Figures of the Empire: Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000)
Born in Montreal to a well to do businessman, Pierre Trudeau’s political journey began during his formative years in a Quebec Jesuit school. While many of his peers embraced the clerical fascism espoused in the Lusophone world, Trudeau took on the role that would define his life: that of the rebel. Trudeau would further his education first at the University of Montreal and later at New England’s Harvard, where Trudeau’s strong beliefs in religious freedom and social liberalism were born. His education was briefly interrupted by his compulsory service in the Royal Canadian Militia during the Second World War, though Trudeau never saw combat and remained stationed in Quebec for the entirety of 1943-1945.
In the late 1940s, Trudeau returned to Canada and worked as a labour lawyer, where his populist politics and intellectual demeanor made him a popular figure. A fierce opponent of nationalism, Trudeau first sought elected office in the 1958 Canadian federal election, in which he stood in the constituency of Mount Royal as a Liberal candidate. He was defeated, but his ties to the Liberal Party remained strong and he strongly urged the party to adopt a more social democratic posture. Trudeau would work as an associate professor of law at the Université de Montréal, and despite criticism of both federal leader Lester B. Pearson and imperial leader Adlai Stevenson II he would remain a member of the Liberals.
In 1963, Trudeau again sought election in Mount Royal and was narrowly elected over incumbent Alan Macnaughton. In the House, he became known for his debating skills and was a well renowned orator. Serving as the First Minister's parliamentary secretary until 1967, Turdeau spent much of his time travelling throughout the Empire, representing Canada at various meetings and conferences. In 1967 he was appoainted to the Pearson cabinet as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, and championed the landmark Sexual Offences Act which made Canada the second part of the Empire to decriminalise homosexual acts between consenting adults. In the 1968 leadership election Trudeau was a front-runner and won the election on the third ballot over rivals Robert Winters and Paul Hellyer, despite opposition from some in the party over his radical views. Trudeau was sworn in on 20 April 1968 as the 18th First Minister of the Dominion of Canada.
Trudeau's tenure as First Minister saw the implementation of regional development programs and the expansion of the welfare state across Canada. Perhaps his most enduring legacy would be the implementation of trilingualism, which made French, English and Russian co-equal official languages of the federal government. An early election in 1970 saw the United Democratic Federation returned with an increased majority, attributed to an unprecedented wave of personal popularity called "Trudeaumania". The events of the October Crisis later that same year were a low point for the Trudeau government, although the First Minister himself was praised for his handling of the crisis, and had the effect of drawing Francophone Canada closer to the enfolding Louisiana Troubles. The 1972 election resulted in a reduced majority for the UDF, but Trudeau remained on as First Minister.
By 1975 Trudeau became a popular figure across the Empire, especially amongst youth, for his outspoken support for progressive causes. In some areas (such as decriminalising homosexuality), Trudeau had proven himself to be ahead of the curb of his Social Democratic and Progressive-aligned counterparts. In late 1974 when Jo Grimond announced his intention to resign as leader of the Alliance of Imperial Liberals and Reformists, Trudeau immediately announced his candidacy as Imperial leader despite not being a member of the Imperial Parliament. "Trudeaumania" swept the party and on 12 January 1975 Trudeau was elected leader on the first ballot at the Liberal National Convention held in Boston, Massachusetts over his closest rival Sir Walter Mondale of Missouri. Trudeau resigned as First Minister and leader of the Canadian Liberals the same day, replaced by close friend Vilyam Egan of Alaska, the first Russophone First Minister. Trudeau was made a Knight of the Order of the Maple Leaf by Egan in July 1975.
Trudeau remained outside the Imperial Parliament until the October 1975 by-election in Montréal Sud, triggered when his friend Gérard Pelletier resigned to allow Trudeau to enter parliament. Despite the Liberals sitting in third place in the House, Trudeau made his presence known and challenged both the Castle government and the Powell opposition on almost every issue. By 1976, the malaise of the mid-seventies had resulted in the Social Democratic Party’s rapid decrease in popularity. The Liberals had displaced the party among the youth, while the rank and file union member base insisted on a more conservative approach to issues such as abortion, gay rights, and handling draft dodgers. Facing the polarising Enoch Powell and an unpopular Barbara Castle at the polls, Trudeau was quick to assert himself as the leading candidate for the Premiership. His charisma, young family, and outspoken views revitalized the Liberal Party, which won the election as a result.
Trudeau’s election marked a shift in British politics, with the new Prime Minister eschewing the tradition of “first among equals” to take a more “presidential” approach to politics that was later elaborated on further by the Thatcher and both Bush governments. Stepping through the doors of #10, Trudeau set out to work to transform the Empire and the Commonwealth into a “community of communities.”
Yet for all of the grandiose idealism, the government got off to a rocky start. It began with a u-turn on wage and price controls, which had been implemented by the Kirk/Castle governments and vigorously opposed by Trudeau. He also took a hardline approach to radical separatist groups, sending in troops and forcing the Louisianan First Minister’s hand to take a firmer stance against the rising Cajun Republican Army. The paramilitary group began a bombing campaign in response to Trudeau’s security policies and use of the army, and the number of attacks seemed ceaseless within a short amount of time.
Opposed to austerity policies, Trudeau began running large deficits which did little in the way of lowering inflation while simultaneously easing the burdens faced by the citizens of the Empire. The budget became a polarising issue year after year under Trudeau, and his poll numbers by late 1977 crumbled. The global energy crisis grew worse after the Arab states placed an embargo on the Empire for her support of the Greeks during and after the Cypriot crisis of 1974, forcing Trudeau to reverse his prior support for energy diversity and instead allow for expanded drilling across the Home Nations. A tariff was slapped on imported oil in 1978 to encourage even greater drilling, though this only led to rising prices and did little to ease the long lines for the limited amount of gas that was all too often unavailable. It also greatly alienated the Texans, close allies who were a major exporter of oil to the Empire as well, which brought Trudeau under fire.
At the same time, the Conservatives elected a new leader to replace the stagnant Enoch Powell; Flora MacDonald, a popular New England MIP, took over as leader of the opposition. Rejecting the nationalist path of Powell, the opposition suddenly adopted Trudeau’s approach to the Empire, eroding his support among the youth, many of whom had already soured on him for his deployment of troops to Louisiana.
The Progressives, led by Birch Bayh, had held Trudeau in power in a stabile coalition agreement until 1979, when Bayh and Trudeau broke over further wages for coal miners. While Bayh sought an increase, Trudeau viewed their threats to strike as undermining the nation at a fragile moment in time, stridently opposing all of their demands as a result of the very question of such an action. The two clashed on the issue, and the coalition crumbled as a result.
The 1979 election was a brutal affair for Trudeau; his now estranged wife Margaret was photographed dancing at the most elite New York nightclubs while many citizens struggled, scrimped, and saved as inflation and high gas prices eroded away their savings. The middle class embraced Flora MacDonald, who ran as a bread and butter populist against Trudeau. Meanwhile, Trudeau’s antics had grown stale; photographs such as that of him sliding down the banister at Buckingham Palace simply no longer packed the same punch among the public, nor did the press further embrace him. The election resulted in the Tories having the greatest number of seats, and thus, Trudeau gave way to Flora MacDonald to form her own ill-fated government.
Resigning from the party leadership the same day as the election, passing it to future Prime Minister James Carter, Trudeau returned to the backbenches and remained in the House until the 1984 election. In Carter's resignation honours he was granted the hereditary title of
Earl of Saint-Remi although he declined a nomination by Thatcher to sit in the Imperial Council; he remained an active Liberal voice until his death in 2000, and ardent supporter of his beloved party until the bitter end.
Credit to
@LeinadB93 for the bulk of this write-up.
