Pierre Trudeau

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau^[a] (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1984. Between his non-consecutive terms as prime minister, he served as the leader of the Official Opposition from 1979 to 1980.

Trudeau was born and raised in Outremont, Quebec, and studied politics and law. In the 1950s, he rose to prominence as a labour activist in Quebec politics by opposing the conservative Union Nationale government. Trudeau was then an associate professor of law at the Université de Montréal. He was originally part of the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP), but then joined the Liberal Party in 1965, believing that the NDP could not achieve power. That year, he was elected to the House of Commons, quickly being appointed as prime minister Lester B. Pearson's parliamentary secretary. In 1967, he was appointed as minister of justice and attorney general. As minister, Trudeau liberalized divorce and abortion laws and decriminalized homosexuality. Trudeau's outgoing personality and charisma caused a sensation, termed "Trudeaumania", which helped him win the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1968. He then succeeded Pearson and became prime minister of Canada.

From the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, Trudeau dominated the Canadian political scene. After his appointment as prime minister, he won the 1968, 1972, and 1974 elections, before narrowly losing in 1979. He won a fourth election victory shortly afterwards, in 1980, and eventually retired from politics shortly before the 1984 election. Trudeau is the most recent prime minister to win four elections (having won three majority governments and one minority government) and to serve two non-consecutive terms. His tenure of 15 years and 164 days makes him Canada's third-longest-serving prime minister, behind John A. Macdonald and William Lyon Mackenzie King.

As prime minister, Trudeau pioneered official bilingualism and multiculturalism in Canada. During the Quebec sovereignty movement, Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act to suppress the 1970 October Crisis and successfully campaigned against the 1980 Quebec sovereignty-association referendum. In economic policy, he introduced the capital gains tax, enacted the Anti-Inflation Act in response to the 1970s recession, expanded welfare programs, and oversaw major increases in deficit spending. In a bid to move the Liberal Party towards economic nationalism, Trudeau created Petro-Canada and launched the National Energy Program, both of which generated significant controversy in oil-rich Western Canada and led to a rise in what many called "Western alienation". In addition, his government converted Canada to the metric system, established Via Rail, and passed the Access to Information Act and the Canada Health Act. Trudeau pursued an independent path in foreign policy. He reduced alignment with the United States, maintained cordial relations with the Soviet Union, and developed strong ties with China and Cuban leader Fidel Castro, which put him at odds with other Western capitalist nations. He also oversaw Canada's entry into the G7. In 1982, Trudeau patriated the Canadian constitution and established the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, actions which achieved full Canadian sovereignty.

In his retirement, Trudeau practised law at the Montreal law firm of Heenan Blaikie. He also spoke out against the Meech Lake and Charlottetown accords (which proposed granting Quebec certain concessions), arguing they would strengthen Quebec nationalism. Trudeau died in 2000. He is ranked highly among scholars in rankings of Canadian prime ministers, though he remains a divisive figure in Canadian politics. Critics accused him of arrogance, economic mismanagement, and unduly centralizing Canadian decision-making to the detriment of the culture of Quebec and the economy of the Prairies,^[1] while admirers praised what they considered to be the force of his intellect^[2] and his political acumen that maintained national unity throughout the Quebec sovereignty movement. Trudeau's eldest son, Justin Trudeau, served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025, and was the first prime minister of Canada to be the child of a previous prime minister.

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