PIERRE ELLIOTT TRUDEAU

1968-1979 and 1980-1984Liberal

“TRUDEAUMANIA”

48 years old, unwed and much younger than most politicians of the time

brought youthfulness and promise of change

TRUDEAU AS MINISTER OF JUSTICE

Wrote, sponsored and saw a bill passed that altered the justice system in Canada: Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69

The act entailed: decriminalizing homosexual relations, legalizing abortion granting women equal pension rights imposing new gun ownership laws criminalizing drunk driving

SOCIAL POLICIES AND CHALLENGES

Trudeau had a vision of Canada becoming a “Just Society”

"I've always dreamt of a society where each person should be able to fulfill himself to the extent of his capabilities as a human being, a society where inhibitions to equality would be eradicated. This means providing individual freedoms, and equality of opportunity, health, and education, and I conceive of politics as a series of decisions to create this society."

• - Pierre Elliott Trudeau

Official Languages Act, 1969

Multiculturalism Act, 1987

Charter of Rights and Freedom, 1982

Official Languages Act, 1969

In 1969 the Canadian gov’t passed the Official Languages Act making English & French both official languages

Central feature of Trudeau’s new federalism

Mandated that the federal government conduct its business & provide government services in English or French

Federal employees who dealt with Canadians ha to speak both languages

Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982

The Charter forms the first 35 sections of the Constitution Act signed by Queen Elizabeth on April 17, 1982

In line with Trudeau’s vision of an independent and nationalist nation that prioritized fundamental human rights and freedoms

Sought to prevent laws that unfairly discriminate or take away human rights

Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1982 Continued

prohibited discrimination against individuals based on: ethnicity, gender, religion or sexuality

the legal protection of the rights of minorities to their language and education in that language

Reception of the Charter

The Charter was received with both excitement and anxiety

People rejoiced with the fact that the charter (as part of the constitution) has the power to expand and protect human rights

Others were wary b/c it would transfer some power from elected officials to the courts Some saw this as anti-democratic

Multiculturalism Act, 1987

Not passed until 1987, three years after Trudeau had resigned as Prime minister & retired from public office

Trudeau’s time as Prime Minister = responsible for the gradual redirection of Canada towards a public policy that encouraged Canadian’s to be loyal citizens to Canada while celebrating their cultural heritage

While Trudeau was Prime Minister the initiative was not given the higher levels of federal funding that it later received

Reaction to the Multiculturalism Initiative

The initiative was seen as a way for Trudeau to deny the demands of the Quebecois who thought of Canada was bi-cultural

Vs.

ECONOMIC POLICIES AND CHALLENGES

Economy began to slow down in early 1970 By mid 1970s – high inflation and high

unemployment rates

Many failed attempts at getting employers and unions to voluntarily agree to wage restrictions

ANTI-INFLATION ACT of OCT 1975

Limited increases in wages and prices

Applied to all federal employees and private companies with 500 or more employees

Farmers and fishers, for example, were exempt from price controls

Increases in wages were capped at 10% in first year, 8% in second year and 6% in third year

Anti-Inflation Act of Oct 1975

PUBLIC REACTION Many were against wage controls because it

limited their earning potential Some workers, esp low-paid, workers in

schools, hospitals and municipal govt, were affected the most

Unions were severely restricted in their ability to bargain for higher pay

Largest organized labour protest in North American history led by Labour Council on Oct 14,

1976 – more than 1 million workers walked off their jobs

RESULT

Wage and price controls removed in 1978 Anti- Inflation Board dissolved in 1979 FAILURE for Trudeau

Canadian Energy Policy

BACKGROUND: 1973 Arab-Israeli war

increase in cost of oil Arab countries

drastically reduced oil exports to US thus Alberta oil became more valuable

Trudeau put tax on Alb’s oil exports to help pay for oil in central and eastern Canada

Canada’s oil reserves had been under control of US corporations thus most of the profits went to US

NDP first proposed idea of creating govt-run oil company

Liberals had minority govt thus NDP held balance of power Petro-Canada was created

Became symbol of Canadian nationalism

National Energy Program Oct 1980

Govt wanted more control over country’s energy

Trudeau declared that Alb’s oil profits must be shared throughout the country

Three Main Objectives:1. Increase Canadian ownership in oil

industry2. Make Canada self-sufficient in oil3. Make more money for fed govt

Alberta’s Reaction

• Believed that NEP was designed to strip their province of its natural wealth

• Premier of Alb, Lougheed, announced that oil shipments to rest of Canada would be cut

• NEP was revised so that Canadian oil price = world price

• NEP left legacy of Albertan toward anger toward Trudeau

Trudeau’s Economic Legacy

Canada's national debt = $18 billion when he took office

$200 billion when he left an increase of 1,100 %

Yes this is true!!!!

POLITICAL POLICIES AND CHALLENGES

IMMIGRATION ACT OF 1976 Came in to effect in 1978 Gave more power to provinces to set their

own immigration laws Established three categories of immigrants:1. Refugee Status –those forced to leave their

country because of invasion, disaster or persecution

2. Family Status – Sponsored by family members

3. Independent Status – “POINTS SYSTEM” assigns points for education, experience, language, adaptability and age

WHITE PAPER – JUNE 1976 In 1969 Trudeau scraped 1876 Indian

Act and proposed June 1969 “White Paper”

INTENTIONS:a. integrate Aboriginal Canadians into the rest

of society, rather than treat them as a separate group

b. advancement of individual rights instead of collective rights of Aboriginal people

c. Responsibility of Aboriginal people services would be on provincial govt

Wanted to eliminate “Indian” as a distinct

legal status in hopes of achieving greater equality

REACTION TO WHITE PAPER many natives opposed these plans creation of National Indian

Brotherhood, leaders claimed they were interested in self-govt not assimilation

Trudeau withdrew White Paper and did very little to deal with this issue until 1973 with Supreme Court decision confirming legality of Aboriginal land claims

THE OCTOBER CRISIS, 1970 1970 the Quebecois

separatism took a violent turn

The FLQ kidnapped British Trade Commissioner, James Cross and later the Quebec Minister of Labour, Pierre Laporte

Trudeau responded by ordering the army to patrol the streets and gov’t buildings in Ottawa

WAR MEASURES ACT Trudeau then invoked the

War Measures Act (1914) suspended civil liberties allowed the police to

search and seize people without a warrant

arrest suspects without being charged with an offence or being brought to trial

RESULT OF THE WAR MEASURES ACT The October Crisis was the first time

that the act had been invoked during peacetime

Hundreds of citizens (mainly Quebecois) were detained by police for suspected FLQ connections

Some were jailed for months without being charged

Pierre Laporte was murdered James cross returned Increased support for political means of

attaining independence

Trudeau’s decision to invoke the act was a great source of controversy

Tommy Douglas, leader of the federal NDP, condemned the actions of the FLQ, yet criticized the government for its response

Likened the War Measures Act to “using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut”

CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982 – REPATRIATION Brought the country’s constitution to

Canada from Britain for the first time Partition refers to making the constitution

only amendable by Canada without the involvement of the British Parliament

April 17, 1982, Queen Elizabeth II declared Canada’s independence from the British Parliament

PIERRE TRUDEAU REPATRIATING THE CONSTITUTION

Canada’s Foreign Policies

FOREIGN POLICIES Relations with USA Relations with the world Peace Initiative Relations with China Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement

(GLWQA) NATO Arctic

CANADA AND US RELATIONS Had no feel for American society,

politics, or popular culture Relations with US Presidents varied

US RELATIONS Cont. Trudeau said the overwhelming

American presence in Canada posed “a danger to our national identity from a cultural, economic and perhaps even military point of view.”

Nixon said “It’s time for us to recognize,” he stated, “that we have very separate identities; that we have significant differences; and that nobody’s interests are furthered when these realities are obscured.”

US RELATIONS Cont. Nixon gov’t tried to pressure

Canada to participate in the Vietnam War peace talks.

condemned the Nixon administration for prolonging the war and refused to help

disliked the US Strategic Defense Initiative, known as “Star Wars.”

Believed that Star Wars would increase arms race

US RELATIONS Cont.Press conference in 1983, expressed

concern over US policy in Central and South America

Complained that US supported Chile, El Salvador, and Guatemala which were countries that abused human rights

1983 – allowed the US to test the accuracy of cruise missiles, without war heads, in northern Alberta

Aboriginals and many environmentalists objected

However courts ruled against them, and the testing continued

CANADA & THE WORLDHis efforts in foreign

affairs gained him worldwide respect

“a modest power”concentrate on its

internal problemsEmbarked on a peace

mission to reduce nuclear tensions between Soviet Union and US

met with little success

CANADA & THE WORLD CONT.Established friendly

relations with Cuba Believed that Canada

should keep its own independent foreign policy

Strongly opposed apartheid in South Africa

1970 – imposed an arms embargo on South America

1977 – stopped all trade assistance programs

CANADA & THE WORLD CONT.

NATO Trudeau believed that all

aspects of Canada’s foreign and defense policy must firstly serve the country’s national interests.

NATO did not do this. 1969, Trudeau made the

decision to withdraw half of the Canadian force from NATO Europe

NATO had grown too large in Canadian peacemaking

ARCTIC Asserted authority over its

Arctic waters because its responsibility for protecting the Arctic environment.

1970, Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act

Anticipated a whole body of vital international law and of practice regarding the regulation of the transport by sea of bulk cargoes.

Article 234 in Law of Sea Convention

To enhance Canada’s control over its arctic waters

PEACE INITIATIVE•August 30, 1983 Soviets shot down Korean Airlines Boeing 747 -10 Canadians died.•Trudeau wanted to take action!•Sept. 21, 1983- went to 23 heads of states and wanted to spread the world that “world leaders had an obligation to urge the superpowers to back off.”•Purpose-reduce Cold War tensions, Reduce nuclear arms by asking help from other countries.

PEACE INITIATIVE CON’T Travelled:

France Netherlands Belgium Italy West Germany United Kingdom United States Soviet Union United Nations in New York

Got support from Premier Zhao Ziyang Result- East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania were

cooperating with Trudeau to end the tensions with Soviet Union- a step towards ending tensions with the USA.

The initiative led Trudeau to receive the Albert Einstein Peace Prize on November 13, 1984.

RELATIONS WITH CHINA Wanted to end China’s isolation from the

rest of the world US opposed this First time in more than 20 years that

China had diplomatic relations in North America

RELATIONS WITH CHINA CONT.

1970- Canada recognized People’s Republic of China (PRC)

Become largest trading partner

Became friends with China without USA’s approval- reduce dependence from USA

GREAT LAKES WATER QULAITY AGREEMENT (GLWQA) Agreement b/w Canada and

USA. Great Lakes shared between

Canada and USA. Drinking water to millions of

Canadians and Americans April 15th, 1972- Trudeau and

Nixon signed the agreement. Purpose- improve

environmental conditions in the Great Lakes.

1978 purpose- "to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem.”

Being revised till today!

WORK CITIED

Kinsman, Jeremy. "Who Is My Neighbour? Trudeau and Foreign Policy." N.p., Aug. 2002. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.

"Great Lakes." Government of Canada, Environment Canada. Environment Canada, n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2013.

"The Canada Page." The Canada Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Apr. 2013. Oliver, Dean F. "Canada and NATO." Canadian War Museum.

Canadian Museum Civilization Corporation, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2013. Young, Oran R. "Canada and the United States in the Arctic: Testing

the Special Relationship." Canada and the United States in the Arctic: Testing the Special Relationship. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2013.

Baldwin, Douglas, and Patricia Baldwin. Prime Ministers of Canada: Trudeau Era.Canada: Library and Archives Canda Cataloguing in Publication, 2007. Print.

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