Pierre Elliot Trudeau
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Good riddance. Jailings without charges, secret trials, 30% devaluation of our currency, $580 billion debt, cuddling up to Castro & Mao, trashing our military, doubling the tax burden, police raids of newspaper offices, the abolition of propery rights- the list is endless. He took the greates country in the world and turned it into a third-world backwater.
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Some random thoughts on the man.
The charter of rights and freedoms will be a part of Trudeaus' legacy. Rights and freedoms should be carved in stone. The notwithstanding clause in the Canadian document renders it the approximate worth of a roll of Charmin.
The repatriated constitution of this country excludes better than twenty per cent of it's population. The American equivalent would be the exclusion of the state of California. I'm not proud of that at all.
When he became PM, there was actually a small budget surplus. He put in place a system of social programs that could only be funded by deficit spending, since not even he had the balls to raise taxes to the astronomical heights necessary to make them self financing.
That being said, I voted for him in 1968, the first time I ever voted in an election, and the last time I'll ever vote Liberal. I feel sorrow for his family, but as a politician I despise the things he represented - big government and crushing taxes. Let others mourn him.
The charter of rights and freedoms will be a part of Trudeaus' legacy. Rights and freedoms should be carved in stone. The notwithstanding clause in the Canadian document renders it the approximate worth of a roll of Charmin.
The repatriated constitution of this country excludes better than twenty per cent of it's population. The American equivalent would be the exclusion of the state of California. I'm not proud of that at all.
When he became PM, there was actually a small budget surplus. He put in place a system of social programs that could only be funded by deficit spending, since not even he had the balls to raise taxes to the astronomical heights necessary to make them self financing.
That being said, I voted for him in 1968, the first time I ever voted in an election, and the last time I'll ever vote Liberal. I feel sorrow for his family, but as a politician I despise the things he represented - big government and crushing taxes. Let others mourn him.
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Tan
Not true. In this country it is a criminal offence to "spread false news", and people have gone to jail for expressing unpopular opinions. It's also a crime to publicly criticize a judge (the offence is called "scandalizing the courts"). Also, one of Trudeau's last acts as PM was to create the Emergency Planning Order, which gives Cabinet the authority to suspend parliament for 6 months, seize private property without compensation, detain citizens without warrant or trial, and set up civilian internment camps.
In this great country of ours, you are entitled to your opinion, but it is just that, your opinion...
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Tan, please try and get your hands on a copy of Friday's Nat Post. In the special section on Trudeau, there's an article by Robert Fulford, and I would like to quote a few paragraphs.
"Would national unity have been served better by a less ferociously combative and more conciliatory prime minister? We can never know, but we know for sure that his way didn't work. Apparently, he had no interest in speculating why this was so. When I asked him about it, his answer was brief, grim and totally incurious: his enemies were wrong, and that was the end of it. Not the reasoned response of an intellectual.
At some point a horrible thought occurred to many people who had once admired him: he wasn't nearly as serious about his job as he needed to be.
He was serious about creating a place of equality for French-Canadians, and about "patriating " the Constitution and entrenching the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In his own terms, he was a success on the constitutional issue, even if he did infuriate the Quebec government. The Charter, his chief monument, has changed Canada by greatly enhancing the power of appeal-court judges and altering the way laws are made: legislatures today operate in the knowledge that in most cases they must conform to the Charter and its' judicial interpreters. Whether this has made us more free, as it was intended to do, is debatable. Those of us who dislike the Charter (mostly non lawyers) and those who passionately love it (mostly lawyers and rights-seeking groups) have almost stopped arguing about it. We know that it will be part of Canada far into the 21st century.
In the career of Trudeau, it remains a startling and incomprehensible anomaly. He was the most anti-American of all our Liberal prime ministers, but giving power over Parliament to the Supreme Court, and raising the court to the same level as the nine judges in Washington, did more to Americanize Canadian government than any other single act of the 20th century. Perhaps a Trudeau biographer will someday explain this most baffling of his many contradictions".
One other thing, my world flying experience, or lack thereof, has SFA to do with my opinion of Pierre Trudeau.
"Would national unity have been served better by a less ferociously combative and more conciliatory prime minister? We can never know, but we know for sure that his way didn't work. Apparently, he had no interest in speculating why this was so. When I asked him about it, his answer was brief, grim and totally incurious: his enemies were wrong, and that was the end of it. Not the reasoned response of an intellectual.
At some point a horrible thought occurred to many people who had once admired him: he wasn't nearly as serious about his job as he needed to be.
He was serious about creating a place of equality for French-Canadians, and about "patriating " the Constitution and entrenching the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In his own terms, he was a success on the constitutional issue, even if he did infuriate the Quebec government. The Charter, his chief monument, has changed Canada by greatly enhancing the power of appeal-court judges and altering the way laws are made: legislatures today operate in the knowledge that in most cases they must conform to the Charter and its' judicial interpreters. Whether this has made us more free, as it was intended to do, is debatable. Those of us who dislike the Charter (mostly non lawyers) and those who passionately love it (mostly lawyers and rights-seeking groups) have almost stopped arguing about it. We know that it will be part of Canada far into the 21st century.
In the career of Trudeau, it remains a startling and incomprehensible anomaly. He was the most anti-American of all our Liberal prime ministers, but giving power over Parliament to the Supreme Court, and raising the court to the same level as the nine judges in Washington, did more to Americanize Canadian government than any other single act of the 20th century. Perhaps a Trudeau biographer will someday explain this most baffling of his many contradictions".
One other thing, my world flying experience, or lack thereof, has SFA to do with my opinion of Pierre Trudeau.
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pigboat
Another emotional ignorant....
This is an aviation forum for pilot's, not a political forum.
The great thing about being a pilot is that we get to experience the world's realities and hopefully use that experience to modify our views.
Pity that you do not have the good common sense to recognize that.
Another emotional ignorant....
This is an aviation forum for pilot's, not a political forum.
The great thing about being a pilot is that we get to experience the world's realities and hopefully use that experience to modify our views.
Pity that you do not have the good common sense to recognize that.
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Squawk8888,
The measures you list exist to a greater or lesser extent in all of the Western so-called democracies. There are individual absurdities everywhere (eg flag-burning in the US, no right to silence in the UK), but surely you would agree that there is little restriction on the expression of opinion in Canada.
Power corrupts. I think PET is a good example of that. I was not in Canada during the final years of his reign, and perhaps would have felt differently about him had I been here. What I look back on as a admirable refusal to put spin or gloss on his policies would at the time perhaps have appeared as arrogance or conceit (`I know what`s best for you`). I think it was a terrible mistake to allow the re-patriation of the Constitution to occur without the approval of Quebec.
However, he changed people`s perceptions of Canada internationally This I can say with confidence because I have lived abroad since 1982. From being seen as a colonial backwater with a provincial mentality, Canada is now known as a country that punches well above its weight in international matters and has a relevant, modern viewpoint in terms of development, aid, peacekeeping etc.
I`m proud of Trudeau`s `cuddling up` to Castro. How better to demonstrate our independence from our cousins to the South? It is important. We are Canadian. We are not American, and it takes people like Trudeau to remind us of the importance of the distinction. Mulroney wants a common currency and trading block with the US. Who is a greater Canadian prime minister? I can`t wait to see how many people turn out for Brian`s farewell...
I hope this post is taken in the spirit it is intended - I don`t want to insult or offend anyone, and I don`t think Trudeau is god. I just think he felt the importance of the `noble experiment` that is Canada, and did his best to make the experiment succeed.
The measures you list exist to a greater or lesser extent in all of the Western so-called democracies. There are individual absurdities everywhere (eg flag-burning in the US, no right to silence in the UK), but surely you would agree that there is little restriction on the expression of opinion in Canada.
Power corrupts. I think PET is a good example of that. I was not in Canada during the final years of his reign, and perhaps would have felt differently about him had I been here. What I look back on as a admirable refusal to put spin or gloss on his policies would at the time perhaps have appeared as arrogance or conceit (`I know what`s best for you`). I think it was a terrible mistake to allow the re-patriation of the Constitution to occur without the approval of Quebec.
However, he changed people`s perceptions of Canada internationally This I can say with confidence because I have lived abroad since 1982. From being seen as a colonial backwater with a provincial mentality, Canada is now known as a country that punches well above its weight in international matters and has a relevant, modern viewpoint in terms of development, aid, peacekeeping etc.
I`m proud of Trudeau`s `cuddling up` to Castro. How better to demonstrate our independence from our cousins to the South? It is important. We are Canadian. We are not American, and it takes people like Trudeau to remind us of the importance of the distinction. Mulroney wants a common currency and trading block with the US. Who is a greater Canadian prime minister? I can`t wait to see how many people turn out for Brian`s farewell...
I hope this post is taken in the spirit it is intended - I don`t want to insult or offend anyone, and I don`t think Trudeau is god. I just think he felt the importance of the `noble experiment` that is Canada, and did his best to make the experiment succeed.
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For all you that despised the man, that's your opinion. I wasn't a big fan either, but after having survived the reign of Brian, I think we could do with another P.E.T. after all when was the last time we had a PM with balls??
Latte time.............
Latte time.............
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TrueNorth, points well taken. As a matter of fact, there are a couple of areas where he and I see eye to eye, the Official Languages Act and his reaction to the October crisis.
Before Trudeau's arrival in Ottawa, French in the civil service was a farce. The Offical Languages Act p****d a lot of people off, but I think it drove home the point that there were TWO linguistic groups that helped found this country. The Act could also have created a bilingual bureaucracy and a unilingual business community, but I don't think that happened either.
The use of the war measures act was an odious thing, but it was basically all he had to work with at time. No other Canadian legislation existed to fit the circumstances. I read something recently along the lines of " democracy is a fragile thing, easily destroyed from within. Occasionally a democratic leader must reach into the despot's tool box and borrow the power to defend it, then equally swiftly withdraw that power once the danger is past". To his everlasting salvation, Trudeau did just that.
I think Trudeau fell victim to an all too familiar political malady. He ran out of new ideas, and rather than leave, decided - or was convinced - to outstay his welcome. In retirement, he used the senate in general, and MacEachern in particular, to try and screw a legally elected government. I find such behaviour loathesome.
Anyway, let history judge him.
You wanta speculate a little? What would have happened if Joe Who was able to count noses correctly, Crosbie's "boodget" had passed and Clark had gone on to, say, three years in power. Trudeau would have retired, Brian Mulroney would not have risen to power, the constitution would have stayed in London, no GST or NAFTA - the list goes on and on. 'Course speculation is cheap, and one doesn't have to live with the consequences.
Tan, I didn't start this thread, Rolling Thunder did. Take your petty objections to him. "Another emotional ignorant". Never having flown around the world, my ignorance must necessarialy be the home grown variety. In your many travels, where did you acquire yours?
Before Trudeau's arrival in Ottawa, French in the civil service was a farce. The Offical Languages Act p****d a lot of people off, but I think it drove home the point that there were TWO linguistic groups that helped found this country. The Act could also have created a bilingual bureaucracy and a unilingual business community, but I don't think that happened either.
The use of the war measures act was an odious thing, but it was basically all he had to work with at time. No other Canadian legislation existed to fit the circumstances. I read something recently along the lines of " democracy is a fragile thing, easily destroyed from within. Occasionally a democratic leader must reach into the despot's tool box and borrow the power to defend it, then equally swiftly withdraw that power once the danger is past". To his everlasting salvation, Trudeau did just that.
I think Trudeau fell victim to an all too familiar political malady. He ran out of new ideas, and rather than leave, decided - or was convinced - to outstay his welcome. In retirement, he used the senate in general, and MacEachern in particular, to try and screw a legally elected government. I find such behaviour loathesome.
Anyway, let history judge him.
You wanta speculate a little? What would have happened if Joe Who was able to count noses correctly, Crosbie's "boodget" had passed and Clark had gone on to, say, three years in power. Trudeau would have retired, Brian Mulroney would not have risen to power, the constitution would have stayed in London, no GST or NAFTA - the list goes on and on. 'Course speculation is cheap, and one doesn't have to live with the consequences.
Tan, I didn't start this thread, Rolling Thunder did. Take your petty objections to him. "Another emotional ignorant". Never having flown around the world, my ignorance must necessarialy be the home grown variety. In your many travels, where did you acquire yours?
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Tan - there`s no need to get personal.
pigboat - I had not thought of that before. It is interesting to think what may have happened had Trudeau retired with grace slightly earlier. Ironic that the first PM we treated like a rock star subsequently behaved like one! (the comeback tour...the disappointing last album etc!!)
pigboat - I had not thought of that before. It is interesting to think what may have happened had Trudeau retired with grace slightly earlier. Ironic that the first PM we treated like a rock star subsequently behaved like one! (the comeback tour...the disappointing last album etc!!)
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Last Updated: Tuesday 3 October 2000 LOCAL BUSINESS
Trudeau's economic legacy dismal
The 'Just Society' came about through aggressive taxation and government
spending that has saddled us with debt today.
Michael Campbell Vancouver Sun
In reading and watching all the commentary discussing the legacy of Pierre Elliott
Trudeau I was amazed at how one of his most lasting and profound influences is regularly
overlooked.
Certainly the repatriation of the Constitution and the creation of the Charter of Rights are
worthy of a great deal of discussion, but no less of a monumental legacy is his economic
policy.
Trudeau is the godfather of Canada's interventionist government policies regarding the
economy. It was Trudeau who spearheaded the drive for the "Just Society" through
aggressive increases in government spending and wealth redistribution that led to Canada
leading the world in the growth of taxation.
It was the Trudeau government that brought Canada's federal deficit from zero in 1968 to
$38 billion by the time he left office in 1984. It was the buildup of debt during the
Trudeau years that laid the foundation for today's $40 billion in interest payments.
While socialists or Marxists may like to take credit for the philosophical underpinnings of
his economic policy, it was Trudeau who put the thoughts into action.
In 1968 the federal government launched what was then called the short-term bailout of
the Cape Breton Coal company that finally this year, after $1.7 billion in subsidies, shut
down.
It was during the Trudeau era that employment insurance subsidies became a way of life
for some in the Maritimes with the results still well in evidence today.
Under Trudeau we got nationalization of companies and industries. Canada curtailed
foreign investment and exploded the government bureaucracy.
But his legacy extends beyond specific economic policies and into a mindset that
dominates the landscape today.
It was during the Trudeau years that the anti-business, anti-success attitude -- referred to
by Nobel Prize-winner Robert Mundel as the chief obstacle to our economic prosperity --
took hold and flourished.
Marketing all government policies as part of the pursuit of the Just Society has
permanently linked the concepts of government intervention and justice in many people's
mind.
We see the results today where opposition to extending government programs is regularly
regarded as a form of incivility at best and godlessness at worst.
As Prime Minister Jean Chretien has told us regularly, only the selfish and greedy want to
lower taxes. Only the most cold-hearted could oppose a national day-care program or
business subsidies.
What's interesting to note is that before we headed on the path toward the Just Society,
Canada had the second-highest economic output per person in the world.
The latest numbers from the OECD put us at 20th out of 29 in the developed world. Our
economy grew at an average pace of five per cent, excluding inflation, before 1968,
which is 40 per cent higher than the average since.
Our federal debt has grown from 0 to $750 billion, while our currency has gone from
being at par with the U.S. dollar to 66.5 cents today.
Also interesting to note is the fact that our satisfaction with government institutions like
health care and education has also declined in the past 30 years in spite of huge increases
in government spending.
As for the pursuit of the Just Society, poverty advocates tell us nothing has changed,
which always leaves me somewhat startled considering that so many Canadians continue
to call for more of the same policies.
Comments about this article? Send an e-mail to the writer.
Send a copy of this story to a friend. Click here. http://www.vancouversun.com/newsite/...3/4621498.html
Trudeau's economic legacy dismal
The 'Just Society' came about through aggressive taxation and government
spending that has saddled us with debt today.
Michael Campbell Vancouver Sun
In reading and watching all the commentary discussing the legacy of Pierre Elliott
Trudeau I was amazed at how one of his most lasting and profound influences is regularly
overlooked.
Certainly the repatriation of the Constitution and the creation of the Charter of Rights are
worthy of a great deal of discussion, but no less of a monumental legacy is his economic
policy.
Trudeau is the godfather of Canada's interventionist government policies regarding the
economy. It was Trudeau who spearheaded the drive for the "Just Society" through
aggressive increases in government spending and wealth redistribution that led to Canada
leading the world in the growth of taxation.
It was the Trudeau government that brought Canada's federal deficit from zero in 1968 to
$38 billion by the time he left office in 1984. It was the buildup of debt during the
Trudeau years that laid the foundation for today's $40 billion in interest payments.
While socialists or Marxists may like to take credit for the philosophical underpinnings of
his economic policy, it was Trudeau who put the thoughts into action.
In 1968 the federal government launched what was then called the short-term bailout of
the Cape Breton Coal company that finally this year, after $1.7 billion in subsidies, shut
down.
It was during the Trudeau era that employment insurance subsidies became a way of life
for some in the Maritimes with the results still well in evidence today.
Under Trudeau we got nationalization of companies and industries. Canada curtailed
foreign investment and exploded the government bureaucracy.
But his legacy extends beyond specific economic policies and into a mindset that
dominates the landscape today.
It was during the Trudeau years that the anti-business, anti-success attitude -- referred to
by Nobel Prize-winner Robert Mundel as the chief obstacle to our economic prosperity --
took hold and flourished.
Marketing all government policies as part of the pursuit of the Just Society has
permanently linked the concepts of government intervention and justice in many people's
mind.
We see the results today where opposition to extending government programs is regularly
regarded as a form of incivility at best and godlessness at worst.
As Prime Minister Jean Chretien has told us regularly, only the selfish and greedy want to
lower taxes. Only the most cold-hearted could oppose a national day-care program or
business subsidies.
What's interesting to note is that before we headed on the path toward the Just Society,
Canada had the second-highest economic output per person in the world.
The latest numbers from the OECD put us at 20th out of 29 in the developed world. Our
economy grew at an average pace of five per cent, excluding inflation, before 1968,
which is 40 per cent higher than the average since.
Our federal debt has grown from 0 to $750 billion, while our currency has gone from
being at par with the U.S. dollar to 66.5 cents today.
Also interesting to note is the fact that our satisfaction with government institutions like
health care and education has also declined in the past 30 years in spite of huge increases
in government spending.
As for the pursuit of the Just Society, poverty advocates tell us nothing has changed,
which always leaves me somewhat startled considering that so many Canadians continue
to call for more of the same policies.
Comments about this article? Send an e-mail to the writer.
Send a copy of this story to a friend. Click here. http://www.vancouversun.com/newsite/...3/4621498.html
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TrueNorth
You're right, there was no excuse for getting personal. My apologies to the forum.
This is not a political forum, but for some reason this thread has turned into one. I do not encourage discussions on religious or political issues on the flight deck because there are no winners, only different and sometimes emotional opinions . Emotions are not a good thing on an airplane nor desirable on an aviation forum. That's one of the reasons for CRM.
Pilot's get to experience how much damage politicians have caused to aviation every day they go to work. As you can see, I am not high on politicians, no matter what their stripe.
I did have the pleasure of carrying the late Prime Minister to LHR one night. I forever regret not having the courage to speak with him. I did however extend, thru the Incharge, the standard VIP invitation for him to visit the flight deck at his pleasure. He sent back his thanks. What a pity that I never asked him to observe that LHR mornings CAT111B approach and landing.
The flight attendants informed me throughout the flight what a delight he was as a person. Completely unassuming and undemanding. The only personal thing that I remember about him was that he was cold, with a blanket around his shoulders. That was my personal observation, so I increased the first class cabin temperature. As everyone knows, modern aircraft automatic cabin temperature control works best on a full load. Another one of life's "it wasn't designed to work like that, but it does."
I believe part of my spinelessness to speak with M. Trudeau was the result of what the news's media had said about him. Most pilot's cringe at the ignorance of the news's media when they report on aircraft accidents. I wonder how accurate the news's media reporting on Monsieur Trudeau has been. History and His Maker will to be his judge
You're right, there was no excuse for getting personal. My apologies to the forum.
This is not a political forum, but for some reason this thread has turned into one. I do not encourage discussions on religious or political issues on the flight deck because there are no winners, only different and sometimes emotional opinions . Emotions are not a good thing on an airplane nor desirable on an aviation forum. That's one of the reasons for CRM.
Pilot's get to experience how much damage politicians have caused to aviation every day they go to work. As you can see, I am not high on politicians, no matter what their stripe.
I did have the pleasure of carrying the late Prime Minister to LHR one night. I forever regret not having the courage to speak with him. I did however extend, thru the Incharge, the standard VIP invitation for him to visit the flight deck at his pleasure. He sent back his thanks. What a pity that I never asked him to observe that LHR mornings CAT111B approach and landing.
The flight attendants informed me throughout the flight what a delight he was as a person. Completely unassuming and undemanding. The only personal thing that I remember about him was that he was cold, with a blanket around his shoulders. That was my personal observation, so I increased the first class cabin temperature. As everyone knows, modern aircraft automatic cabin temperature control works best on a full load. Another one of life's "it wasn't designed to work like that, but it does."
I believe part of my spinelessness to speak with M. Trudeau was the result of what the news's media had said about him. Most pilot's cringe at the ignorance of the news's media when they report on aircraft accidents. I wonder how accurate the news's media reporting on Monsieur Trudeau has been. History and His Maker will to be his judge
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Please don't blame me, I didn't have anything to do with it.
Sure, I voted for his MPs a couple of times. Sure, I knew he was either loved or hated in life and it seems the same in death.I liked his intellect, his passion and the way he changed things...remember Pearson and Diefenbaker...sorry I fell asleep for a minute there.
"One of Our Best and Brightest"
thanks to - Martin O'Malley CBC NEWS ONLINE
In December 1999, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was
named top Canadian newsmaker of the 20th
century. He finished ahead of prime ministers
Mackenzie King, Lester Pearson, Wilfrid Laurier and Brian Mulroney, all of whom made the top ten.
Think what you will of the century-ending poll, but no one will ever remember the man as Pierre Who.
In his prime, Trudeau was exciting, charismatic,sexy. He drove sports cars, wore capes, ascots and floppy hats, and always the signature red rose in his lapel. He slid down bannisters, canoed in white-water rapids, did pirouettes behind the Queen's back at Buckingham Palace. He made politics fashionable for the upbeat Sixties generation that emerged from the sleepy 1950s.He dated some of the most interesting women in the world singer Barbra Streisand, movie star Margot Kidder, classical guitarist Liona Boyd. At the age of 52, he married Margaret Sinclair, the beautiful 22-year-old he had met while vacationing in Tahiti.
He seemed to come from out of nowhere in the
1960s, saying things like, "The state has no
business in the nation's bedrooms." It might have appeared he came out of nowhere, but in Quebec, where he was born
on October 18, 1919,Trudeau had been a formidable presence. His father was a wealthy Quebecois, his mother was of Scottish descent. Trudeau's given names thus captured the bilingual, bicultural personality of
Canada, the federalism the man dedicated his
political life to preserving and enhancing. The Trudeau family often went on extensive European tours, allowing young Pierre to develop what would become an unquenchable taste for faraway places and adventure.
He studied at Jean de Brebeuf College, a Jesuit institution where doubtless he acquired his lifelong belief in reason (as in "reason over passion," which became his motto). He earned a law degree at the
University of Montreal, a master's degree in
political economy at Harvard University, then
studied at Ecole des sciences politiques in Paris in 1946-47, followed by an academic year at the London School of Economics in 1947-48.
After a year backpacking throughout Eastern
Europe, the Middle East and Far East, Trudeau
returned to Canada where he worked in Ottawa as an advisor to the Privy Council. Soon he returned to Montreal where he worked with labour unions, championing the rights of workers during the violent Asbestos Strike in Quebec and attacking the repressive regime of the Union Nationale under Premier Maurice Duplessis. What he is best remembered for from this period is his work with Cite Libre, a journal of ideas he founded with other
Quebec intellectuals when he taught law at the University of Montreal.
In 1965, the federal Liberal party was looking for candidates from Quebec. Trudeau and two friends, Jean Marchand and Gerard Pelletier, were invited to run in the federal election that year. Trudeau was the least known of the group that quickly became known as "the three wise men." This soon would change.
Trudeaumania sweeps Canada
Marchand, Pelletier and Trudeau all won
their seats in the 1965 federal election.
Trudeau, as Justice Minister, worked
closely with Prime Minister Lester
Pearson, who appeared to take a fatherly interest in the bright young man from Quebec.
When Pearson resigned as prime minister in 1968, Trudeau signed on as a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal party. At the beginning of the leadership contest, he was no shoo-in, but his personality and style suited the times that were a-changin' and by the spring of 1968 a wave of "Trudeaumania" swept Canada and Trudeau
became a star. He hit all the demographic buttons old and young, male and female, French and English, East and West. In their book Mondo Canuck, authors Geoff Pevere and Greig Dymond describe him as "the greatest pop star this country has ever produced."
Soon after winning the leadership of the Liberal Party in April 1968, Trudeau called an election, and trounced the opposition.
It is no coincidence that Trudeau and media guru Marshall McLuhan became cohorts in the 1960s and maintained a creative relationship throughout the 1970s. Trudeau could have been the model for what McLuhan meant when he coined the phrase "the medium is the message." It wasn't what the man said, but how he said it style over substance. That creased, angular, Gallic face worked marvelously on television, providing
traction for the camera. Until the 1960s John F.Kennedy first demonstrated it with his win over an earnest but sweaty Richard Nixon politics was perceived as exclusionary, or as McLuhan might have said, "hot." Trudeau instantly made dull Canadian politics accessible and exciting. Trudeau was "cool."
But it was not that he lacked substance, far
from it. During his 16 years as prime
minister he championed seminal changes in the
Canadian political landscape, among them:
Official Languages Act, 1969
Implementation of War Measure Act, 1970
("Just watch me ")
Wage and Price Controls
Appointed Jeanne Sauve first woman Speaker of House of Commons, 1980
Canadian Charter of Rights, 1982
Patriation of Canadian Constitution, 1982
Appointed Jeanne Sauve first woman
Governor-General, 1984
He didn't do things on the cheap. Over 16 years with Trudeau as prime minister, Canada's national debt skyrocketed by 1,200 per cent, from $17 billion to more than $200 billion.
When he turned 80 on October 18, 1999, he
was still cool. The Toronto Star noted in
an editorial:
" for those of us who were there when
Pierre Trudeau was prime minister it was the
magic of the man that is etched and cherished in the mind's eye. We embraced his diamond-sharp intellect, his irreverence, and the style of his leadership and life.
"For the better he changed us as a nation."
[This message has been edited by Rollingthunder (edited 06 October 2000).]
Sure, I voted for his MPs a couple of times. Sure, I knew he was either loved or hated in life and it seems the same in death.I liked his intellect, his passion and the way he changed things...remember Pearson and Diefenbaker...sorry I fell asleep for a minute there.
"One of Our Best and Brightest"
thanks to - Martin O'Malley CBC NEWS ONLINE
In December 1999, Pierre Elliott Trudeau was
named top Canadian newsmaker of the 20th
century. He finished ahead of prime ministers
Mackenzie King, Lester Pearson, Wilfrid Laurier and Brian Mulroney, all of whom made the top ten.
Think what you will of the century-ending poll, but no one will ever remember the man as Pierre Who.
In his prime, Trudeau was exciting, charismatic,sexy. He drove sports cars, wore capes, ascots and floppy hats, and always the signature red rose in his lapel. He slid down bannisters, canoed in white-water rapids, did pirouettes behind the Queen's back at Buckingham Palace. He made politics fashionable for the upbeat Sixties generation that emerged from the sleepy 1950s.He dated some of the most interesting women in the world singer Barbra Streisand, movie star Margot Kidder, classical guitarist Liona Boyd. At the age of 52, he married Margaret Sinclair, the beautiful 22-year-old he had met while vacationing in Tahiti.
He seemed to come from out of nowhere in the
1960s, saying things like, "The state has no
business in the nation's bedrooms." It might have appeared he came out of nowhere, but in Quebec, where he was born
on October 18, 1919,Trudeau had been a formidable presence. His father was a wealthy Quebecois, his mother was of Scottish descent. Trudeau's given names thus captured the bilingual, bicultural personality of
Canada, the federalism the man dedicated his
political life to preserving and enhancing. The Trudeau family often went on extensive European tours, allowing young Pierre to develop what would become an unquenchable taste for faraway places and adventure.
He studied at Jean de Brebeuf College, a Jesuit institution where doubtless he acquired his lifelong belief in reason (as in "reason over passion," which became his motto). He earned a law degree at the
University of Montreal, a master's degree in
political economy at Harvard University, then
studied at Ecole des sciences politiques in Paris in 1946-47, followed by an academic year at the London School of Economics in 1947-48.
After a year backpacking throughout Eastern
Europe, the Middle East and Far East, Trudeau
returned to Canada where he worked in Ottawa as an advisor to the Privy Council. Soon he returned to Montreal where he worked with labour unions, championing the rights of workers during the violent Asbestos Strike in Quebec and attacking the repressive regime of the Union Nationale under Premier Maurice Duplessis. What he is best remembered for from this period is his work with Cite Libre, a journal of ideas he founded with other
Quebec intellectuals when he taught law at the University of Montreal.
In 1965, the federal Liberal party was looking for candidates from Quebec. Trudeau and two friends, Jean Marchand and Gerard Pelletier, were invited to run in the federal election that year. Trudeau was the least known of the group that quickly became known as "the three wise men." This soon would change.
Trudeaumania sweeps Canada
Marchand, Pelletier and Trudeau all won
their seats in the 1965 federal election.
Trudeau, as Justice Minister, worked
closely with Prime Minister Lester
Pearson, who appeared to take a fatherly interest in the bright young man from Quebec.
When Pearson resigned as prime minister in 1968, Trudeau signed on as a candidate for the leadership of the Liberal party. At the beginning of the leadership contest, he was no shoo-in, but his personality and style suited the times that were a-changin' and by the spring of 1968 a wave of "Trudeaumania" swept Canada and Trudeau
became a star. He hit all the demographic buttons old and young, male and female, French and English, East and West. In their book Mondo Canuck, authors Geoff Pevere and Greig Dymond describe him as "the greatest pop star this country has ever produced."
Soon after winning the leadership of the Liberal Party in April 1968, Trudeau called an election, and trounced the opposition.
It is no coincidence that Trudeau and media guru Marshall McLuhan became cohorts in the 1960s and maintained a creative relationship throughout the 1970s. Trudeau could have been the model for what McLuhan meant when he coined the phrase "the medium is the message." It wasn't what the man said, but how he said it style over substance. That creased, angular, Gallic face worked marvelously on television, providing
traction for the camera. Until the 1960s John F.Kennedy first demonstrated it with his win over an earnest but sweaty Richard Nixon politics was perceived as exclusionary, or as McLuhan might have said, "hot." Trudeau instantly made dull Canadian politics accessible and exciting. Trudeau was "cool."
But it was not that he lacked substance, far
from it. During his 16 years as prime
minister he championed seminal changes in the
Canadian political landscape, among them:
Official Languages Act, 1969
Implementation of War Measure Act, 1970
("Just watch me ")
Wage and Price Controls
Appointed Jeanne Sauve first woman Speaker of House of Commons, 1980
Canadian Charter of Rights, 1982
Patriation of Canadian Constitution, 1982
Appointed Jeanne Sauve first woman
Governor-General, 1984
He didn't do things on the cheap. Over 16 years with Trudeau as prime minister, Canada's national debt skyrocketed by 1,200 per cent, from $17 billion to more than $200 billion.
When he turned 80 on October 18, 1999, he
was still cool. The Toronto Star noted in
an editorial:
" for those of us who were there when
Pierre Trudeau was prime minister it was the
magic of the man that is etched and cherished in the mind's eye. We embraced his diamond-sharp intellect, his irreverence, and the style of his leadership and life.
"For the better he changed us as a nation."
[This message has been edited by Rollingthunder (edited 06 October 2000).]
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I posted this over on the AEF a few days back, but it seems relevant to this thread so I'll add it as my 2 cents worth. You can argue 'til you're blue in the face about the value ot Trudeau's domestic policies, but there's no denying his effect on Canada as a nation at home in the word.
ELAC
Sometimes personal experiences and observations intersect with public events, and so it is for me arriving home yesterday, after an extended tour with my new Asian employer, on the day of Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s funeral.
A couple hours after getting in I was sharing a few frosties with a friend over at the Flying Beaver, telling my war stories and catching up on the latest doings here. Among the topics were my experiences as a Canadian abroad and, briefly, the value of Pierre Trudeau’s contribution as a Prime Minister of Canada. At the time I was too tired to connect the two topics, but in fact they are a part of a common theme. Since the forum seems to have spread it’s wings lately to encompass more postings that are not just about the nuts and bolts of flying I thought I’d pass along a few of my observations.
When you travel away from home you tend to be quite sensitive to picking up the little hints that your home culture has some existence in the larger world. For me, the existence of Canadian culture in Asia was confirmed, although somewhat dubiously, when the first thing I saw on turning on the television in my hotel room was an interview with Tom Green on the Star World tv channel. Fortunately, that was far from the sum of the Canadian presence I found.
As a pilot you quickly become used to picking out the accents of the different nationalities that you hear as you are flying along. So, one of my surprises was how many Canadian voices I heard making position reports along the airways of Southeast Asia. It’s not just the Air Canada and Canadian flights of course, but the Korean Air, Singapore, EVA, Emirates, and Gulf Air flights, among others, that seemed to feature a Canadian accent on many occasions. Likewise, a quick look in our company’s operations centre, or the crew room of our hotel will almost always find a couple of Canadians hanging around. And, on a Saturday night at the popular bars in the expat part of town you are likely to turn up Canadians by the dozen. On one night I looked around the table and counted no fewer than 8 expat pilots who were ex-Canada 3000, let alone the guys who were ex-Wardair, Nationair, or what have you. Looking up I pointed to a hockey sweater with bar’s name on it, thinking that was an odd sight. Not really, as it turned out the bar’s owner was a Canadian too.
Once I started the line flying portion of my training I found that the Canadian presence extended to most of the places I visited, in one way or another, but most especially in the areas of business and entertainment. While sitting at a bar on Orchard Road in Singapore (with yet another beer in hand!), I could see busses roll by painted head to toe with the logo of Nortel Networks. A quick stroll down the street for a late lunch and I found myself at a restaurant run by Swenson’s Ice Cream (who’da thought an ice cream stand that started in Almonte, Ontario would ever go so far). From there I continued the tour and shortly came across a “Canadian 2 for 1 Pizza” joint. Yup, just like Toronto … 241-0-241. The next stop was the aviation model shop where what should be the first thing to greet me as I walked in the door but a model of a Canada 3000 A330! Picking up a magazine whose cover article was on the Avro Canada Jetliner, I listen to the radio playing in the background. The announcer came on to say that today’s trivia quiz was on Canadian pop music artists. It was beginning to get spooky. The same scenario was repeated as I dropped into the music stores and book stores, where the latest Shania Twain, Celine Dion, et al CD’s and Margaret Atwood’s new release were being promoted front and centre.
Now this “Canadian culture” could not be called dominating or overpowering in its presence. It isn’t. It’s not like the American culture, which has been exported and duplicated so much that you will find a 7-11 on the corner virtually everywhere you go on earth. And, while you could argue that this is not actually Canadian culture, but rather Canadian culture adopted packaged and marketed by the Americans, you would be missing the point. The companies and artists are identifiably Canadian and are recognized in that fashion regardless. The important thing about the Canadian presence is that it is there, clearly and obviously, and accepted by the locals throughout the places I’ve traveled as a part of the international milieu every bit as much as the Italian leather goods shops, the French clothing shops, and all the rest.
The other more subtle, but more meaningful, Canadian presence abroad I found by looking at the crew bags of the flight attendants at my new company. Almost all of the flight attendants are Korean, and if you begin to understand the country and the culture, you will recognize that Korean’s have a very strong sense of patriotism. They are proud of their country, and rightly so after surviving independently for 2000 years while surrounded by larger forces such as China, Japan and Russia and having rebuilt from almost nothing after the Korean War. Given all this, it is very surprising to see that the most popular tag to be found hanging from an FA’s crew bag is … a Canadian flag. Now you don’t see one on every bag or anything like that, but somewhere between one in seven to one in ten would probably be a good bet. With more than 5000 flight attendants, that’s a lot of Canadian flags. It’s not that the FA’s are making any sort of overt political statement, it’s just a way of identifying their baggage and remembering their visit to Canada. What is unique and interesting about this is that you don’t see anything similar to mark their visits to any of the many other countries that the company flies to.
This unconscious compliment on their part is, I think, a symbol of the other part of Canadian culture which we have contributed to the world: the idea of a place where there is natural beauty and the space to enjoy it; where there is personal freedom and the opportunity for growth and; where all the things necessary to have a happy and fulfilling life exist in abundance. These things are here, and without spending a lot of deliberate thought on it, I believe they recognize this and choose to buy a flag to decorate their crew bag with as a way of symbolizing not just our country, but that ideal.
So, where does Trudeau fit in all this? Well, love him or hate him, you would have to admit that above all he was a committed Canadian, proud of our country and determined to see it take its place in the world as a force of positive influence. Quoting from the eulogy of Pierre Trudeau delivered by Jacques Hebert “As he once said, a country can be influential in the world by the size of its heart and the breadth of its mind. This is the role that Canada can play.” The experiences and observations of my recent travels, bear him out. We are a country that is reaching out in the world, in business, in entertainment, in politics and in ideals. And, if there is a face that is connected with our growth as a country at home in the world, I would say that it is his. No-one has done as much to raise the profile of our country abroad. And probably only Lester B. Pearson could claim to have done as much to promote the “Canadian ideal” which is such a large part of the reason for the friendly acceptance that a Canadian citizen seems to get wherever he or she travels. For me, that is an important part of the legacy of his leadership that Pierre Trudeau should be honoured for. Travelling to places where you can see its effects first hand brings a new sense of the value of being Canadian, and the good fortune that permits us to live in one of the best places on earth.
ELAC
Sometimes personal experiences and observations intersect with public events, and so it is for me arriving home yesterday, after an extended tour with my new Asian employer, on the day of Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s funeral.
A couple hours after getting in I was sharing a few frosties with a friend over at the Flying Beaver, telling my war stories and catching up on the latest doings here. Among the topics were my experiences as a Canadian abroad and, briefly, the value of Pierre Trudeau’s contribution as a Prime Minister of Canada. At the time I was too tired to connect the two topics, but in fact they are a part of a common theme. Since the forum seems to have spread it’s wings lately to encompass more postings that are not just about the nuts and bolts of flying I thought I’d pass along a few of my observations.
When you travel away from home you tend to be quite sensitive to picking up the little hints that your home culture has some existence in the larger world. For me, the existence of Canadian culture in Asia was confirmed, although somewhat dubiously, when the first thing I saw on turning on the television in my hotel room was an interview with Tom Green on the Star World tv channel. Fortunately, that was far from the sum of the Canadian presence I found.
As a pilot you quickly become used to picking out the accents of the different nationalities that you hear as you are flying along. So, one of my surprises was how many Canadian voices I heard making position reports along the airways of Southeast Asia. It’s not just the Air Canada and Canadian flights of course, but the Korean Air, Singapore, EVA, Emirates, and Gulf Air flights, among others, that seemed to feature a Canadian accent on many occasions. Likewise, a quick look in our company’s operations centre, or the crew room of our hotel will almost always find a couple of Canadians hanging around. And, on a Saturday night at the popular bars in the expat part of town you are likely to turn up Canadians by the dozen. On one night I looked around the table and counted no fewer than 8 expat pilots who were ex-Canada 3000, let alone the guys who were ex-Wardair, Nationair, or what have you. Looking up I pointed to a hockey sweater with bar’s name on it, thinking that was an odd sight. Not really, as it turned out the bar’s owner was a Canadian too.
Once I started the line flying portion of my training I found that the Canadian presence extended to most of the places I visited, in one way or another, but most especially in the areas of business and entertainment. While sitting at a bar on Orchard Road in Singapore (with yet another beer in hand!), I could see busses roll by painted head to toe with the logo of Nortel Networks. A quick stroll down the street for a late lunch and I found myself at a restaurant run by Swenson’s Ice Cream (who’da thought an ice cream stand that started in Almonte, Ontario would ever go so far). From there I continued the tour and shortly came across a “Canadian 2 for 1 Pizza” joint. Yup, just like Toronto … 241-0-241. The next stop was the aviation model shop where what should be the first thing to greet me as I walked in the door but a model of a Canada 3000 A330! Picking up a magazine whose cover article was on the Avro Canada Jetliner, I listen to the radio playing in the background. The announcer came on to say that today’s trivia quiz was on Canadian pop music artists. It was beginning to get spooky. The same scenario was repeated as I dropped into the music stores and book stores, where the latest Shania Twain, Celine Dion, et al CD’s and Margaret Atwood’s new release were being promoted front and centre.
Now this “Canadian culture” could not be called dominating or overpowering in its presence. It isn’t. It’s not like the American culture, which has been exported and duplicated so much that you will find a 7-11 on the corner virtually everywhere you go on earth. And, while you could argue that this is not actually Canadian culture, but rather Canadian culture adopted packaged and marketed by the Americans, you would be missing the point. The companies and artists are identifiably Canadian and are recognized in that fashion regardless. The important thing about the Canadian presence is that it is there, clearly and obviously, and accepted by the locals throughout the places I’ve traveled as a part of the international milieu every bit as much as the Italian leather goods shops, the French clothing shops, and all the rest.
The other more subtle, but more meaningful, Canadian presence abroad I found by looking at the crew bags of the flight attendants at my new company. Almost all of the flight attendants are Korean, and if you begin to understand the country and the culture, you will recognize that Korean’s have a very strong sense of patriotism. They are proud of their country, and rightly so after surviving independently for 2000 years while surrounded by larger forces such as China, Japan and Russia and having rebuilt from almost nothing after the Korean War. Given all this, it is very surprising to see that the most popular tag to be found hanging from an FA’s crew bag is … a Canadian flag. Now you don’t see one on every bag or anything like that, but somewhere between one in seven to one in ten would probably be a good bet. With more than 5000 flight attendants, that’s a lot of Canadian flags. It’s not that the FA’s are making any sort of overt political statement, it’s just a way of identifying their baggage and remembering their visit to Canada. What is unique and interesting about this is that you don’t see anything similar to mark their visits to any of the many other countries that the company flies to.
This unconscious compliment on their part is, I think, a symbol of the other part of Canadian culture which we have contributed to the world: the idea of a place where there is natural beauty and the space to enjoy it; where there is personal freedom and the opportunity for growth and; where all the things necessary to have a happy and fulfilling life exist in abundance. These things are here, and without spending a lot of deliberate thought on it, I believe they recognize this and choose to buy a flag to decorate their crew bag with as a way of symbolizing not just our country, but that ideal.
So, where does Trudeau fit in all this? Well, love him or hate him, you would have to admit that above all he was a committed Canadian, proud of our country and determined to see it take its place in the world as a force of positive influence. Quoting from the eulogy of Pierre Trudeau delivered by Jacques Hebert “As he once said, a country can be influential in the world by the size of its heart and the breadth of its mind. This is the role that Canada can play.” The experiences and observations of my recent travels, bear him out. We are a country that is reaching out in the world, in business, in entertainment, in politics and in ideals. And, if there is a face that is connected with our growth as a country at home in the world, I would say that it is his. No-one has done as much to raise the profile of our country abroad. And probably only Lester B. Pearson could claim to have done as much to promote the “Canadian ideal” which is such a large part of the reason for the friendly acceptance that a Canadian citizen seems to get wherever he or she travels. For me, that is an important part of the legacy of his leadership that Pierre Trudeau should be honoured for. Travelling to places where you can see its effects first hand brings a new sense of the value of being Canadian, and the good fortune that permits us to live in one of the best places on earth.
