Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 29, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba B2 Canada 1919 2000 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Winnipeg Fror september 2000 remembering continued from Page b1 after he left Trudeau would return to the Public Arena to defend the document from in so he would rekindle Public remind canadians of his and galvanize but beyond what he did or did not Trudeau will be remembered for his personal who had a taste for Glam Orous intrigued the country by marrying Margaret a woman half his age and fathering three two of them born on Christmas then he evoked sympathy even from his harshest critics with his dignified silence As Margaret left Hung out with the rolling blabbed the steamy details of their marriage and finally filed for he maintained a reputation for virility even in later in at the age of he was named As father on the birth certificate of a baby girl born to Deborah a 36yearold Liberal constitutional National Unity and Strong Central government were two of Trudeau yet the pull to the Centre antagonized the leaving no provincial Liberal government in office by the time he an avowed civil Trudeau implemented the War measures act during the 1970 october crisis in que Bec in which police arbitrarily arrested hundreds of innocent Trudeau preached participatory democracy during his Early later governments were accused of secrecy and avoiding parliament by overuse of Cabinet his Calls for a just society at the Start and restraint toward the end were ignored by some who criticized him for frequent trips abroad and a swimming Pool built by private contributors at 24 Sussex the prime ministers official he was a millionaire whose reputation for pinching his own pennies did it extend to the Public inflation accounted for Only a por Tion of the ninefold jump in Federal to More than billion a during the Trudeau Trudeau personal motto was Rea son before but the latter often Why should i sell your wheat he asked Manitoba he told striking truck Drivers to Manger de la Merde and uttered a profanity in parliament that he claimed was Only Fuddle his popularity slipped at but by then the elder statesman of the Western won a respectful hearing abroad during his late 1983 peace initiative and for his High profile crusade in 1981 to increase sharing Between Rich and poor in Pri vate he was Able to Lead Trade mis Sions abroad and gain audiences with world reasons for his Domestic unpopularity Range from legitimate differences Over policy to More emotional com plaints that he was trying to shove metric measurements or some form of socialism Down unwilling yet the 1979 election was the Only one Ludeau of five he fought As Liberal Trudeau was born into a Montreal family whose wealth afforded him a Good education and the Chance to travel the world while con temporaries were settling into careers and his Charles Emile was a Farmers son who became a lawyer and the owner of a string of Gas he sold them to Imperial Oil in 1932 for million and invested he died two years later when Trudeau was fantasy his the former Grace Elliott who died in was of French and scottish descent and spoke both French and Trudeau had an older and a younger my father taught me order and Dis he once and my Mother taught me Freedom and at Trudeau entered College Jean de an elite Centre for the Jesuit teaching order in where he received a classical roman Catholic Trudeau graduated with honours in Law from the University of Montreal and was called to the bar in like most Quebec intellectuals of the Trudeau opposed conscription of canadians for overseas service and he did not fight in the second world War a fact embroidered upon and used against him later by political opponents although he did serve in a Reserve unit in after spells at universities in Paris and the London school of eco he began a solitary trip around the world full of adventures that became part of the Trudeau returning to he joined the Trudeau personal motto was reason before but the latter often prevailed pm and cuban president Fidel Castro visit Havana housing project in a playful Trudeau in a snappish mood left and charming an admirer at the red River exhibition in a grieving father son a wife Margaret and son Justin mourn the loss of Michel in political struggle in Quebec against the authoritarian regime of Premier Mau Rice he played a minor role in the bitter Asbestos miners strike in a Semi Nal confrontation Between workers and the Duplessis and got to know Jean then a labour through the Trudeau worked on civil liberties wrote articles for the Small but influential left Wing journal cite managed his fathers estate and wrote Book he mingled with Quebec intellectuals opposed to wrote a Book on the Asbestos strike and won a governor generals award in 1958 for an some obstacles to democracy in which was later included in a major collection of his federalism and French the death of Duplessis in 1959 and the election of a Liberal government under Jean Lesage signalled the Start of the quiet revolution in Trudeau took a Post at the University of becoming a professor of constitutional Law in Trudeau said in 1973 there were two driving forces in his decision to enter Federal one was to make sure that Quebec leave Canada through separatism and the other was to make sure that Canada shove Quebec out through he was first elected to the commons in 1965 in Montreal affluent mount Royal Marchand and Gerard Pelletier arrived in Ottawa As the three Wise men to raise the pro file of francophone in the Pearson Trudeau was appointed Justice min ister in and made his first big Mark with Bills to make divorce easier and to relax Laws on abortion and he coined one of his most famous phrases in defence of litter state has no place in the bedrooms of the when prime minister Lester Pearson announced his retirement in december the Media tagged a reluctant Trudeau As the dark in a week after his Star performance at a televised Feder a provincial constitutional Confer Trudeau announced he would summing up his candidacy As something that had started in the Media As a huge practical joke on the Liberal the punchline came in april when he won on the fourth beating seven including John sworn in As prime minister on april Trudeau dissolved parliament three Days later and called a june huge crowds greeted him every where and women pushed to kiss this trendy new prime canadians gave Trudeau the first majority since the 1958 he took pains not to raise telling voters we Are not promising things to everybody and we Are not seeing great his image and pronouncements about a just society raised them his biggest test came from his Home turf in Quebec during the october crisis of sensing an apprehended i Surrec Trudeau invoked the War Mea sures act and sent troops into the streets of Montreal and after two cells of the front de liberation do Quebec kidnapped British Trade com missioner James Cross and Quebec labour minister Pierre Cross was eventually but Laporte was found about 500 alleged left Wing sympathizers and separatists were detained by police during the Hunt for the kid Hindsight suggests Trudeau and the authorities overreacted Cabi net records from that Era do not show what evidence Trudeau relied upon to make his Public disenchantment surfaced in the october 1972 election when the conservatives came within a hair of toppling winning 107 seats to the liberals after 18 months of minority govern the liberals engineered their own defeat in May opening the Way for a july the under Robert were caught on the defensive Over plans to control inflation with wage and Price Trudeau accused them of planning to freeze youre Frozen was his Campaign voters gave Trudeau another majority a year later he introduced his own things quickly inflation and unemployment the heir resigned and scandal overtook several Cabinet min on a personal Trudeau marriage began to disintegrate in full Public Margaret Trudeau had stayed on the sidelines in the first years after their 1971 before emerging As a Happy and effective campaigner in the 1974 she suffered a nervous breakdown later that and complained afterwards to an interviewer about those Damn Brown boxes of government documents her husband brought Home each they con sume Pierre and Margaret separated in May j977 and divorced in sons Sacha and Michel remained at Trudeau official but mar i Garet moved nearby and was Given easy the popularity of Trudeau and the liberals plummeted in 1976 when the tories chose Joe Clark As their new his Star Rose again briefly after the election of Rene Levesques separatist parti quebecois late that but he rejected advice to Call an election in when polls put the liberals and then had to watch As Public support until he was forced to Call a vote in May Trudeau fought the election As a thumb Sunbelt arguing that Clark and nip Leader de Broadbent were either treacherous or crazy if they didst think National Unity was the most important Campaign the opposition leaders replied that Trudeau was trying to avoid economic problems such As High unemployment and after 16 straight years of Liberal voted for but gave the tories Only a minority Trudeau returned from a summer trip to Tibet with a Beard a halfhearted opposition Leader whose Days seemed on he announced he would the Trudeau Era appeared to be Clarks minority government heaved a sigh of assuming the with a Lam Duck would not try to defeat them and Force an their Joy was their first budget proposed Short term pain for Lon term gain with tax increases of about top Liber als used polls showing the party ahead of the tories to convince the caucus that a return to Power was dramatic night Clark and most of his closest advis ers were sure it was a Bluff and refused to make concessions to the six sacred maps whose support became was one of the most dramatic nights in parliaments Histo the so reds the Liber als pulled two ailing maps out of Hospital and combined with the nip to defeat the government 139 to Clark was off on his Campaign Jet almost immediately As the liberals argued about whether Trudeau should or would they finally agreed to ask him and he said but the strategy was sharply differ ent from the 1979 the former was kept under Seldom making More than one appearance a the liberals won a majority and Trudeau launched his last term with new the liberals unveiled a National Energy program designed to increase Canadian ownership of the Oil and Gas changed the Century old Crow nest pass freight rates and launched initiatives to promote disarmament and the sharing of resources Between Rich and poor but Trudeau top priorities were the Quebec referendum in May 1980 and constitutional he promised Quebe cers that a no vote to sovereignty association would be a yes to constitutional the no Side won the referendum with per cent of the popular vote to per cent for the yes final attempt that set the stage for Trudeau final and ultimately successful attempt to rewrite and Patriate the Only two provinces Ontario and new Brunswick supported his initial october 1980 bid to Patriate the Constitution with an entrenched charter of rights and the opposing known As the gang of challenged Trudeau plans in which ruled that the Trudeau plan was but violated constitutional the resulting impasse led to one final in november to reach a Deal with the failure again appeared but the scent of Success was so close and the fear of wasting 18 months work was so pervasive that there was finally movement behind the on Trudeau and All the premiers with the crucial exception of Levesque backed a Deal to Patri ate the new Constitution with an entrenched charter of rights and Queen Elizabeth made Trudeau dream come True by proclaiming the new Constitution on april Many canadians thought that with a new Constitution in his Trudeau might Call for a fresh begin Ning under a new Leader for the Liber Al but he kept the country his resurrected govern ment made new and Trudeau showed a rare enthusiasm for economic the prime minister often appeared bored with his Job in the months before his final but there were rare flashes of Trudeau at his Best As he tackled the opposition Leader Brian Mulroney in the he even showed during the last term there were still streaks of the prankster of one image stands out after seeing the Queen on to her flight to London after proclaiming the Trudeau repeated a move he made behind her Back at Buckingham Palace in More Carefree Days More than a decade before he did a Pirouette on the Airport r ;