The Hidden Pierre Elliott Trudeau

The Faith Behind the Politics

Edited by John English, Richard Gwyn and P. Whitney Lackenbauer,

Ottawa, Novalis, 2004, pp.219, $24.95 (softcover)

This book is a compilation of presentations and discussions delivered at St. Jerome's College and the University of Waterloo on the so-called "hidden" side of Pierre Trudeau, namely his Catholic faith. The contributors are determined to prove that this "hidden" side was really important in the life of Trudeau the politician. I agree, but not in the sense the contributors and organizers mean it but in the negative sense, as when an impaired Catholicism leads to grave errors. 

The subject is certainly worth discussing if for no other reason than that Trudeau's heritage is very much alive among our contemporaries. Currently, the opinion moulders who dominate the media are determined that religion be relegated to the margins of society and kept out of politics. But this hostility refers to authentic Christianity. On the other hand, the media loved Trudeau because he spurned authentic Catholicity, allowing the shallow and secular pontificators to intrude upon the most serious moral-religious issues and distort them by their lack of principles and knowledge. Thus political and legal fictions misconceived "rights," "equality" and "freedoms," thereby damaging parliamentary democracy through hubris and fickleness, with Trudeau crowning the whole affair in a disastrous 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, the organizers of the symposium should be given credit for at least trying.

Nevertheless, the book is not successful and this for two reasons: the contributors are all similar-minded to Trudeau himself and, therefore, cannot see clearly; secondly, factual information about Trudeau's personal life which undermines the book's thesis is omitted.

The contributors are, by and large, apologists for Trudeau. Some are Trudeau former collaborators (Turner, MacEachen, Lang, Axworthy); others are like-minded writers (Stephen Clarkson, John Godfrey, Ron Graham, Michael Valpy-unbelievers all, and Richard Gwyn (of late returned to the Church); others again have adopted a view of the Church similar to that of Trudeau himself. In short, there is not one contributor who looks at Trudeau from an orthodox Catholic point of view and finds him wanting.           

Yes, it is true that before the early sixties Trudeau, having received a classical Catholic education, was a Church-going Catholic; yes, during the years following, he maintained a Catholic outlook and worldview; while in his retirement years he regularly went to Church though he did acknowledge that in the two years between the death of his son Michel (1998) and his own death (Sept 2000) he found himself unable to pray.
            In the years between, however, the political years, Trudeau abandoned any meaningful relation with the Church as teacher and moral guide. He directly followed in the footsteps of John Kennedy who as presidential candidate promised in 1961 that if he ever had to choose between the principles of his Catholic faith and the American constitution, he would not hesitate to choose the latter. In December 1967, as the new Justice Minister, Trudeau informed the House of Commons that as far as he was concerned, in these modern times religious principles have no bearing on the affairs of state. He acted accordingly by disregarding Catholic moral and natural law teaching both in public and private life.

In public life he committed the crime of legalizing abortion, of which he remained proud throughout his career. In taking his distance from the Church he was John Kennedy's Canadian imitator even though he may have arrived at that position independently. Via Trudeau the same attitude prevailed through Catholic Prime Ministers Clark (1979), Turner (1984), Mulroney (1984-1992), Chrétien (1993-2003), and so to our present PM, Paul Martin. "What," Martin was asked at the G-8 summit meeting in Georgia, USA, by CTV television on June 9, 2004: "what if it came to choosing between his religion, or the Charter of Rights on the issues?" (same-sex "marriage"). Martin: "I'll take the Charter." Paul Martin, just like John Kennedy and Pierre Trudeau, goes to Mass on Sundays and thinks of himself as a "religious" Catholic person. Unlike Kennedy and Trudeau he is not a regular womanizer, so perhaps he does not yet qualify for the same full status of a Catholic bimbo in politics.

As noted, the book disappoints mostly for what it does not provide: a serious analysis of Trudeau's changing Catholicism from the early fifties till his resignation as PM 25 years later, in 1984. Parallel to that, there is his steady womanizing over an even longer period, a feature completely ignored in this book but which has come to light more clearly in recent years. In his private life Trudeau, already before he joined the Pearson Cabinet in 1967, had become known as a "lady's man." Peter Newman recalls him rolling on his living room floor in the early sixties with his then "soul mate" Madeleine Gobeil. He soon became known as "a rakish sex symbol who made women swoon."

As Prime Minister (1968-1979; 1980-1984) he married a wealthy young socialite, Margaret Sinclair (she was 22, he 51) in a secret Catholic Church wedding in March 1971. She was not a Catholic and the three boys eventually attended an Ottawa public school. The marriage only lasted a little more than five years, followed by seven years of separation (divorce was granted in April 1984.) By that time Pierre had a number of lovers, some for brief liaisons, others continuing one or more years. Liona Boyd's trysts went on over an eight year period, 1976-1983. "We spent many glorious days and nights at the lake (Harrington Lake) she tells us. And she knew she was not the only one.

            Margot Kidder, for example, was a favourite during the same time. Kim Cattrall (today of the "Sex in the City," TV program) was 22 in 1979, he 59, when they too had affairs lasting a year or so. Pierre wanted them all. In 1990, at the age of 70, he had a fling with Newfoundland lawyer Deborah Coyne, who gave birth to his daughter Sarah in May 1991.

A man dominated by lust is not a man seeking redemption by Christ. Lust is a disordered desire for sexual pleasure and, as St. Thomas Aquinas teaches, weakens the will and darkens the mind.

Kim Cattrall says of Trudeau that he had an epicurean view of life. Margot Kidder thinks there might have been as many as 40 lovers. She also asked him once why a man of his intelligence continued to believe in the Catholic Church. Answer: "I use it as a place of meditation. I do believe. Well, I believe in most of it. I don't believe that I have to go to some priest in order to talk to God. I'm more than capable of talking to him directly all by myself."

And that is how it ended. The church was fine for ceremony but, in reality, quite unnecessary. That is why the Catholic pomp and circumstance at his Montreal funeral was another false move. A low-key service conducted by his parish priest in his own parish church should have sufficed.

From Margaret M. Wysocka re Trudeau review

            Over the past five years I have read most of the issues of Catholic Insight. The articles selected for publication have always been written in a non-judgmental format irrespective of the author's viewpoint. The information on the various topics was factual and verifiable, with sources identified; and consequently they have been found to be reliable.

            The September issue of your magazine deviates from this high quality journalism, very noticeably on pages 14 and15 especially, as also do many of the letters published.

            The last paragraph on page 14 of Paul Tuns' article is inaccurate. It was Mr. Grewal MP, who first asked for patronage appointments for himself and his wife. The Liberal MP to whom he made the request is reported to have given an indirect response, saying that there would be "rewards in the future," and that it would not be advisable to get into specifics at an early stage of the talks. (Verifiable on CBC and in Globe and Mail).

            Page 15 (the continuation of the review of The Hidden Pierre Elliott Trudeau) is as disappointing as the book under review is, but for a different reason. The review itself cannot be taken seriously because most of it is based on innuendo and speculation. The only facts that are discernible and verifiable are the fact that Trudeau fathered an illegitimate daughter by a Newfoundland woman lawyer, Ms. Deborah Coyne.

            As for the remarks about Mr. Trudeau's funeral: it surely is a matter of opinion that only Mr. Trudeau and his confessor are qualified to comment on; and the one of the two cannot speak for himself because it was his own funeral that is being discussed!

            Let us hope that future issues of Insight may be more charitable in similar cases. After all, Mr. Trudeau, like all of us, was answerable for his own sins. It is not our right to discuss such serious matters, either morally or legally. We have a right to judge the wrong judgments made because of their destructive consequences for society; but I cannot agree that we have the right to judge a sinner. Unfortunately, that is not the case here. Mr. Trudeau, the sinner, is accused of his sins. Only God knows how culpable each of us is. We do not know anyone else's state of soul.

            I regret having to write this letter, but I feel that someone has to point out how merciless a judgment has been passed in this review, in the hope that there will never be another article so judgmental in the Catholic Insight. It is cruel and insensitive. There is no legitimate reason to justify it; because it is destructive and, as I have said; based on innuendo and speculation (by discarded lovers moreover)!

Halifax, NS

The reviewer replies:

            One supposes that it is possible to believe that Trudeau's sexual adventures are nothing but "innuendo and speculation" but in doing so, one will have to dismiss the personal accounts which have appeared in the press so far, together with the photos the newspapers have unearthed from their archives.

            Liona Boyd's trysts may be found in her autobiography In My own key: My life in love and music (1998). Others are scattered in various articles such as Peter Newman's recent recollection of Trudeau (National Post, May 4, 2005). The story of Margot Kidder and two other lovers appear in Pierre: Colleagues and friends talk about Trudeau, edited by Nancy Southam (McClelland & Stewart, 2005, 388 pages), a book reviewed in the national media. The figure of a possible 40 lovers is Margot Kidder's, not mine, and should indeed be classified as speculation but whether it should be dismissed out of hand is another question. The National Post published a full-page article on Kim Cattrall on May 14, 2005.

            Trudeau's womanizing-just like that of American President John Kennedy whom he resembles also in his cynicism about the role of the Church-is only becoming more fully known after his death.

            As for Trudeau's views on abortion (legalization in 1969; refusal to place a clause protecting life in the 1981 Charter), they are fully documented, including his remark, 25 years after the event, of being proud having passed the legislation. Under this law, over three million preborn human lives have been surgically and physically snuffed out to date, yet he was given an elaborate funeral in Montreal's most splendid church, presided over by a cardinal and an archbishop, without ever having publicly indicated, or acknowledged, or so much as hinted at, that he cared one bit about mortal sin, or about Catholic moral teaching, or about any of the babies killed or their mothers.

            Today, the same situation is being repeated in Ottawa where the archbishop wants us to believe that Mr. Martin is a "faithful member of my Cathedral parish," while Mr. Martin repeats, ad nauseam, that he believes in the Canadian Charter, not in natural law morality, not in Catholic teaching, not in what the Church says. He did it again on September 30, 2005. "I believe in the Charter!!!" When will Catholics wake up?

From Nancy O'Connor re Trudeau (C.I. September 2005, pp. 44-43)

            Kudos for your excellent review of The Hidden Pierre Elliot Trudeau. You have articulated my beliefs concerning this prime minister.

            As a young impressionable Catholic girl of the sixties, I grew up watching Mr. Trudeau with a "jaundiced" eye. I will admit being initially attracted to his powerful intellect, but never to his sexual magnetism.

            As I matured in my faith and most especially after becoming a mother, I recognized the great damage this man inflicted on both Church and State in Canada.

Wellington, ON