Vancouver Province
for October 13, 2000

Well, now, it’s time to win one for the Gipper. Jean Chretien, putting his own spin on the mood of the country as it expressed sorrow at Pierre Trudeau’s death, aims to ride his spirit to a resounding victory in November. After all, wasn’t Mr Trudeau "our greatest prime minister"?

Pardon me, but I need reminding of this great Trudeau record Mr Chretien adopts as his special heritage. You will, I know, forgive what might appear to be churlishness I must make the effort to remind myself how much I owe to Mr Trudeau.

He’s been praised as a man whose life was committed to human rights. But wasn’t it he who put the entire country under martial law, thus creating a police state that saw nearly 500 people held without charge, without bail, and without even the ability to contact their families much less their lawyers? And wasn’t there to be a full explanation – as yet undisclosed 30 years later - of the tremendous revolutionary threat in Quebec? And how come no viable revolutionary organization was ever uncovered and how come the police had never heard about one? And why was the Act extended to cover all provinces? And – correct me if I’m wrong – wasn’t it Mr Trudeau who so loved Fidel Castro, a man condemned by Amnesty International as one of the more brutal oppressors of our time? And wasn’t it Trudeau who embraced the oppressive communist regime in China?

Mr Trudeau is seen, of course, as a great supporter of the Canadian constitution. But was it not the same Pierre Trudeau who brought in the National Energy Policy which usurped provincial rights over natural resources and created a constitutional crisis that lingers to this day? Is this not the same man who wanted to bring the constitution from Westminster without the consent of the provinces and was only stopped by the Supreme Court of Canada?

And, of course, there was Pierre Trudeau the parliamentarian. The same Pierre Trudeau who said "fifty yards off Parliament Hill, MPs are nobodies?" The man who politicized the Privy Council office and began the practice of running the country, surrounded by political hacks, out of the Prime Minister’s Office? And is this not the same man who, contrary to much sound advice, took parliament from being supreme to where it’s laws are subjected to review by nine aging, tenured lawyers who are neither selected by, nor responsible to, the public?

Perhaps I missed something along the way here but was not this late, great, prime minister the man who asked western farmers if they expected him to sell their wheat for them overlooking, or perhaps not knowing, that this was in fact his obligation? The same late, great one who gave British Columbians the finger salute while riding the Governor-General’s private train back to Ottawa?

Was not Pierre Trudeau, the spirit which guides the Chretien Liberals, the man who took a country with a balanced budget and a surplus to one with a $400 million dollar deficit, while showing no interest in, much less inclination to, bringing order to this financial chaos?

Now I truly hesitate to raise Meech Lake and Charlottetown because on these twinned issues I supported, enthusiastically, the positions taken by Mr Trudeau. But Mr Chretien, while alleging he is Mr Trudeau’s disciple, brought in a Parliamentary motion which recognized Quebec’s entitlement to a "distinct society" designation and a veto over constitutional change – the very notions Meech Lake and Charlottetown embodied and Mr Trudeau held in utter contempt. Will Mr Trudeau’s spirit, if returned to 24 Sussex Drive, repeal this motion?

Is it just possible that Jean Chretien, invoking the ghost of Pierre Trudeau, is misreading the Canadian public? Could it be that Canadians were nostalgic not for the rule of Mr Trudeau but the unfulfilled dreams he encouraged? Might not Canadians, with his death, see not the hated Trudeau of domestic politics but the admired Trudeau of international fame? Is it perhaps that Canadians, overlooking the reality, long for the style that set him so clearly apart from our other leaders?

If that’s the case, Mr Chretien might tread with care because the man on the scene today who best conjures up images of charisma and style – and dreams of a new Canada with reformed institutions - is scarcely himself but a new kid on the block named Stockwell Day.