Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1919 - 2000

Pierre Elliott Trudeau

1919 - 2000

Pierre Trudeau held his philosophy of one Canada and a strong federal government before he became prime minister and he maintained it throughout his political career. His response to the FLQ Crisis, his rejection of the Quebec separatist movement, as well as his patriation of the Constitution and promotion of official bilingualism are all manifestations of this belief.

Pierre Elliott Trudeau was born in Montreal in 1919; his father was Québécois, his mother of Scottish descent. He went to a local school, Académie Querbes, and then to the Jesuit college, Jean-de-Brébeuf. In spite of the Depression,

Trudeau's father had become a wealthy man in the 1930s and the family toured Canada and Europe frequently. In 1940, Trudeau began studying law at the University of Montreal. As a student, he was required to join the Canadian Officers Training Corps during the war, but like many Quebeckers, Trudeau was opposed to conscription.

After graduating in 1943, he passed his bar exams, and then enrolled in a Master's program at Harvard. In 1946, he went to Paris to study at the École des sciences politiques, and then at the London School of Economics in Britain. By 1948, Trudeau was on a backpacking tour of Eastern Europe, and the Middle and Far East, areas of considerable turbulence in the post-war world. After many adventures, he arrived back in Canada the following year.

Trudeau worked in Ottawa as advisor to the Privy Council before returning to Montreal. He began supporting labour unions, especially during in [sic] the Asbestos Strike, and criticized the repression of the Union Nationale under Premier Duplessis. With other outspoken intellectuals, Trudeau started the

journal Cité Libre as a forum for their ideas. In 1961, he began teaching law at the University of Montreal. In 1965, the Liberal party was looking for potential candidates in Quebec; Trudeau and two of his colleagues, Jean Marchand and Gérard Pelletier, were invited to run for the party in the federal election that year. They won their seats, and in April 1967, Trudeau became Minister of Justice. Within a year, he had reformed the divorce laws and liberalized the laws on abortion and homosexuality.

When Lester Pearson resigned as prime minister in 1968, Trudeau was invited to run as a candidate. He won the Liberal leadership convention and called an election immediately after. Capitalizing on his extraordinary popular appeal, labelled "Trudeaumania" by the press, he won a majority government in the June election. One of the most important bills passed by his government was the Official Languages Act, guaranteeing bilingualism in the civil service.

A serious threat to national security occurred in 1970, when the terrorist group, Front de libération du Quebec, kidnapped a British diplomat. Upon the request of Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa, Trudeau imposed the War Measures Act. The situation was quickly resolved and the terrorists apprehended, but not before Quebec Cabinet Minister Pierre Laporte was murdered and hundreds of people arrested and held without charges. In 1972, the Liberals

were returned with a minority government, but regained a majority in 1974. This decade experienced a period of high inflation, which Trudeau's government attempted to contain with wage and price controls. These economic difficulties and a sense of alienation in Western Canada led to the defeat of the Liberals in 1979. Deciding not to serve as leader of the Opposition, Trudeau announced his resignation from politics. However the Conservative comeback was shortlived; their minority government was defeated within six months. Trudeau was persuaded to return as party leader and the Liberals won the election the following year.

His last term in office was devoted to national unity in opposition to the separatist goals of the Parti Québécois who governed Quebec. Trudeau campaigned vigorously for the "No" supporters in the Quebec referendum on sovereignty-association in 1980. He also set about patriating the Constitution and drafted a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The cooperation of the provinces was required to accomplish this; the eighteen-month federal-provincial negotiations were drawn-out and highly contentious, with dissenting ministers and rulings from the Supreme Court and various provincial courts. Consent was finally achieved in 1982, but without the cooperation of Quebec Premier René Lévesque. In a ceremony on Parliament Hill, the Queen signed Canada's new Constitution Act on April 17, 1982. Having accomplished his goal of strengthening Canadian federalism, Trudeau turned his attention to international affairs, campaigning for world peace and improving the relationship between the industrialized nations and Third World countries.

After a total of sixteen years as prime minister, he resigned from politics in 1984. He returned to practicing law, travelled extensively and published his memoirs. His death on September 28, 2000, just short of his eighty-first birthday,

About Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau had a commanding intellect, was attractive, aloof and arrogant. He had a vision of a united Canada that included both English and French as equals, with a strong federal government, based on a just society.

Prime Minister of Canada 1968-79, 1980-84 Highlights as Prime Minister

 Repatriation of the Constitution  Charter of Rights and Freedoms

 Official Languages Actandbilingualism in Canada  Social welfare programs expanded

 Introduction of multiculturalism policy  Canadian content programs

 AppointedJeanne Sauvéthe first woman Speaker of the House of Commons in 1980, and then the first woman Governor General of Canada in 1984

Birth October 18, 1918 in Montreal, Quebec Death September 28, 2000 in Montreal, Quebec Education

BA - Jean de Brébeuf College LL.L - Université de Montréal

MA, Political Economy - Harvard University École des sciences politiques, Paris

London School of Economics

Professional Career

Lawyer, university professor, author

Early Days of Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau was from a well-to-do family in Montreal. His father was a French-Canadian businessman, His mother was of Scottish ancestry, and although bilingual, spoke English at home. After his formal education, Pierre Trudeau travelled extensively. He returned to Quebec, where he provided support to the unions in the Asbestos Strike.

In 1950-51, he worked for a short time in the Privy Council Office in Ottawa. Returning to Montreal, he became co-editor and a dominant influence in the journal Cité Libre. He used the journal as a platform for his political and economic views on Quebec. In 1961, Trudeau worked as a law professor at the Université de Montréal. With nationalism and separatism growing in Quebec, Pierre Trudeau argued for a renewed federalism, and he began to consider turning to federal politics.

Trudeau's Beginnings in Politics

In 1965, Pierre Trudeau, with Quebec labour leader Jean Marchand and newspaper editor Gérard Pelletier, became candidates in the federal election called by Prime Minister Lester Pearson.

The "Three Wise Men" all won seats. Pierre Trudeau became the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and later Justice Minister. As Justice Minister, his reform of divorce laws, and liberalization of laws on abortion, homosexuality and public lotteries, brought him national attention. His strong defence of federalism against nationalist demands in Quebec also attracted interest.

In 1968 Lester Pearson announced he would resign as soon as a new leader could be found, and Pierre Trudeau was persuaded to run. Pearson gave Trudeau the principal seat at the federal-provincial constitutional conference and he got nightly news coverage. The leadership convention was close, but Trudeau won, and became prime minister. He

immediately called an election. It was the 60's. Canada was just coming out of a year of centennial celebrations and Canadians were upbeat. Trudeau was attractive, athletic and witty and the new Conservative leader Robert

Stanfield seemed slow and dull. Trudeau led the Liberals to a majority government.

Trudeau Government in the 70s

In government, Pierre Trudeau made it clear early on that he would be increasing the francophone presence in Ottawa. Major positions in cabinet and in the Privy Council Office were given to francophones. He also put an emphasis on regional economic development and streamlining the Ottawa bureaucracy. An important new piece of legislation passed in 1969 was the Official Languages Act, which is designed to ensure that the federal government is able to provide services to English- and French-speaking Canadians in the language of their choice. There was a good deal of backlash to the "threat" of bilingualism in English Canada, some of which remains today, but the Act seems to be doing its job. The biggest challenge was the October Crisis in 1970. British diplomat James Cross and Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte were kidnapped by the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) terrorist organization. Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, which cut civil liberties temporarily. Pierre Laporte was killed shortly afterwards, but James Cross was freed.

Trudeau's government also made attempts to centralize decision-making in Ottawa, which was not very popular. Canada was facing inflation and unemployment pressures, and the government was reduced to a minority in the 1972 election. It continued to govern with the help of the NDP. In 1974 the Liberals were back with a majority.

The economy, especially inflation, was still a big problem, and Trudeau introduced mandatory Wage and Price Controls in 1975. In Quebec, Premier Robert Bourassa and the Liberal provincial government had introduced its own Official Language Act, backing off of bilingualism and making the province of Quebec officially unilingual French. In 1976 René Lévesque led the Parti Québecois (PQ) to victory. They introduced Bill 101, much stronger French legislation than Bourassa's. The federal Liberals narrowly lost the 1979 election to Joe Clark and the Progressive Conservatives. A few months later Pierre Trudeau announced he was resigning as Liberal Party leader. However, just three weeks later, the Progressive Conservatives lost a confidence vote in the House of Commons and an election was called. The Liberals persuaded Pierre Trudeau to stay on as Liberal leader. In early 1980, Pierre Trudeau was back as Prime Minister, with a majority government.

Pierre Trudeau and the Constitution

Shortly after the 1980 election, Pierre Trudeau was leading the federal Liberals in the campaign to defeat the PQ proposal in the 1980 Quebec Referendum on Sovereignty Association. When the NO side won, Trudeau felt he owed Quebeckers constitutional change.

When the provinces disagreed among themselves about the patriation of the constitution, Trudeau got the backing of the Liberal caucus and told the country that he would act unilaterally. Two years of federal-provincial constitutional wrangling later, he had a compromise and the Constitution Act, 1982 was proclaimed by Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa on April 17, 1982. It guaranteed minority language and education rights, and entrenched a charter of rights and freedoms that satisfied nine provinces, with the exception of Quebec. It also included an amending formula and a

"notwithstanding clause" which allowed parliament or a provincial legislature to opt out of specific sections of the charter.

Trudeau’s Anecdote: A prime minister in disguise

Pierre Trudeau has a reputation as Canada's most flamboyantly dressed prime minister. More than once in his life his unusual taste in clothing has landed him in hot water. While at university during the war, he came across some nineteenth-century German military uniforms in the attic of a friend. Trudeau and his pal decided it would be a great joke to visit some friends dressed up as Prussian officers. They roared off on motorcycles with the pointed steel helmets on their heads, startling all those they met on the road!

While backpacking in the Middle East in 1948, Trudeau adopted the local costume and grew a beard. So well did he blend in with the inhabitants that he was mistaken for a Jewish spy by Arab soldiers in Jerusalem! Only the

intervention of a Roman Catholic priest spared Trudeau from being charged with espionage, a crime punishable by death!

After he became an M.P. in 1965, Trudeau often upset his conservatively-dressed colleagues in the House of Commons with his casual attire. His long hair, sandals and loosely-tied cravat were definitely beyond the usual standards of dress in Parliament, and he was upbraided for them by former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker!