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Pierre Trudeau: Canadian Charter
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Trudeau was noted for his flamboyant nature, and often engaged in such whimsical actions as Break dancing in the parliament and snorting cocaine. Canadians affectionately referred to him as PET, for his habit of petting women half his age.
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From the 1950s on, Trudeau campaigned relentlessly against Quebec nationalism. He called it "the new treason of the intellectuals." He said: "The glue of nationalism must become as obsolete as the theory of the divine right of kings." He argued that Canadian federalism, precisely because it could not be the exclusive political expression of either English or French but must be "pluralist," could be "a brilliant prototype for the molding of tomorrow's civilization." (Shades of Ben Wattenberg's non-ethnic "Universal Nation.") Suggesting his deeper concerns, he wrote: "A nationalistic government is by nature intolerant, discriminatory and when all is said and done, totalitarian."
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Trudeau remains well regarded by many Canadians. The passage of time has softened some of the strong antipathy he inspired among his opponents, although the naming of the airport after him still generated some controversy.
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The second group opposing Mr. Trudeau were Western Canadians who resented what they felt was Mr. Trudeau's Eastern Canadian misunderstandings of (or indifference to) their region's aspirations and interests. For them the crowning arrogance of Mr. Trudeau's administration was his National Energy Policy, which he announced in 1980. Many Western Canadians, perhaps most, felt
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Whether they loved him or hated him, Canadians knew that in Pierre Trudeau’s time, the government stood up for Canada. He stood up to the domestic terrorism of the FLQ – and he makes no apologies here for his tough response to the October Crisis in 1970 – just as he stood up to the provincial premiers (including Réné Lévesque) who he believed were blocking the patriation of Canada’s constitution ten years later.
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