Criticism of Pierre Trudeau
From Wikinfo
Many Canadians, particularly in western Canada, disliked Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's policies . This is because his policies were considered to be biased toward Ontario and Quebec, and left out Alberta and British Columbia. As well, his flashing of an obscene hand gesture to British Columbian protesters is particularly resented [1]. One particularly unpopular policy in the west was the National Energy Program. His imposition of the War Measures Act is still remembered by many, especially in Quebec, as an attack on democracy.
Many people consider Trudeau's economic policies to be a disaster. Inflation and unemployment marred much of his term and he left the country with a large debt and an ever increasing deficit. However, it should be noted that these trends were marked in almost all western countries at the time, and the role Prime Minister Trudeau played in them is debated.
His promise to implement participatory democracy came to naught. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was weakened when the Supreme Court ruled that it did not apply to the common law, and its notwithstanding clause has been used to circumvent its provisions. Despite the Charter Canadians are still subject to double jeopardy and the presumption of guilt in libel law, and the Supreme Court has taken a lenient view of what constitutes reasonable grounds for suspending the rights guaranteed by the Charter. The Charter does appear, however, to have clarified issues of aboriginal rights; it has, for example, been used to establish the previously denied aboriginal rights of M�tis.
Another point is the Mirabel International Airport debacle, which resulted in Montreal's Mirabel airport. The airport is located far from Montreal, cost a great deal of money, was built on expropriated farm land, and has since been closed to passenger traffic. Some see it as symbolic of many Trudeau polices: ambitious, costly, and ultimately ineffective.
Finally, his policies to provide a more rewarding role for Quebec in Confederation and to make Canada less dependent on the United States were manifestly unsuccessful – Quebec almost left Confederation in 1995, and Canada now has a free trade agreement with the United States. Many Canadians therefore regard him as a man of great ambitions which failed.
