Abstract
What is the Canada today? What are its values? What is its identity? What is political culture? What are its gaps? What is a Canadian? It is impossible to answer these questions without referring to the man who has deeply permeated the brand Canada: Pierre Elliot Trudeau. Born in Montréal in 1919 to a Quebec father and a mother of Scottish descent, it was a Professor of law at the University de Montréal, before entering politics alongside the Liberal Party of Canada. Elected, Member of Parliament in 1965, succeeding Lester Pearson at the posts of Prime Minister and head of the Liberal Party of Canada in 1968, positions he held until 1984 (with a brief interlude of six months between 1979 and 1980). When he retired from political life, he leaves a strong legacy, based on a long-term vision of what he desired for his country. A strong legacy, of course, but a legacy that is not consistent... The young federal Liberals proclaim in a communication campaign that "we are all children of the Charter" while, for many, he is the lead of the national agony faced by the Canada and Quebec.
What is the balance to be drawn, that we must take, "Trudeau years"? We are not going to judge his action under the partisan gaze of an ideology, when federalist and separatist, nor to present all aspects of its mandate comprehensive or chronological, but rather to draw objective conclusions on the legacy of Trudeau in Canada in general, and in Quebec in particular. Hence in this paper, we conducted Trudeau's political and social balance in the Canada (I), then we look at the transformation of the institutional and national issues (II), to ask ourselves what is the inheritance, in 2006, "Trudeau years" (III).
