Albert Campbell District Blog

(Credits: Medium: Television; Program: CBC
Television News Special; Broadcast Date: April 17, 1982; Guest(s): Queen Elizabeth,
Pierre Elliott Trudeau; Host: Peter Mansbridge; Duration: 20:20)

On October 18 and beyond, take a moment to remember
Canada’s fifteenth Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau (full
name: Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves
Elliott Trudeau) (Born: October 18, 1919; Died: September 28, 2000) who served as Prime Minister from
April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979 and from March 3, 1980 to June 29, 1984. Major
achievements during Mr. Trudeau’s time in office included the passage of the
Official Languages Act in 1969, the patriation of the Canadian constitution
from the United Kingdom and the institution of the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms in 1982. More controversial was his government’s
enactment of the War Measures Act during the FLQ/October Crisis in Québec in 1970, the first time that the act had been
invoked in peacetime. As Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Party of
Canada, Mr. Trudeau was a strong federalist and anti-nationalist and battled
with the Québec separatists, using the
federalists’ victory in the 1980
Québec referendum as a springboard to bring
Canada’s Constitution Act home from the United Kingdom. Having said that, many remember Mr. Trudeau’s
commitment to a strong federal government that often clashed with provincial
governments over energy (i.e. National Energy
Program) and the constitution, for example.  Even after retiring from public life, Pierre Trudeau
went public with his opposition to the Meech
Lake Accord and the Charlottetown
Accord as he saw those initiatives as further weakening the powers of the
federal government.

Pierre Trudeau was also a
strong supporter of women in politics. In addition to appointing women to the
Cabinet, he also appointed Muriel McQueen
Fergusson as the first female Speaker of the Senate of Canada, and Jeanne Sauvé as the first woman Speaker of the House
of Commons and as the first female Governor-General of Canada.

Toronto
Public Library collections offer readers access to various biographies about
Mr. Trudeau. Find some of those titles listed in the blog post “Pick
a PM: Prime Ministerial Biographies and Memoirs” that show that his
viewpoints on certain issues evolved over time. What about what Mr. Trudeau had
to say about his life, his record and time in office? Consider the following
titles for borrowing from Toronto Public Library collections:

Against
the current: selected writings 1939-1996 / Pierre Elliott Trudeau; edited
by Gérard Pelletier; new translations by George Tombs, 1996. Book. Adult
Non-Fiction.

Approaches
to politics / Pierre Elliott Trudeau; introduction by Ramsay Cook;
prefatory note by Jacques Hébert; translated by Ivon Owen; with a new foreword
by Ramsay Cook, 2010. (Translation of: A series of articles from Vrai, Feb.
15-July 5, 1958.)

The
essential Trudeau / Pierre Elliott Trudeau; edited by Ron Graham,
1998. Book. Adult Non-Fiction.

Trudeau:
l'essentiel de sa pensée politique / Pierre Elliott Trudeau avec la
collaboration de Ron Graham, 1998. Book. French Adult Non-Fiction.

Memoirs
/ Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1993. Book. Adult Non-Fiction.

Mémoires
politiques / Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1993. Book. French Adult Non-Fiction.

Two
innocents in Red China [Rev. ed.] / Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Jacques
Hébert; with a new introduction and afterword by Alexandre Trudeau; translated
by I.M. Owen, 2007. Book. Adult Non-Fiction.

Read a translated, re-issued account of Trudeau and
his friend, labour lawyer and journalist Jacques Hébert, on their visit to the
People’s Republic of China in 1960 in the midst of the Great Leap Forward.

Consider the following documentary in DVD format:

Pierre
Elliott Trudeau, memoirs = Pierre Elliott Trudeau, memoires [DVD] / Pierre
Elliott Trudeau; produced by Les Productions La Fête Inc. in
association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, La Société Radio-Canada
and with the participation of Société Radio-Canada and Téléfilm Canada ;
written by Terence McKenna ; produced by Rock Demers and Kevin Tierney ;
directed by Brian McKenna; Narrator: Terence McKenna, Jean-François Lépine,
2008.  DVD. English/French dialogue.
Adult Non-Fiction.