Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Elliott Trudeau was born in Montreal in 1919, studied law and economics in Montreal, at Harvard, in Paris and in London, and became a law professor and critic of Quebec's conservative government in the 1950s. He entered federal politics in 1965, served as justice minister and became Liberal leader and prime minister in 1968. He governed until 1979 and again from 1980 to 1984. He opposed Quebec sovereignty in the 1980 referendum and secured the patriation of the constitution in 1982. He died in 2000.

Supporters credit Trudeau with a modern rights-based Canadian identity, the Charter, official bilingualism and multiculturalism, and with keeping Quebec in Canada. Many Quebec nationalists criticise the 1982 patriation, which the Quebec government never signed, and civil libertarians criticise the mass arrests under the War Measures Act. In Western Canada the National Energy Program caused lasting resentment, and economists point to the large federal deficits of his later years. He remains among the most debated Canadian prime ministers. His long rivalry with the Quebec sovereigntist leader René Lévesque framed much of the national unity debate of his era.