Pierre Trudeau Essay Example for Free

capital of South Dakota Trudeau Essay gateway Pierre Trudeau an eternal Canadian body semi policy-makingist could be right richly ascribed for building the strong foundations of federalism in Canada in the turbulent period of the 1970s and the 1980s. He represented the quintessential Canadian dis screenested politician of his times, hobnobbing with the likes of prat Lennon and Yoko Ono while imposing what just about say the draconian state of war Measures Act in 1980 to quell the wafture of terrorism unleashed by the separatists in Quebec. Unafraid to speak and act as per his personal proclivities in a World which was adjusting to the rise of Communism, Trudeau pr howeverted its backlash into Conservatism and ultra nationalism as seen in Quebec, affect the rural area as a whole. His vision of nationalism included acceptance of plurality in a multi ethnical state, represented by introduction of bilingualism in Canada at his behest. The force of his personality supported t he strength of his ideas thereby making him a strong object of worship as well as revulsion. It was thus only when natural that Trudeau would be finding some(prenominal) detractors particularly amongst the Francoph one(a) of Quebec. Pierre Trudeau is seen as a villain in cut Canada due to his vitriolic contrarian personality, his espousal of the liberal ideology representing the virtual counter culture of the 1970s and his strong espousal of federalism which came in direct confrontation with Quebec nationalism.Contrarian PersonalityTrudeaus flamboyant personality, his disrespect for dinner dress authority represented by the famous pirouette behind the Queen of Englands back provided reasons to his detractors to elude down his achievements. Trudeau born in a French Scottish background and educated in the College Jean-de-Brebeuf maybe was well set to be a nationalist as well as a clerical fascist.i Fortunately the vistas of his personality opened as he traveled widely and came i nto intellectual contact with liberals as Jacques Maritain and John Locke.The baffle of these years of travel and study, in France, UK including the London School of Economics and the United States jade an undefinable imprint of political liberalism on his personality. It withal strangely brought him closer to figures as the British lead off band Beatles. His rejection of the Second World fight did not go too well with nationalists and believers who continued to f all told in faith in the values for which the War was being fought. He is also reported to have verbalise at an anti draft rally thus being expelled from the Canadian Officers fosterage School for indiscipline. All this was not suited to suppressear him universally and provided fodder to the French Canadians. After the War he became the leading dissident against the ideas of conservatism from both sides of the Anglo French divide in Canada which was expanding each day. This along with his dabbling in trade unionis m with a redness touch was anathema to the political class of the times. The Marxist leaning was evident with the ban imposed on him in the United States for attending a conference in Moscow. However his extreme liberalism and cantankerous personality led him to even throw a hoodwink ball at the statue of Stalin in the Russian capital much to the chagrin of his hosts. The oddities in his personalities were evident when he continued to criticize the Canadian open-handed party despite being one of its ideological supporters for arming missiles in Canada with nuclear warheads.The wave that swept him to the leadership of the Liberal party in 1968 perplexed m any as a left wing politician with liberal ideas, people were quite skeptical near his approach. Yet the bring for sweeping changes in a nation which was shaping its identity found him principal the Liberals in 1968. The plethoric support of the nations youth also resulted in an antagonism growth against him in the older, more conservative generation. His defiance of the rioting mobs on the Annual Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day parade in 1968 moved umpteen voters to bring him to the centre stage in national politics.The fiery personality was one reason for the large body of antagonists that genuine against the liberal, youthful, defiant and unafraid Prime Minister of a nation in the midst of a crisis of identity in people of two highly dominating cultures, the Anglophonic and Franco phonic, as if the supremacy in Europe post Second World War was being fought in Canada. Pierres invocation of the War Measures Act in the crisis riven month of October 1970, won him detractors even within the Liberal Party, such were the strong reactions that were invoked by his personal leanings and proclivities. Trudeaus detractors frequently called this behavior as a talk over attempt to grab the attention of the media. consequently his personality had a major role to play in Pierres unpopularity amongst the French Can adians.Liberal Counter Culture As a leader of the political and social counter culture in Canada, Trudeau was well poised to invite many detractors. Truadeaus liberal antecedents can be traced back to his days in the University of Montreal as an associate professor of law, where he developed his personal proclivities to support individual rather than state rights. Persuaded by friends, Pierre Trudeau was elected to the Canadian household and soon became a Minister for Justice in the Liberal cabinet of Pearson. The liberal in him cut repealing many conservative laws such as on homosexuality and divorce, earning the ire of the conservatives some of them influential personalities as the Quebec Premier, Daniel Johnson, Jr. His left leanings were a permanent stigma that he had to carry in a westbound region which was attempting to fight Communism through out the World. The contrarian liberal in Trudeau however was seen doing an about turn, when confronted with the worry of separatis t terrorism in October 1980. The firm action to quell terrorism through invocation of the War Measures Act was anathema to liberals, who never seem to have forgiven him. The creation of a multicultural society has been frequently construed as the creation of a British society with a Canadian identity. The other cultures in Canada including the French were deemed to be assimilated within this primarily anglophile culture of the rural.ii This facet has rankled many French liberals, who deem that such a society has not emerged naturally solely some how created by the likes of Trudeau. Some liberals even agitate him of creating stereo types with a view to construct an over arching social organisation of a nationalist governing in the garb of liberalism.iii However Pierres strongest adversary came from the Francophone of Quebec, who saw in him the principal opposition to their movement. During the October Crisis of 1970 when the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) carried out a seri es of kidnappings in the province including the British Trade Consul and the Quebec repulse Minister, Trudeau did not hesitate in invoking the War Measures Act to give the government powers to ensure that the movement was brought beneath check by arrest and detention without a trial. This was an affront to the liberals but Pierre found it good for you(p) policy instead of big(a) in to the demands of radical elements in the country.While it was Trudeau who introduced official bilingualism in Canada, giving equality to French and English in all official services of the Federal government, the Francophiles saw it to be a measure towards a multi cultural society which was seemingly anathema to them. The liberals continued to ignore the accompaniment that Trudeau ensured through his personal charisma and espousal of free ideals that the social transformation in Canada was brought about without causing revolutionary change.iv It is this social dynamism represented by Trudeau that cou ld alter the polity in the country without any civil war.Quebecs crowned headty The final core which created antagonism against Trudeau amongst the French is the immensely emotive issue of Quebecs sovereignty. As a champion of federalism and being in the office of the Prime Minister, Trudeau was able to influence the course by championing the cause of federalism against the call for Quebec nationalism given by Parti Quebecois led by Rene Levesque. While it goes to his credit that he ensured that the issue of sovereignty was resolved through the democratic process, it was his call for a new constitution in case Quebecois stayed with Canada that is said to have gone in prefer of a majority vote for sovereignty.The Quebec nationalists could never forgive Pierre, especially so when his background was French. Moreover many believed that it was due to his forceful oratory, bilingual approach and clever articulation he had caused the mood swing even against an opponent as tough as Rene L evesque. However this was the enduring legacy that he was to provide to Canada at the cost of personal popularity amidst the French in the country. Pierre Trudeau saw in his mission a need to assimilate the French and British aspirations within the Canadian national structure by reducing inter community hostilities and provide the country an effective government.v This antipathy of the French in Canada towards Pierre was to remain and has in some manner emerged as his lasting legacy in Quebec, obfuscating his major achievement in creating a federal structure which prevented fracturing of the nation, which would have proved disastrous for Quebec reducing it to a minority state. The French Canadians ascribe his strong measures by invoking the War Measures Act as central to break up of FLQ.However they frequently ignore, that the other options were barely viable, return of chaos and mayhem of terrorism in the country which would have been detrimental for Canadas political and econom ic growth. The route of democratization provided by him to the French Canadians and a peaceful path to their aspirations is frequently forgotten. Thus these detractors of Trudeau ascribe their defeat by democratic forces to the force of his personality, which may to an extent be partially true, but the birth of great nations has seldom taken place without the efforts of leaders of his caliber.The support that Pierres federalism had been consistently receiving in Quebec was frequently ignored by the French. This was evident with the capture of a majority of seats in the federal elections of 1980 by the Liberal party, though provincially the Parti Quebecois continued to remain dominant. The Quebecois also feel that it was Trudeaus ultra nationalism which destroyed their ambitions of seeking a unique relationship with the mainstream Canadians without needfully renouncing their rights for sovereignty of Quebec.viThe War Measures Act is also seen as going against the principles of democr acy. However Trudeau was a realist liberal with a reality rooted strain of liberalism which decreed that tough times required hard measures and the results achieved of suppression of FLQ in its nascence proved the righteousness of Trudeaus cause. The Constitutional Act of 1982 has also been one of the causes of his downfall amongst the liberals in Quebec.They ascribe their inability to win elections in Quebec after the Act was introduced at the behest of Trudeau. Ironically the bilingualism introduced by Turdeau some how rankled the Francophone as well. It was a sound basis for the creation of a multi cultural society, giving the strongly predominant French voice in Quebec extension to other parts of the country. Here again the aspirations of the Franco phones were not fully met as they found that they could not really use French in all parts of the country as freely as they did in Quebec, thereby they continued to bear a grudge against him in this sphere.Conclusion As the fifteenth Prime Minister of Canada, overlapping the critical period of over a decade from 1968 to 1984, with a brief interregnum of over nine months, Trudeau had an important role to play in the countrys dilemma of seeking a cultural identity. Trudeau was primarily responsible for seminal national charters such as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which preserved Canadian identity and virtually single handedly redefined the national agenda. Above all he provided the moral foundations to the Canadian nation state denoted by LaSelva, roots of which will only kick in to its superior nationalist character as the years go by.viii McCall, Christina. Clarkson, Stephen. Trudeau and Our Times Volume 1 (Paperback). Toronto, McClelland Stewart.1997.ii Legare, E. Canadian Multiculturalism and Aboriginal People Negotiating a Place in the Nation. Identities 1 (4), 1995.iii Larocque, E. Racism Runs Through Canadian Society. In O. McKague (Ed.), Racism in Canada., Saskatoon Fifth House Publishers. 1989.i v P. Russell, Constitutional Odyssey Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People?, 2d ed.Toronto University of Toronto Press. 1993.v R. Cook, Canada, Quebec and the Uses ofNationalism, 2d ed. Toronto McClelland Stewart. 1995.vi Laforest, Guy. Translated by Paul Leduc Browne and Michelle WeinrothTrudeau and the End of a Canadian Dream.Montreal McGill-Queens University Press, 1995.vii Samuel V. LaSelva, The Moral Foundations of Canadian FederalismParadoxes, Achievements and Tragedies of Nationhood. MontrealMcGill-Queens University Press, 1996.BibliographyButler, Rick, Jean-Guy Carrier, eds. The Trudeau decade. Toronto Doubleday Canada, 1979.Butson, Thomas G. Pierre Elliott Trudeau. 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