|
Born on October 18, 1919, Montréal,
Quebec
Died on September 28, 2000, Montréal, Quebec
Buried at Saint-Rémi Cemetery, Saint-Rémi, Quebec
© Les Productions La Fête
For more than three decades, Pierre Trudeau fascinated and challenged
Canadians with his vigorous intellect and passion for public debate.
His desire to paddle against the current made him no stranger
to controversy, stimulating friend and foe alike and leaving few
indifferent to his presence.
© Jean Demers |
Trudeau was a widely- travelled intellectual when he entered
politics in 1963. Five years later, public enthusiasm for his
bilingual charm and unconventional style gener- ated "Trudeaumania,"
which carried him to the leadership of the Liberal Party and the
Prime Minister's Office. Never wavering from his vision of Canada
as a strong united federation with equal- ity among provinces
and guaranteed rights for indiv- iduals, Trudeau was deter- mined
to secure a full and equal place for all Canadians in a bilingual,
multicultural Canada. He fought a long contest against the ideas
of the Parti Québécois, which formed Quebec's provincial
government in 1976, and he won a decisive victory in the 1980
referendum in Quebec.
Reduced to a minority in Parliament in 1972, the Liberals regained
a majority in 1974. In 1979, battered by inflation and other economic
troubles, they narrowly lost to Joe Clark's Conservatives. Trudeau
briefly retired, but he returned to power in the 1980 election.
He then attained a previously elusive goal, the repatriation of
Canada's constitution and the entrenchment of the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, before retiring in 1984.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau's declaration that "Canada must be a just
society" influenced a generation, and his death inspired a huge
outpouring of grief and tribute. He was interred at Saint-Remi,
Quebec.
Address of cemetery: Rue St-André, Saint-Rémi, QC
Location map
PDF Version (1.18 Mb)
|
