Pierre Elliot Trudeau

As a Canadian, I hate the fact that I have to actively convince students that our history is interesting. It's not an inherent belief; our education system in regards to our own country's history is shockingly poor. We go over the same boring crap, it's done without flavour, without passion, and Canada often feels like just another country we learn about rather than our own. It's a darn shame, because we have a heck of a lot of exciting, interesting and globally consequential events and people in our time. Right up there with my favourites is Pierre Trudeau.

Trudeau lived much of his life as a highly educated and politically active lawyer - which, I'll admit, is quite uninteresting. I'm going to do everyone a favour and skip ahead to his bigger political life, right about when he becomes the Minister of Justice. He introduced laws and policies that are really modern sounding, considering this was the sixties. His Criminal Law Amendment Act decriminalized homosexual acts (presumedly celebrated by a parade), legalized contraception (making Canada considerably more fun), allowed abortion (just in case you forgot that contraception was legal, I guess), allowed lotteries (to give hope to those who didn't want the abortions) and new gun ownership restrictions (so they couldn't off themselves after losing the lottery). These are some seriously new-age liberal ideas, and he was at the forefront of them in Canada. This made him seen as somewhat of a radical, even within his own party, but nonetheless he won the leadership of the Liberal party, taking the position as Prime Minister two weeks later on April 20th.

A picture that requires no snarky comment; Pierre Trudeau,
Canadian prime minister, doing a pirouette
behind the Queen.

He called an election for June 25th (keep in mind he won the leadership for the party, not the country - he took in the party election as the Liberals already were in power). Canada was swept under a wave of what one reporter famously regarded as "Trudeaumania" - people freaking loved Trudeau. He had the charm, good looks and quick wit that are so often absent in politics, and the youth vote especially absolutely ate it up. It would be exceptionally hard to argue a P.M. has ever come close to matching the charisma of Trudeau - he was the playa of the Canadian political sphere. Sealing the deal for his victory in the election was the events of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade in Montreal. At the time (and pretty much all the time throughout Canadian history) the French were busy being outraged at something the country was doing, and decided to take it out on the debonair Trudeau. Quebec separatists threw bottles and rocks at him, but he still just sat in his chair and didn't move a muscle. The man came for a parade, and he left with an air of courage around him - he won a lot of votes that day off sheer ballsiness.

Pierre chillin' with Castro, whom he befriended.
Castro later attended Trudeau's funeral. 

Trudeau started what would be an exceptionally long run at the head of the country (yes, yes, technically the Queen and Governor General is higher but I refuse to acknowledge that crap). He was the leader from 1968-1979, a run that brought in the idea of the "Just Society" to Canadian politics. Trudeau was a huge advocate of universal healthcare, regional development, expanding the welfare state and helping the underprivileged. In a lot of ways he wanted to bring in a European style social democracy - this is typically fine in Canadian terms, as we are usually happy if we are as un-American as we can be. Bilingualism and multiculturalism also came to the forefront of his leadership.

During that run, Trudeau had to face one of the most difficult trials a Prime Minister could face. The Front de Liberation du Quebec, an exceptionally radical separatist organization that through a series of terrorist actions created the October Crisis. Members kidnapped the British trade consul James Cross as well as the Minister of Labour in Quebec, Pierre Laporte. Laporte was eventually murdered. During the crisis Trudeau put forth the War Measures Act, allowing the government to arrest and detain without trial, the first and last time Canadian basic rights have been denied in peacetime. Despite the radical movement and suspension of rights, the public favoured the decision overall. Trudeau was decisive, and handled the pressure well. Eventually, he had the terrorists cornered with Cross as a hostage, and he made a deal with them that sent them to Cuba. They eventually returned to Canada and were arrested.

Despite the sound handling of the FLQ, Trudeau lost his election in 1979 as he began to come across as arrogant in spite of the fact that the national debt was skyrocketing and the economy was floundering. This was largely due to a controversial screwing of western Canada in the National Energy Policy. The plan was to help the whole of Canada by introducing social policies that essentially took money from western oil - it lowered prices to the rest of Canada while increasing tariffs elsewhere to force trade within borders. Alberta alone lost somewhere between 50-100 billion dollars during this, and if there's one thing people won't forget, it's when someone takes their money. Regardless, Trudeau was reelected in 1980. This showed a huge divide in Canada, and also highlighted the lack of power of the western half of Canada. Trudeau won no seats west of Manitoba, but won the election anyways. As an Albertan... bogus.

Rugged; picture most likely taken while on the
open road or deep in the woods.

Things were different in Canada east, though - still not great, but different. He defeated a referendum on Quebec sovereignty and patriated the constitution (meaning we basically got it from the British so we could officially do whatever we wanted on our own). There was a boost in popularity for a while, but people needed a change, and there was little future left politically for Trudeau.

Honestly, most of Canada has a love him or hate him attitude towards Trudeau. I believe there's two ways of looking at him - you'll hate him if you love the economy (which he hurt pretty darn bad) and you'll love him if you hate uncharismatic politicians that lack conviction. That, or hate him if you're west of Manitoba. That seems to work out pretty well.

Famous Historical Figures Say the Darndest Things!

1. "Just watch me." Oooooh this quote gets my Canadian patriotism all riled up. Trudeau said this in response to a reporter asking just how far he was willing to go against the FLQ.
2. "What is the nature of your thoughts, gentlemen, when you say 'fuddle duddle' or something like that?" You see, Trudeau MAY have mouthed the f-bomb to an opposition party MP. When questioned about it, he just said 'fuddle duddle'... no big deal. Note: he probably didn't say fuddle duddle.
3. "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation." This was his statement on his pro gay rights movement.