During the prime of his life, Trudeau was seen as a man of flavor. He wore the best clothes, drove the best cars, and was seen with the biggest names. He dated Barbara Streisand, Margot Kidder, and classical guitarist Liona Boyd. He could be seen turning pirouettes behind the Queen’s back in Buckingham Palace. Trudeau made the arena of politics fashionable for the new Sixties generation. But, with all the things he had done, and all the people he had met, he found his wife, 22-year-old Margaret Sinclair, at the age of 52.

Within his lifetime, Trudeau had traveled all over the world. He started his post-secondary education at the Jean de Brebeuf College, a Jesuit institution. There he would master the philosophy that would guide him through life. He called it “Reason Over Passion,” a motto that he used for the rest of his life to show his calmness under fire and how to keep his temper under control. Afterwards, Trudeau gained a Law degree from the University of Montreal, a

What he considered one of the most important pieces of legislation he would sign during his tenure was the Official Languages Act of 1969. Perhaps the most striking part of his address to Canadian Parliament was this:

During the February (1968) meeting the Constitutional Conference reached the following consensus on language rights:

Trudeau made himself accessible to the people of Canada. He quickly became friends with the Canadian media man, Marshall McLuhan. Their bond would last two decades. McLuhan made Trudeau a common figure in the daily lives of all the people. He made Trudeau’s image work for the television audience. Until the 1960’s – John F. Kennedy first demonstrated it with his win over an earnest but sweaty Richard Nixon- politics was perceived as exclusionary in Canada, or as McLuhan would have said, “hot.”(O’Malley) Trudeau changed the face Canadian politics, making it readily available for the people to understand and exciting.

A large piece of legislation was the Implementation of War Measure Act of 1970. This act was used as an emergency legislation in the light of the kidnapping of British diplomat James Cross and a Quebec Cabinet minister Pierre Laporte by the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ). This act had extraordinary powers of arrest, censorship and detention. Pierre Laporte was murdered by his captors and controversy continued about the implementation of the act with respect of the liberal democratic ways of Quebec and Canada as a whole.

Some topics in this essay:
Pierre Trudeau, Charter Rights, Elliott Trudeau, Languages Act, Joe Clark, Gerard Pelletier, Bilingualism Biculturalism, Board Minority, Canada McLuhan, Margaret Sinclair, constitution act, prime minister, charter rights, official languages act, pierre trudeau, western provinces, act 1982, languages act, · appointed, canadian charter, constitution act 1982, canadian charter rights, official languages, 1982 constitution act, progressive conservative party,