In campaigning for the post of Canada's Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau urged Canadians: "Let's take a bit of a chance." He offered the voters "a great adventure of discovery" and insisted that "the important thing is that Canadians are beginning to realize for the first time that this country is a fabulous place." The ideas proved irresistible. Last week Canadians took a chance by overwhelmingly electing Trudeau, 48, their 15th Prime Minister.
Sweeping his Liberal Party behind him to a clear majority in Parliament, Trudeau thus launched upon the latest chapter in a highly unusual career that has propelled him in only a year from relative obscurity into his country's leadership. Whatever else he does, he is certain to give Canada four years of colorful and unpredictable government.
Both Canada and Trudeau seem to have been preparing for some time to rush into each other's embrace. The reason that Trudeau won so decisively was that he matched both the times and the country's mood. A fresh face in a gallery of stale political portraits, he made no promises at all, offered no pat answers and spoke with a candor that was in refreshing contrast to the pompous rhetoric of the past. He seemed a man neither of the left nor of the right, but a man for the future. His campaign was based on the simple, unequivocal proposition: "One Canada." As a bilingual French Canadian, he appears to be the right man to bring the French-and English-speaking peoples closer together.
Trudeau certainly ranks among the world's more interesting heads of government. Though of considerable intellect, he is a thoroughly unstuffy man who, when asked by a pretty young Trudeau-bopper for a kiss, can respond: "Why not? It's spring." A broad-minded and cultured member of academe, he also canoes, exhibits championship-caliber diving, practices yoga, loves driving fast cars and, as a bachelor, can command the company of beautiful women. A serious political thinker with some unusual views of Canada's future, he has nonetheless answered hecklers with an impudent "so's your old man." He dresses with a style and extreme casualness that stands out in Canada. After a trip to India in 1949, Trudeau wore a turban for a while. His usual outfits include colorful sport jackets, German leather coats, French leather hats, ascots and sandals. Gibed T. C. Douglas, leader of the New Democratic Party: "It's going to be unusual to have a Prime Minister who has to struggle to wear store shoes."
Boxing Lessons. That is the only struggle of note that Pierre Trudeau has experienced. He grew up in the affluent Montreal suburb of Outrement, the son of a self-made millionaire whose empire included an auto-breakdown service and a chain of gas stations. (Today, the family fortune is estimated at $7,000,000.) Young Pierre was driven to school by a chauffeur, as a boy was given private boxing lessons "because I was quite a puny child." Trudeau's father died when he was 14, and the loss saddened him for years. He went to a Jesuit college called Jean-de-Brebeuf, ran with a crowd known as Les Snobs, and invariably led his classes in academic honors.