The Champions: Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Rene Levesque Pierre Trudeau (1919-2000) is one of Canada's best known political figures. He served as prime minister of Canada from 1968-79 and 1980-84, and his achievements include the patriation of the Canadian constitution, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982), and the defeat of Quebec separatists in the 1980 referendum. He is also a controversial figure: Claire Hoy captured the competing and contradictory images associated with his public portrait when he described him as "the most maddening, pleasing, perplexing, loved, hated, worshipped, vilified, vulgar, sophisticated, stubborn, passionate, obnoxious, arrogant, frivolous, brilliant politician this country has ever produced." Rene Levesque (1922-1987) was a journalist, a Liberal Cabinet minister in the Lesage government during Quebec's "Quiet Revolution," founder of the Parti Quebecois political party, and premier of Quebec from 1976-1985. His separatist vision clashed with that of the federalist Pierre Trudeau. Their struggle was epic - both were champions of their respective causes, and their competing dreams shaped contemporary Canadian history in profound ways. Back to Lecture Outline

* Lecture Notes *

* POWERPOINT SLIDES *

Reading:

John English, Trudeau, Pierre Elliott, Dictionary of Canadian Biography

or Bliss, Right Honourable Men, ch.9.

Rene Levesque's Separatist Fight. Available online at the CBC archives at:

http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-74-870/people/rene_levesque/

Additional Sources:

Bergeron, Gerard. Notre miroir a deux faces: Trudeau-Levesque. Montreal: Québec/Amérique, 1985.

The Champions. Parts 1-3. Award winning National Film Board of Canada written, narrated and directed by Donald Brittain. 1986.

Trudeau Memoirs. Volumes 1-3. Documentary produced by Les Productions La Fete in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, la Societe Radio-Canada, and Telefilm Canada.

Recent books on Trudeau include:

Cook, Ramsay. The teeth of time: remembering Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006.

English, John. Citizen of the World: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Volume One: 1919-1968. Toronto: Random House, 2006. The second volume of this "authorized" biography is forthcoming.

English, John, Richard Gwyn, and P.W. Lackenbauer, eds. The Hidden Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Faith and Politics in the Balance. Ottawa: Novalis, 2004.

Nemni, Max and Monique. Young Trudeau: Son of Quebec, Father of Canada, 1919-1944. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2006.

Southam, Nancy. Pierre : colleagues and friends talk about the Trudeau they knew. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2005.

Further Reading on Trudeau

Axworthy, Thomas S. and Pierre Elliott Trudeau, eds. Towards a Just Society: The Trudeau Years. Markham, ON: Viking, 1990.

Bélanger, André-J. Ruptures et constantes : quatre idéologies du Québec en éclatement : La Relève, la JEC, Cité libre, Parti pris. Montréal : Hurtubise HMH, 1977.

Brimelow, Peter. The Patriot Game: National Dreams and Political Realities. Toronto: Key Porter, 1986.

Brunelle, Dorval. Les Trois colombes: essai. Montréal : VLB, 1985.

Butler, Rick and Jean-Guy Carrier, eds. The Trudeau Decade. Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1979.

Chambers, Stuart. “Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Bill C-150: A Rational Approach to Homosexual Acts, 1967-1969.” M.A. thesis, University of Ottawa, 2002.

Christiano, Kevin J. Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Reason Before Passion. Toronto: ECW Press, 1994.

Clarkson, Stephen and Christina McCall. Trudeau and Our Times. 2 vols. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1990, 1994.

Cohen, Andrew and J. L. Granatstein, eds. Trudeau's Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 1999.

Couture, Claude. Paddling with the Current: Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Étienne Parent, Liberalism and Nationalism in Canada. Trans. Vivien Bosley. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1998. Also issued in the French as La loyauté d'un laïc.

Crenna, C. David, ed. Pierre Trudeau: Lifting the Shadow of War. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1987.

Egerton, G. “Trudeau, God, and the Canadian Constitution: Religion, Human Rights, and Government Authority in the Making of the 1982 Constitution,” in Rethinking Church, State, and Modernity: Canada between Europe and America eds. David Lyon and Marguerite van Die. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000. 90-112.

English, John, Richard Gwyn, and P.W. Lackenbauer, eds. The Hidden Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Faith and Politics in the Balance. Ottawa: Novalis, 2004.

Gossage, Patrick. Close to the Charisma: My Years Between the Press and Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1986.

Graham, Ron, ed. The Essential Trudeau. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1998. Also issued in the French as Trudeau: l'essentiel de sa pensée politique.

---. One-Eyed Kings: Promise and Illusion in Canadian Politics. Toronto: Collins, 1986.

Granatstein, J.L. and Robert Bothwell. Pirouette: Pierre Trudeau and Canadian foreign policy. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990.

Griffiths, Linda. Maggie & Pierre: A Fantasy of Love, Politics and the Media: A Play. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1980.

Gwyn, Richard. The Northern Magus: Pierre Trudeau and Canadians. Edited by Sandra Gwyn. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1980.

Harbron, John D. This is Trudeau. Toronto: Longmans, 1968.

Johnston, Donald, ed. With a Bang, Not a Whimper: Pierre Trudeau Speaks Out. Toronto: Stoddart, 1988.

Laforest, Guy. Trudeau and the End of a Canadian Dream. Trans. Paul Leduc Browne and Michelle Weinroth. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1995. Translation from the French of Trudeau et la fin d'un rêve canadien.

Laxer, James and Robert Laxer. The Liberal idea of Canada : Pierre Trudeau and the question of Canada's survival. Toronto : J. Lorimer, 1977.

Lynch, Charles. Our Retiring Prime Minister. Toronto : McClelland and Stewart-Bantam, 1983.

McDonald, Kenneth. His Pride, Our Fall: Recovering from the Trudeau Revolution. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1995.

McIlroy, Thad, ed. A Rose is a Rose: A Tribute to Pierre Elliott Trudeau in Cartoons and Quotes. Toronto: Doubleday, 1984.

McRoberts, Kenneth. Misconceiving Canada: The Struggle for National Unity. Toronto: Oxford, 1997.

Our Last Farewell: Pierre Elliott Trudeau 1919-2000. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2000.

Peterson, Roy. Drawn & Quartered: The Trudeau years. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1984.

Radwanski, George. Trudeau. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1978.

Simpson, Jeffrey. Discipline of Power: The Conservative Interlude and the Liberal Restoration. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1984.

Smith, Denis. Bleeding Hearts, Bleeding Country. Edmonton: Hurtig, 1971.

Somerville, David. Trudeau Revealed: By His Actions and Words. Scarborough: BMG, 1978.

Stewart, Walter. Shrug: Trudeau in Power. Toronto: New Press, 1971.

Stuebing, Douglas, et al. Trudeau: A Man For Tomorrow. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin & Co., 1968.

Trudeau: The Life, Times and Passing of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Toronto: Key Porter, 2000.

Trudeau Albums. Toronto: Penguin Studio, 2000.

Trudeau, Margaret. Beyond Reason. New York: Paddington Press, 1979.

Trudeau, Pierre Elliott. Against the Current: Selected Writings 1939-1996. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1996.

---, ed. The Asbestos Strike. Trans. James Boake. Toronto: James, Lewis and Samuel, 1974.

---. A Canadian Charter of Human Rights. Ottawa: Queen’s Printer, 1968.

---. Conversations with Canadians. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1972.

---. “De l’inconvénient d’être catholique,” Cité libre 35 (March 1961), 20-21.

---. “Note sur le parti cléricaliste,” Cité libre 38 (June/July 1961), 23.

---. Federalism and the French Canadians. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1968.

---. Memoirs. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1993. Also issued in French as Mémoires politiques.

Vastel, Michel. The Outsider: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1990. Translation from the French of Trudeau, Le Québécois.

Westell, Anthony. Paradox: Trudeau as Prime Minister. Scarborough, ON: Prentice-Hall, 1972.

Zink, Lubor. Trudeaucracy. Toronto: Toronto Sun Publishing, 1972.

Zolf, Larry. Just Watch Me: Remembering Pierre Trudeau. Toronto: Lorimer, 1984.

Further Reading on Lévesque

Some key sources on Rene Levesque in English are:

Desbarats, Peter. René: A Canadian in Search of a Country. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1976.

Fraser, Graham. René Lévesque & the Parti Québécois in Power. Montreal, QC. : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001.

Lévesque, René. Memoirs. Translated by Philip Stratford. Toronto : McClelland & Stewart, 1986.

Pelletier, Gérard. Years of impatience 1950-1960. Translated by Alan Brown. Toronto : Methuen, 1984.

Provencher, Jean. Rene Levesque : portrait of a Quebecois. Markham, ON: Paper Jacks, 1977

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