Pierre Trudeau

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, lawyer, jurist, academic, author, and journalist who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his non-consecutive terms as prime minister from 1979 to 1980, he served as the leader of the Opposition. He led the Liberal Party from 1968 until 1984. Trudeau was born and raised in Outremont, Quebec, and studied politics and law. In 1950, he co-founded Cité Libre and rose to prominence as a labour activist in Quebec politics by opposing the conservative Union Nationale government. Trudeau was also an associate professor of law at the Université de Montréal. He was originally part of the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP), but then joined the Liberal Party in 1965 on the belief that the NDP could not achieve power. In the election that year, he was elected to the House of Commons, and was quickly appointed as prime minister Lester B. Pearson's parliamentary secretary. Trudeau was minister of justice and attorney general from 1967 to 1968, during which time he liberalized divorce and abortion laws and decriminalized homosexuality. His outgoing personality and charisma caused a sensation, termed "Trudeaumania", which helped him win the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1968. He then succeeded Pearson and became prime minister of Canada. From the late 1960s until the mid-1980s, Trudeau dominated the Canadian political scene. After his appointment as prime minister, he led the Liberals to victory in the 1968, 1972, and 1974 federal elections, before narrowly losing in 1979. He won a fourth election victory shortly afterwards, in 1980. Trudeau is the most recent prime minister to win four federal elections (having won three majority governments and one minority government) and...