October 18, 1999
Trudeau of Our Times - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
Arrogant. Determined. Respected. Hated. Trailblazer. Maverick. Those six words, somehow accurately describe the colourful life of one of our country’s most remarkable personalities of this century, former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. As he turns 80, this Monday, he resurfaces to the public eye for another bow, another encore, a boo from the public, and/or another once-over. Why is he such a big deal? Well, besides the fact he’s a former PM, is that he’s had such an impact over the office and has forever changed our laws, our processes, our traditions, inevitably our country. Since the dawn of Trudeaumainia in the late 1960’s, he’s called for a just society, and I wonder if it is at all just. His installation of the Charter Of Rights And Freedoms, is blamed for much of the consternation in our legal system; The appeasement of Quebec and the utter disregard of the West inspired governments after him, thus exists today. It’s no secret that he calculated his election wins to just winning in Ontario and Quebec, and calling everyone else, ‘a bunch of nobodies.’
Politically, he was the leader of the Liberal Party for almost 18 years, and although I detest the party, and most of its members, I hold Mr. Trudeau with the highest level of deference, for those six reasons at the top of this piece. He was arrogant, sure, but for reason. People dump on Jean Chrétien today, because he’s dumpable, and because he let the buggers in the media get away with it. Trudeau has been known to give ‘the finger’ affectionately to a bunch of school children, to mouth the words ‘fuck off’ to a nosy reporter and publicly kick a journalist, repeatedly, and smile with that charm that made Canadian girls swoon in 1968. He was a maverick. He refused to do the traditional things that traditional politicians do when campaigning. He hated kissing babies, “but didn’t mind kissing their mothers. I didn’t slap people’s back, or other parts of their anatomy.” He did a naughty pirouette behind the Queen and asked her point-blank how she ate chicken legs.
Craig Oliver’s brilliant profile of Trudeau and our fascination with him, which aired last Friday on CTV, hit the nail on the head. He’s a guy who’s impact is lasting, but why the hell can’t we shake him out of our collective consciousness? The piece entitled, Pierre Trudeau: A Canadian Affair, chronicled our (our, as in country’s) falling in love with him, within that hysteria called Trudeaumania in 1968. And we fell out of love, eventually divorcing him, but we begged him to come back. He’s impacted our country in more ways than one, and I don’t think we’ll get a Prime Minister with his kind of class, crass, charisma and charm, now or in the future. The ‘fuddle duddle’ aside, Gordon Gibson says, “The country voted for a man who didn’t really exist, that we only wished existed.”
Whether the Trudeau we wanted existed, we got at a leader of many colours. We got a man who’s the only PM I can think of who’s dated Barbra Striesand or went skinny-dipping with Liona Boyd. Although he’s also capricious, aloof and demanding; he’s so fascinating, even now. In Gillian Cosgrove’s column in this Saturday’s National Post, she recounts what she calls the best line about Trudeau. It’s what Marshall McLuhan, the media guru, said about Trudeau, “It’s simple (why he stayed in power for so long). He has a French name. He thinks like an Englishman and he looks like an Indian. We all feel very guilty about the Indians here in Canada.” Prime Minister Chretien once wrote me about Trudeau and said, “I truly enjoyed working with him and in his cabinet. He served Canada with distinction. I believe he will be remembered as one of our great Prime Ministers.” Nicley put, and true. That’s the Trudeau of our times, and the one for all time.
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