Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 29, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba 1919 2000 re Elliott Trudeau Canada b3 Gary Filmon remembering the Man former Manitoba Premier Gary Filmon got a first hand look at Trudeau Dur ing the 1968 Federal my strongest recollections Are of How he enthralled the country in his first in we were living in Brandon at the i was an Engi Neer working in and i remember he came to Brandon in his Cross country huge crowds turned out for people were just enthralled by and i remember How he doing Back flips off diving while the political careers of the two didst Filmon said they did meet a few who is in Australia with his wife Jan ice to help sell Toronto bid for the 2008 said the word of Trudeau death spread quickly through the Canadian Filmon said the remarkable thing is that no matter the age of the canadians in they All seemed touched in some Way by the former prune Liberal senator and former provincial party Leader Sharon Carstairs was a University student in Alberta when she first encountered the phenomenon of Carstairs said the Flam Boyant images of Thireau in a in his sports or of a Youthful Trudeau jumping off a diving Board had a significant effect on the particularly at r a time when television was la stairs becoming a major Factor in i dont think there was a prime minister Ever like him in this country or will there Likely be Ever said Carstairs from but it was his Effort in ensuring the Equality of All canadians that will leave the biggest there is no doubt in my mind that when people think of Pierre Trudeau in the future they will think of him As the Man who Patriate the Constitution and who gave us the charter of that will be his that is what i will remember most about she can West global commune Cariotis chairman Izzy Asper was Leader of the provincial Liberal party during the Early years of Trudeau prime minister Asper said Trudeau passing was a blow to him and to the he said he and had a combative relation ship for Many years because Asper believed Trudeau never truly under stood Western As a Western Canadian there was always tension Between Asper said try As he he never got his mind around what Western Canada was All especially the at one Point he expressed regret to me that he just didst get but then again he had so few members from West Ern Canada in he said in later years they were allies in opposition to the Meech Lake and Charlottetown we became much closer after he left Public he Asper recalled a meeting with Trudeau in his Mon Treal Home with then Liberal Justice minister Don after about an hour Johnston said to do you have anything to drink after rummaging through that big mausoleum he lived in All he could find was one warm bottle of Asper he was an unusual but he has left a huge Asper also expressed gratitude that Trudeau sons had time to spend with him after he was outside of pub Lic Manitoba Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard first met Trudeau during the 1968 Liberal convention at which Trudeau was elected he strode across the stage in Canada in a major said its a sad Day to see Trudeau when Hes contributed so much to the country and to the Liberal he said Trudeau will be remembered for ushering in change and for keeping the country United through the first Quebec referee Izzy Asper Jon Gerrard Winnipeg mayor Glen Ray was a Young Bay grow ing up in Montreal when Trudeau came to Murray said Trudeau will be remembered As pne of the Roost inspirational leaders in Canadian Histo people can claim to have defined our country and identity As much As he did Murray said he was an awesome almost bigger than the tip Leader who made like you knew you Iliad t sip any l woman leaves red roses outside Pierre Trudeau Montreal Home following the news of his death Andre Force Canadian press a Rose made us Richer we mourn a Man and our own lost innocence i was 10 years old in a Prairie kid too Young to care about politics or prime ministers or any Man old enough to be my but i cared about Pierre you help but care if you lived in this if you ached to be Dif Ferent and if you thought that one Day you might do something special or he was willing to take All the chances youd never con sequences be he was a grownup and a a Combina Tion that previously seemed Pierre Trudeau was never just a not then and not he was a Symbol for a nation struggling to define a country conditioned to be proper and now straining to keep up with changing he taught us that a Well timed Pirouette can be Cheeky and that an older Man can attract the dewy Beauty of a Young woman and that heartache can come to the powerful As Well As the if a country can be said to have a youth and then an Pierre Trudeau led Canada through in this Post Linton its almost impossible to believe we were once titillated that he dated barbra shocked that he married his Young scandalized when he used an obscenity in the House of even when i was knew he haunt said Fuddle we were innocent and he was it was a Heady we lost our innocence with were stunned whence invoked the War measures act in Pierre Laporte had been kid napped and British Diplomat James Cross was Pierre Trudeau took dras tic measures and canadians lost a measure of a year after Kent he sent armed soldiers into the he was Imperi Ous in his there Are a lot of bleeding hearts around who just dont like to see people with helmets and All i can say go on and but it is More important to keep Law and order in the society than worry about weak need he told i had an older British pen pal at the a Young Man who wrote and asked me what kind of country i lived How i could accept the violence and this Lack of civil he is our prime i wrote Back stiffly and he knows what Hes and i hoped he even As the Grainy images of Quebec streets and a body spilling out of a car trunk filled our old Blacka Edwhite i feared that if Trudeau didst know what he was we were rudderless in this time of tragedy and a year he married his child Bride and a clucking All the smiled and took vicarious Pride in our virile Pierre Trudeau symbolized the optimism of the he gave us Hope and it was like this always with Trudeau the Best of times and the worst of All we could count on was being Trudeau was an intelligent a danger Ous combination of brains and sexual i was a Young teenager at the time of there was no rational explanation for the Appeal of this Odd looking no reason he was greeted like a pop Star whenever Young women were i was too Young to understand the too naive to realize that Power alone can be an Saphro you have to be Able to place yourself Back into a More innocent time to fully understand the Sway Pierre Trudeau had on this he was separated from Margaret when Many of us had never known a divorced he was flamboyant when we were dangerous when most people wanted nothing More than their own suburban House and bar he seemed to be so much More than All of canadians Are mourning More than Pierre Trudeau we Are mourning our own innocence and lost we weep for a time when a red Rose in a Lapel was consid ered and we Grieve for the Man who gave us Hope for a better made us smile and made us proud to be we Are diminished by his d the Man had a presence that was tangible up staffers remember Trudeau free press employees were asked to share their own remembrances of former prime minister Pierre who died Here Are some of their reporter Alexandra Paul he i remember two encounters with the first time i met i was a dressed up my first formal evening it was the Early 70s in i cant remember Why he was there or How i got in the receiving but when Trudeau reached me and we Shook i remember clearly what he the evening gown was rather Bowcut and As he was Given my he looked Down the front of my he never did look me in the the second i was a student reporter covering a first ministers it was 1983 and it was the first fac on aboriginal rights in the Issue was the whole constitutional debate on defining existing aboriginal rights that were eventually entrenched in the i remember reporters were signalled ahead of time by aides if Trudeau would deign to recognize them for the q and a that followed his state it was very i also remember the mans rapier he Cut through questions like a knife slicing through god help you if there was a logical flaw in your question it would be shredded before your eyes and everybody quite apart from his the Man had a presence that was beyond what i would Call i still remember that and no other politician Ive met since is his equal in breadth of wit or former free press editorial Page editor John Dafoe Trudeau had a reputation for being if not towards opposition politicians and in my his most notable put Downs were a matter of responding in kind to questions he considered Seri Ous and worthy of attention got serious answers those he regarded As frivolous the zingers Why should i sell your wheat or youre i remember one scrum when he was being grilled by journalists Over his custom of wearing sandals in the House of leading the charge was a reporter for a pop radio station vividly dressed in an electric Blue a boldly striped shirt and a dazzling Trudeau looked him coolly up and Down and i certainly patronize your Trudeau in his Early Days in Public life had a reputation As what in those Days was called a swinger but in Many ways his taste was quite after months of we persuaded Trudeau to have lunch with the editorial Board of the Montreal we took a lavish suite at Ruby the ele Gant Ted eau in restaurant in Montreal and hug Early ordered up a vast Buffet from the French menu in Pup along with several bottles life had a of Fine an hour reputation As before the lunch was to rep won As word was sent up what id those from the pm that the Davs w3s prime minister wanted o chinese so we called a ordered up an equally vast chinese Trudeau chatted freely without telling us anything we did not already ate next to nothing and drank a Glass of the editorial Board was left to eat its Way through the bilingual we failed with the food but did Well with the copy editor Greg Lockert when Pierre Trudeau announced his Resig nation As prime minister following his famous walk in the i was a Mere but i had an experience with him i grew up in a place where Trudeau mania never reached lofty by the late the Man had become the Devil incarnate to Many so when my a diehard Liberal invited me with him to hear Trudeau speak at Edmon tons Jubilee auditorium during an election i assumed it would be a sparsely attended was i the place was packed to the rafters with frenzied Trudeau they they they waved and Trudeau didst delivering a Rous ing chastising albertan unwilling to share their Oil wealth with the rest of Trudeau was in enemy territory that but youd never have known librarian Debbie Oliver i met Pierre Trudeau at the flin flon air port the first week of july was 19 years old and enthralled to meet i always admired the Man for having the guts to speak out and upset people the com ment he made that Farmers Are always cry ing or belly Ching i grew up on a so even i got a laugh out of at the Airport in flin i was on one Side of the Fence and he came strolling Down right along the other i threw my hand out and he grasped it and said a big hello and we had a few words about the Beautiful Day and that he had a bumpy ride coming into flin flon but that he was used to bumpy rides i got his and it has always been a prize Possession of Mary Ellen classified Advertis ing it was Sault where i grew he was campaigning for prime minister in he came to our drove Down my Church in a the top sitting on the out of the with a very Dapper red and everyone who lived on the Street lined like in a Parade just to look at the i was standing in front of my House it was very it was like a movie Star coming to when i was i remember thinking what an important Man he must i remember it to this the impression it left on me All these he made such an impression on the i still remember it like it was it just gives me the everyone thought he was the Mosti and some full of it was almost like you knew just for a ;