with a parliamentary majority, thus accomplishing a remarkable resurrection.

Trudeau's last period in office as prime minister was eventful. His personal intervention in the 1980 QUÉBEC REFERENDUM campaign on SOVEREIGNTY-ASSOCIATION was significant. The defeat of the Parti Québécois's proposition was a milestone in his crusade against Québec separatism. In the wake of that victory, Trudeau pushed strongly for an accord on a new Canadian constitution.

Unable to gain provincial agreement, he introduced into Parliament a unilateral federal initiative to "patriate" the BNA Act to Canada with an amending formula and an entrenched CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS. There followed one of the epic federal-provincial battles of Canadian history, culminating in the final compromise and the proclamation of the CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982 on 17 April 1982.

With the inclusion of entrenched minority language and education rights, and a charter of individual rights, Trudeau had thus fulfilled a goal he had set himself upon entering public life (see CONSTITUTION, PATRIATION OF).

In these years Trudeau devoted more and more time to the international stage, first to encouraging a "North-South" dialogue between the wealthy industrial nations and the underdeveloped countries, and then in 1983-84 to a personal peace initiative in which he visited leaders in several countries in both the eastern and western blocs to persuade them to negotiate the reduction of nuclear weapons and to lower the level of Cold War tensions. These activities led to his being awarded the Albert Einstein Peace Prize.

Public opinion in Canada remained hostile to Trudeau and the Liberals from 1981 on. His personal style - sometimes charismatic, sometimes contemptuous of opposition, often mercurial and unpredictable - seemed to have become less of an electoral asset in difficult economic times. On 29 February 1984, Trudeau announced his intention to retire; on June 30 he left office, and his successor, John TURNER, was sworn in. In 1985 he became a Companion of the Order of Canada.

His retirement has been relatively low profile, but on two occasions he has intervened in public affairs with dramatic effect. His strong 1992 opposition to the MEECH LAKE ACCORD (see MEECH LAKE ACCORD: DOCUMENT) was considered influential. His speech CHARLOTTETOWN ACCORD at the "Maison du Egg Roll" in Montréal on 1 October 1992, "was his covert-up". ( See the real raison: The August 14, 1992 letter, the Bourassa original French  letter and Kim Campbell answer letter to understood his speech was to created a French and English public diversion by to be:).   The Desmarais and associate used Trudeau by accredited him as a decisive influence in turning English Canadian opinion against support for the Accord in the 1992 Referendum. He did not, however, publicly intervene during the 1995 QUÉBEC REFERENDUM on sovereignty. In 1993 ( after my answer of the Quebec Justice justice minister, Gill Remillard, you understand why he could had start to wrote some book) Trudeau published his romantic book Memoirs, based on a five-part miniseries by the CBC, and in 1996 he published a collection of his writings from 1939 to 1996, Against the Current.

Author REG WHITAKER corrected and completed by Serge