Pierre Elliot Trudeau Love or Hated Him ?

It seems many people loved or hated Pierre Elliot Trudeau but few just saw him as another leader..

Trudeau was known for many things, good and bad.. ( you decide which )
Legalization of Contraception, Abortion and Lotteries
Liberalized Divorce Laws
Authorized the use of Breathalyzer in Canada
New Gun Ownership Restrictions
National Energy Program ( NEP )
Wage and Price Controls
War Measures Act
National Debt $200 Billion
Repatriation of Constitution ( Canada )
Charter of Rights and Freedom ( Canada )
Bilingualism
Metric System introduction in Canada
Decriminalization of Homosexuality

--

There is no doubt that in his 15 years as Prime Minister was colourful in many ways. Considered one of the Worst Canadian and Greatest Canadians can only mean he was always dominate in Canadian News..

Worst Canadian Newswire
--


Greatest List as per CBC..
3. Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Here can be a thread were you can discuss how you perceived the man..

I liked the guy but didn't particularly like his politics. Love/hate had nothing to do with it, IMO.

I didn't particularly like or hate him as I saw him as just another politician who did a job. I was amazed at how he held power for so long but who shouldn't be.. This doesn't mean I liked his policies.

A man with vision, wisdom, daring (“just watch me”) he said to a reporter during the FLQ CRISES AND OH BOY DID HE MEAN WHAT HE SAID TO THE REPORTER. We all know he did,

He was Canada’s scholar, people who had a hidden hate for him for his nose thumbing to political correctness, they too secretly or openly had a love for the man.

Trudeau in spite of a bad economic time abroad during his time as PM his record stands tall where he single handedly made Canada a respected better place in the eyes of the world, as well did not leave the Liberals in the same level Mulroney Disintegrated the Tory party for over 13 years.

Trudeau protected societal inclusiveness, as Homosexuality is an issue respected under the human rights blanket by many good Canadians.

As for the $200 Billion federal dept the country inherited during Pierre Elliott Trudeau, looking at the conservative record presently, as we all know the federal dept today has reached to a WHAPPING $500 Billion. The red ink era is alive and well in Canada once again, thanks to the Tory bad economic management,

Last edited by Socrates the Greek; Nov 23rd, 2009 at 05:28 PM..

He did several things I liked, in no particular order.
He gave somebody the finger while on a passenger train in BC.
He used the right method to fight inflation even though it was not well liked by many.
When he threatened to use the military on Canadian soil he meant just that, confirmed by those now famous words, "Just watch me."
Petro Can should have been taken further by later leaders.

The worst thing Trudeau did (by far) was his use of enabling legislation. He didn't invent it but he sure perfected it. Every politician in Canada has followed his lead and the country is worse off today because of it.

What I liked about him was that he had an idea of the kind of country he thought Canada should be, and he forged ahead to go there.

Mulroney did, as well.

But the rest? The only thing Chetien wanted was to stay in power. Campbell wanted something, god knows what. Turner wanted power. Clark wanted respect. Martin wanted to please his father's memory by becoming the PM his father never got to be. Harper? Not sure what he wants, but he has no vision.

Trudeau had a vision, a just society, and he worked at it. Mulroney's vision was more ecomonics, and he made it happen.

That's what makes those two tower above the rest. Love them or hate them, they had an idea, and worked for it.

Francis, I am totally with Socrates on this one. You are right in a way, people either loved him or hated him, there was no in between.

Anyway, he is universally loved and admired in Ontario and Quebec. He had an approval rating in the 60s to the end (the last poll I have seen). In my opinion, he will go down as the greatest PM ever, mainly because of the work he did in regard to constitution and the Charter. The Charter changed the shape of Canadian society in a fundamental manner.

Equal rights for minorities did not depend upon the whims of the majority any more (as they do in USA), they were guaranteed by the Charter. It paved the way for legalization of abortion, of gay marriage etc.

Today Canada is one of the most tolerant, most progressive country in the world. A lot of credit goes to Canadians of course. But credit also goes to Trudeau, for facilitating its happening.

Truly a remarkable man and easily the greatest PM ever.

To me I remember in my mind is that Trudeau never let a cabinet minister sit in power with questions about his integrity.. He would always ask them to step aside until their name was cleared and would always put them back if they were exonerated..

Turdeau was ok, I guess. Nothing to idolize, though, as the newsmedia and a few others did when he died.
Didn't like the debt he added, but then Bullroney was good for that, too. I respected J. PierreY. E. Trudeau's intelligence and liked him a bit because he spoke what he thought without making bones about it.That's more than I can say for his successors with the exception of the thuggish crook, ChRETIeN.

I didn't hate the guy nor did I love him. Kind of in the middle somewhere, I suppose.

Nope.

Quote:

The hospital document scandal: In January of 1978, Solicitor General Francis Fox was forced to resign from Pierre Trudeau's Liberal cabinet after he was found to have helped procure an abortion for a woman with whom he had had an affair. Fox had signed the woman's husband's name on a hospital document – not a terribly acceptable action on the part of the country's top law enforcer.

Fox was back in cabinet two years later, however, and stayed there until he was defeated in the 1984 election. He returned to practising law, became an executive with Rogers Wireless Communications, and eventually returned to the backrooms of politics, serving as current Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin's principal secretary through most of 2004.

When Trudeau became prime minister i was ecstatic. Before that we had had nothing but minority governments since the second world war. Tweedledum and tweedledee, Pearson and Diefenbaker etc., Neither one would support anything unless he thought of it. Trudeau had the opportunity and the power to do anything he wanted but somehow he missed what the people wanted. Trudeau was popular around the world but I was disappointed in him.

I remember him giving B.C. the finger. But from the beginning all we ever got from Ontario and Quebec has been the shaft where the sun don't shine. While I do not like many of the things he did I admit that he was one of the few politicians that did what he said he would regardless of what anyone outside of Quebec thought.

Is that the only one I missed in 15 years Colpy ?

I saw you didn't praise me for putting "New Gun Ownership Restrictions" in there ??

Get it right. Trudeau gave the finger to a bunch of rowdies who gave him the finger. He didn't give B.C. the finger.

lol To some people him giving the finger in BC is close enough to giving BC the finger. IMO, the issue was overblown. I give Ottawa the bird about every other day.

"Love" and "Hate" are a little extreme for a politician unless we are talking about Miomar Khadaffy or IdI Amin. Trudeau was full of himself, thought he was God's gift to women and because a lot of them thought so too he became Prime Minister. Intellectually he was fairly clever in a "book educated" way. As for "giving B.C. the finger" L.Gilbert has it about right. He had very little financial savvy, just spend spend spend and let someone else pay the bills. His Charter should have been deposited where the sun don't shine, he just gave a bunch of rights to people who weren't responsible enough to handle the rights. And then there was the metric bullsh*t, well that's another thread .......LOL

I remember we saw a performance of ‘The Gondoliers’ (a Gilbert and Sullivan opera) at the Stratford Festival (to those not from Ontario, we have Stratford Festival every year, in a town called Stratford, situated on a river called Avon) a few years ago.

In that they had changed the lyrics of one song completely and turned it into a song about Trudeau (a high compliment indeed). The music was the same as the original song, and they kept many words the same (e.g. the original song had the same first four lines).

But here is the song about Pierre Trudeau. Enjoy.

There lived a king as I have been told
In wonder working days of old
When hearts were twice as good as gold
And twenty times as mellow

Charisma triumphed in his face
Though arrogant he found a place
For all the loving human race
And every voting fellow

When new elections gave him pause
He fought for every upright cause
And promised to reform the laws
For most of them were shoddy

Most franchised voters changed their hats
The Tories and New Democrats
Were blinded by his smart cravat
And his brilliant education

His new regime had sunlit days
Society was just they say
And all rushed off without delay
For his coronation

New roads were built, construction spread
The state was banished form the bed
And paradise lay just ahead
Or so said all his minions

As years went by his charms went down
His smile replaced by shrug and frown
Still he kept his golden crown
With the help of eastern voters

Recessions came, depressions went
Interest rates rose nineteen percent
And scandals racked his government
But still he retained promoters

Some said they thought he would hear the call
To quit his throne for Montreal
Yet he stood fast, withstood them all
Surprising everybody

The end is easily foretold
When every novelty grows old
All that glitters is not gold
It’s the same old story

When party leaders promise much
You should suspect their friendly touch
And don’t forget your treat is Dutch
It all costs everybody

In short whatever king you see
Be sure to trace his family tree
For Prime Ministers are bourgeoisie
And just like anybody

Now that is plain as plain can be
To this conclusion you will agree
That Prime ministers are bourgeoisie
And just like anybody

Thanks for the info Joey. Most people, not from the center of the universe, have never heard of Stratford

I believe they did something similar in The Mikado, and if I recall, he gives a cowd the finger...it was hilarious.

There's a lovely B and B my wife and I stayed at, run by a couple of gay men who collect player pianos, every morning they'd bake doughnuts and muffins.

I've discovered that the best B and Bs are typically run by gay men.

Are you implying that the Tories are running the world economy? Canada is in much better shape than the rest of the world economically, thanks to the Tories.

You haven't changed your tune a bit while you were away...

The economy is in good shape because Paul Martin left it that way but Harpo has managed to put us in the red again. Are you wearing rose coloured glasses?

Canada is in much better shape than the rest of the world economically, thanks to the Tories.

You are not being quite fair or accurate Risus. It was the Tories who left the Liberals with a debt in excess of $700 billion and it was Paul Martin of the Liberals who scraped and clawed his way back to about $450 billion. I don't fault Harper as he has much tougher economic times to contend with than the Liberals did, but he doesn't deserve all the credit either for our present financial position. Let's just say he's doing Okay considering and let it go at that.

Another reason we are doing comparatively OK is the stellar performance of Canadian banks. Just today BMO reported a healthy profit, up from last year. American banks needed huge bailouts, If our banks had been in the ditch like American banks were, the crises here probably would have been fully as bad as that in USA.

"Another reason we are doing comparatively OK is the stellar performance of Canadian banks. Just today BMO reported a healthy profit, up from last year."- I'm not completely sure what that means. If the share holders are doing well, then that's good. If doing well just means C.E.O.s are stuffing their pockets that's bad.

Here, here JLM. I do agree with you.

My family was firmly in the Liberal camp when I was growing up, yet Dad thought Trudeau was a 'pansy' and it really pissed him off that he had to vote for a party that had chosen this 'fellow' as its leader.

I first got to see him during my teens when he came through Regina. I was smitten as was nearly every other teenage girl I knew. I thought he was soooo cool, suave, debonair and charming.

I am much older and wiser now, but I still give PET credit for many of the changes he brought while in power.

I don't hate him nor love him. I give credit where it is due.

But then, that's just my opinion.

'a pansy'

Well, at least that's a different reason to hate him.

Just a sample of my Dad's 'flowery' language.