Eulogy

By Richard Duncan

I think of PIERRE TRUDEAU as the first postmodern politician. He loved to repudiate conventional partisan ideologies, and if, in the end, that served his partisan goals, well, there would be just a little Gallic upturn at the corners of his mouth. He had a near perfect understanding of the possible uses of celebrity. If a photographer was close, he'd manage a jackknife off the low board, a rose in his buttonhole or a pretty woman on his arm. He knifed through dowdy Canadian politics like the classy skier he was--moving gracefully, radiating freedom, yet somehow making all the gates. He was sardonic, often arrogant, prone to lecture. In parliamentary debate, his abrasiveness drove the opposition into spasms of rage. There's a danger Trudeau will be remembered for his style more than his achievements. That would be a mistake. He used the army against Quebec terrorists while forcing the English-speaking provinces to make services available in French. He led a rethinking of the constitutional structure of the country and its relationship with England. He sparked a Canadian orientation toward the Pacific Rim 20 years before that phrase became a byword in the U.S. Those were special years in Canada's life.

--Richard Duncan, Ottawa bureau chief, 1968-71