Pierre Elliot Trudeau has always been something of an enigma to us, our first prime minister and public figure to be very aware of his image as a public figure. He counted as his friend, and received advice from, media guru Marshall McLuhan. Trudeau dazzled us, inspired us, and out here in the West inflamed our anger with his energy policies.
A new biography, written by Max and Monique Nemni, two former Cite Libre editors, has set re-awaken the mystery of Trudeau. A two volume set, Young Trudeau, functions as an intellectual biography, tracing the influence that various teachers and books had on the future prime minister. What is fascinating here is the extent to which Trudeau, and many of is generation, were enamoured by the fascist writers of France during the 1930s. Trudeau, known to many of us as a left-leaning leader, appeared ready to participate in a fascist coup to create an independent Quebec. Then abruptly, everything changed in 1942, where volume 1 ends.
It is easy to see historians lining up to examine the recently opened Trudeau archives, the same ones that the Nemni's had privelleged access to during their work on Young Trudeau. For the authors, the source of Trudeau's fascist connections comes from his staunch Catholicism and Jesuit schooling, where Rome's rejection of socialism, and the abuses of capitalism, led to the welcoming arms of Mussolini. However, they leave the source of his disillusionment for the second volume, causing all of us history buffs to hunger for more.
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