Just Watch Me

by John English

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: CLOSING THE DEAL

  1. The literature on the constitutional process in the early 1980s is vast and replete with controversy. Trudeau discusses the debate in his Memoirs (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1993), part 4, and Chrétien has described his role in Straight from the Heart (1985; repr., Toronto: Key Porter Books, 2007), chap. 6. Brian Mulroney has commented on the Trudeau process, which in the initial stages he had supported, unlike Joe Clark and Peter Lougheed (Brian Mulroney, Memoirs 1939–1993 [Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2007], 508–11). Lévesque’s major biographer, Pierre Godin, discusses the subject at length in the relevant volume (René Lévesque: L’Homme brisé [1980–1987] [Montréal: Boréal, 2005]), as does Martine Tremblay, Derrière les portes closes: René Lévesque et l’exercice du pouvoir (1976–1985) (Montréal: Québec Amérique, 2006), which has an excellent bibliography covering francophone sources. Saskatchewan premier Allan Blakeney discusses his own important role in An Honourable Calling: Political Memoirs (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008). A valuable contemporary edited collection, which is largely critical, is Keith Banting and Richard Simeon, eds., And No One Cheered: Federalism, Democracy, and the Constitution Act (Toronto: Methuen, 1983). The best contemporary history, based on exceptional access to most of the principals, is Robert Sheppard and Michael Valpy, The National Deal: The Fight for a Canadian Constitution (Toronto: Fleet, 1982). Judy Steed’s biography of Ed Broadbent has an excellent account of the trouble the constitutional “wars” caused the New Democrats: Judy Steed, Ed Broadbent: The Pursuit of Power (1988; repr., Markham, Ont.: Penguin, 1989), chap. 7. The ghostwriter for Trudeau and Chrétien, Ron Graham, has written a well-informed account of the political dealings and impacts in One-Eyed Kings: Promise and Illusion in Canadian Politics (Toronto: Collins, 1986). Trudeau’s speechwriter André Burelle not only traces his own dissent from Trudeau’s approach but also provides considerable documentary evidence from his own papers in Pierre Elliott Trudeau: L’Intellectuel et la Politique (Montréal: Fides, 2005). Stephen Clarkson and Christina McCall wrote an award-winning account of Trudeau and the Constitution: Stephen Clarkson and Christina McCall, The Magnificent Obsession, vol. 1 of Trudeau and Our Times (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1990), part 2, and Philip Girard covers the judicial controversies well in his fine biography of Chief Justice Bora Laskin: Bora Laskin: Bringing Law to Life (Toronto: University of Toronto Press for the Osgoode Society, 2005). Donald Brittain’s 1994 documentary, The Champions, made for the CBC and the National Film Board, is an excellent source, with superb interviews with the principal figures.

  2. The quotations from Axworthy are found in Graham, One-Eyed Kings, 60, 64. Graham gives a superb account of the mood when Trudeau returned to power. Mr. Axworthy confirmed his impressions in a discussion in July 2005.

  3. Mark MacGuigan, An Inside Look at External Affairs during the Trudeau Years: The Memoirs of Mark MacGuigan, ed. P. Whitney Lackenbauer (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2002). I served as Mr. MacGuigan’s literary executor and had several conversations with him about this manuscript before he died. The comment quoted was made frequently in those discussions.

  4. Globe and Mail, March 4, 1980.

  5. Graham, One-Eyed Kings, section 1, and Donald Johnston, Up the Hill (Montreal and Toronto: Optimum, 1986).

  6. Interview with Don Johnston, June 2009. When I described the meetings I held with former Trudeau ministers at Library and Archives Canada to Tom Axworthy, he commented that the divisions were exactly the same as they had been when they were in government.

  7. Thomas S. Axworthy and Pierre Elliott Trudeau, eds., Towards a Just Society: The Trudeau Years (Markham, Ont.: Viking, 1990), 5. In addition to Axworthy and Trudeau, Marc Lalonde, Trudeau adviser Joel Bell, finance and Bank of Canada official Ian Stewart, Jacques Hébert, Environment Minister John Roberts, Jim Coutts, Gérard Pelletier, Finance Deputy Minister Thomas Shoyama, Lloyd Axworthy, party official and later Senator Lorna Marsden, Jean Chrétien, and York University historians and Trudeau supporters Fernand Ouellet and Ramsay Cook were contributors.

  8. Stephen Clarkson, Canada and the Reagan Challenge (Toronto: Lorimer, 1985) is essentially a contemporary defence of the Trudeau resistance to the challenge, while Peter Foster, The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: Canada’s Super-Bureaucrats and the Energy Mess (Toronto: Collins, 1982) is a contemporary attack on Trudeau’s economic policies, which he blames on Trudeau’s style of government, the influence of John Kenneth Galbraith, and an elite group of bureaucrats in Ottawa. An exchange between Keith Davey and Trudeau, in which the latter indicates that he has read and absorbed Coleman’s arguments, is found in Davey to Trudeau, Feb. 21, 1973, TP, MG 26 07, vol. 290, file 319-14, LAC.

  9. Trudeau and Carter had developed a warm friendship at G7 meetings, and despite Joe Clark’s opposition to economic nationalism, the Americans seemed to prefer the familiar Trudeau. An assessment just before the 1980 election noted that in “the likelier event of a Liberal victory, Trudeau will also support US initiatives in Iran and Afghanistan. He has even attacked Clark for not doing enough in support of the United States. He, too, advocates an Olympic boycott as long as other Western allies go along. Trudeau’s support for Western solidarity reflects his desire to be identified with an issue with strong popular support in Canada.” However, the report did note that “Trudeau would differ from Clark mainly on economic policy—he would definitely be a more difficult bargaining partner for the United States.” Brzezinski material, box 7, file Canada 10/79-1/81, Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. Reagan shared Trudeau’s concerns about the Carter embargo. He wrote in his diary on Feb. 4, 1981: “I’ve always felt [the grain embargo] hurt our farmers worse than it hurt Soviets. Many of our allies … filled the gap & supplied Soviets.” The Reagan Diaries, ed. Douglas Brinkley (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 2.

  10. Quoted in Christopher Shulgan, The Soviet Ambassador: The Making of the Radical behind Perestroika (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2008), 240. Shulgan’s book is an excellent description of the friendship between Trudeau and Yakovlev, who deeply influenced Soviet policy in the eighties.

  11. Quoted in Pierre Godin, René Lévesque: Un Homme et son rêve 1922–1987 (Montréal: Boréal, 2007), 473. Despite this anecdote, Godin dates Lévesque’s demise from the day of the referendum defeat. However, Lévesque confidante Martine Tremblay strongly dissents in Derrière les portes closes, 248.

  12. A good account of the meeting is found in Sheppard and Valpy, National Deal, 40–42. This book remains the fullest treatment of the constitutional process.

  13. Globe and Mail, June 10, 1980; Ottawa Citizen, June 10, 1980.

  14. Trudeau’s conversation with Stephen Clarkson and Christina McCall, Dec. 11, 1986, quoted in Magnificent Obsession, 282–83. Kirby had been an opponent of Trudeau’s return in 1979, but he was not then a major figure and Trudeau appears not to have known of his opposition. Confidential sources. The description of the Christmas card is from Patrick Gossage, Close to the Charisma: My Years between the Press and Pierre Elliott Trudeau (Halifax: Goodread Biographies, 1987), 239. On the origins of the Machiavelli statement, see Sheppard and Valpy, National Deal, 7.

  15. Quoted in Burelle, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 267. Burelle reproduces the documents in which Trudeau stroked out every reference to “nation.”

  16. Trudeau’s comment about Robertson was made to Stephen Clarkson and Christina McCall in December 1986 (Magnificent Obsession, 280–81). Conversation with Robert Fowler. For Gordon Robertson’s response to Trudeau’s comments, see Memoirs of a Very Civil Servant: Mackenzie King to Pierre Trudeau (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000). While clearly offended, he agrees with their substance. He was not appropriate and, accordingly, refused to advise: “No one who had worked with Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent, or Lester Pearson could believe that a power play, however successful in the short term, was the way to solve a constitutional problem” (321–22).

  17. Sheppard and Valpy, National Deal, 53–54; Steed,
Ed Broadbent, 244. The formal title of the Kirby memorandum is “Report to Cabinet on Constitutional Discussions, Summer 1980, and the Outlook for the First Ministers Conference and Beyond, August 30, 1980.” The Kirby document is now available online at http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/QuebecHistory/docs/1982/17.htm. It contains the quotation from Machiavelli that he placed on the front of his Christmas card.

  18. The descriptions of participants’ religious faiths are from The Canadian Parliamentary Guide 1981 (Ottawa: Normandin, 1981), and the national figures are from Canada Year Book, 1980–81 (Ottawa: Ministry of Supply and Services, 1991), and from Globe and Mail and Le Devoir, Sept. 8–11, 1980. On Lougheed and Davis, see Allan Hustak, Peter Lougheed: A Biography (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1979), 144.

  19. The description of the conference and the quotations are from the following sources: http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/constitution/clips/6041/; Donald Brittain’s extraordinary documentary, The Champions, part 3, which superbly captures the tensions at the conference table; Globe and Mail, Sept. 8–11, 1980; and Ottawa Citizen, which was the first recipient of the leaked “Kirby Memorandum.”

  20. Quotations are in Clarkson and McCall, Magnificent Obsession, 291. See also Trudeau, Memoirs, 308–10, and “Interview between Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Graham,” May 4, 1992, TP, MG 26 03, vol. 23, file 7, LAC.

  21. The names of the dissenters soon leaked out despite Cabinet secrecy. See David Milne, The New Canadian Constitution (Toronto: Lorimer, 1982), 77. These names have also been confirmed in confidential interviews, although it seems clear that others had hesitations that were not expressed.

  22. Bob Rae’s brother John was an aide to Jean Chrétien and a close friend of Eddie Goldenberg, who played a central role in the constitutional initiative. Through them, Bob came to know the team in the Langevin Block who “quarterbacked” the effort. A quarter-century later, the same group facilitated Bob Rae’s entry into the Liberal Party, surrounded him at the Montreal Convention Centre, where the 2006 Liberal leadership convention was held, and almost made him leader of the Liberal Party. On the referendum idea, which André Burelle strongly favoured, see Burelle, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 295–300. A full description of the “team” on the bureaucratic and political side, which emphasizes the importance of Goldenberg, is found in Sheppard and Valpy, National Deal, 72–73.

  23. Steed, Ed Broadbent, 245. Conversation with Bob Rae.

  24. Quotations are from Globe and Mail, Oct. 3–4, 1980, which contains, on October 3, the statements by the federal leaders. For Quebec, see Le Devoir, Oct. 3, 1980. Trudeau’s offensive led to a postponed election in Quebec (see Tremblay, Derrière les portes closes, 252–53).

  25. On the criticism by Chamber president Sam Hughes, see Toronto Star, Oct. 3, 1980. Brian Mulroney’s speech is described in Mulroney’s Memoirs, 203. Mulroney’s support for the patriation and the charter is acknowledged (511), although Clark is given credit for “a marvelous fight in the House opposing Trudeau’s constitutional plans—probably his finest moment as leader” (208).

  26. Craig Brown’s classic study of the national policy is Canada’s National Policy 1883–1900: A Study in Canadian-American Relations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1964). Lalonde’s essay is in Axworthy and Trudeau, eds., Towards a Just Society, chap. 2. The quotation about Alberta is from Stephen Clarkson and Christina McCall, The Heroic Delusion, vol. 2 of Trudeau and Our Times (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1994), 176.

  27. The description of Lougheed’s opposition to Victoria is found in Hustak, Lougheed, 144–45. The National Energy Program has had surprisingly little scholarly attention. An early and very critical analysis, which contains invaluable detail, is Foster’s Sorcerer’s Apprentices. Clarkson and McCall, Heroic Delusion, chap. 5, is more favourable, and part 2 of Axworthy and Trudeau, eds., Towards a Just Society, is, unsurprisingly, highly favourable to the policy while admitting that the unexpected drop in the oil price complicated matters. The best source remains G. Bruce Doern and Glen Toner, The Politics of Energy: The Development and Implementation of the NEP (Toronto: Methuen, 1985).

  28. Quoted in Edmund Morris, Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan (New York: Random House, 1999), 411.

  29. Alberta Report’s views are quoted in James Laxer, Canada’s Economic Strategy (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1981), 178–79. This contemporary work is especially valuable on the split between the western and eastern branches of the NDP. One casualty of the NEP, Dome Petroleum, is covered in Jim Lyon, Dome: The Rise and Fall of the House That Jack Built (Toronto: Macmillan, 1983).

  30. The relationship between the financial needs and the energy policy is explained well in Doern and Toner, The Politics of Energy, chap. 6. Interviews with Marshall Crowe, Jan. 2008, and Marc Lalonde, Oct. 2005. As an additional enticement to the West, the federal government established a Western Development Fund chaired by Manitoban Lloyd Axworthy. It was to recycle some of the additional revenues accruing to the federal government for western projects on the model of similar programs for eastern Canada.

  31. Chrétien believes that Lougheed developed a warm regard for him when he assisted in the bailout of the oil sands in 1975. On Blakeney, see Chrétien, Straight from the Heart, 157.

  32. There is an excellent account of the Winnipeg meeting in Clarkson and McCall, Heroic Delusion, 179–80. Details of the negotiations throughout the year are found in R.B. Byers, ed., Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs 1981 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984), 157–65.

  33. Canada, House of Commons Debates (9 July 1981). According to Jim Lyon, whose source was Dome CEO Jack Gallagher, “Lalonde was on the phone almost daily to Dome as the launching date approached, and he flew to Alberta especially to appear with Jack Gallagher when Dome Canada was unveiled at a press conference” (Dome, 9). Dome Canada was the vehicle allowing Dome Petroleum to take advantage of the grants for frontier exploration. Interview with Marc Lalonde, Oct. 2005.

  34. These statistics are drawn from the extensive and excellent discussion found in Doern and Toner, The Politics of Energy, chap. 9. Globe and Mail, Sept. 2, 1981, also provided detail. The photograph is reproduced in Trudeau, Memoirs, 295.

  35. John F. Helliwell, M.E. MacGregor, and A. Plourde, “The National Energy Program Meets Falling World Oil Prices,” Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de Politiques, vol. IX, No. 3 (Sept. 1983): 294.

  36. These comments were made in an interview with Lougheed on the anniversary of the passage of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. See www.collectionscanada.ca/rights-and-freedoms/023021-144-e.html.

  37. See Edward McWhinney, Canada and the Constitution 1979–1982: Patriation and the Charter of Rights (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1982), 50. For the contrary view, see Martha Jackman, “Canadian Charter Equality at 20: Reflections of a Card Carrying Member of the Court Party,” Policy Options (Dec. 2005–Jan. 2006): 72–77, and Louise Arbour, “Beyond Self-Congratulations: The Charter at 25 in an International Perspective” (paper presented at “A Tribute to Chief Justice Roy McMurtry,” Toronto, April 12, 2007). Canada, House of Commons Debates (23 March 1981).

  38. The provincial challenges are described in Sheppard and Valpy, The National Deal, 229ff; and Byers, ed., Canadian Annual Review 1981, 35, which has extensive quotations from the judgments.

  39. New York Times, April 3, 1981. See also Byers, ed., Canadian Annual Review 1981, 38ff.

  40. Canada, House of Commons Debates (23 March 1981). The court decisions are conveniently presented in McWhinney, Patriation and the Charter of Rights, Appendix G.

  41. The best account is in Girard, Bora Laskin, chap. 22.

  42. On the Quebec election and Ryan’s response, see Byers, ed., Canadian Annual Review 1981, 373–36. Trudeau’s comments are from an interview he gave to other press members when the CBC refused to grant him free air time after the provincial accord. Globe and Mail, April 17, 1981. On the British reaction, see McWhinney, Patriation and the Charter of Rights, chap. 7.
Quotation on General Gordon.

  43. Canada, House of Commons Debates (6 Feb. 1981). MacGuigan, Inside Look, 92–93. Conversations with Mark MacGuigan; Paul Martin, Sr.; and Don Jamieson (then Canadian high commissioner to the U.K.) at Cambridge Institute, summer 1981. Ottawa Citizen, Feb. 7, 1981. Confidential interview.

  44. On the conference in Cambridge, see Girard, Bora Laskin, 508–9. I attended the conference, and the personal impressions are my own.

  45. Burelle, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 80–81, 333–34. Burelle’s invaluable book contains the exchanges between Pelletier and him concerning the meetings.

  46. Trudeau, Memoirs, 316. On Trudeau’s frustration, see Chrétien, Straight from the Heart, 181. Trudeau asked Chrétien, when they sat together in the Commons, “if … [Chrétien] had heard when the decision was coming, and he seemed uncomfortable in having his schedule [to have the pact signed on Canada Day 1981] upset.”

  47. Sheppard and Valpy, National Deal, 256–58. Kirby’s central role is described in detail in this book, for which Kirby is a key source.

  48. The account of Lévesque is taken from Godin, L’Homme brisé, chap. 14, which has wonderful detail and a good discussion of those who made up the Quebec delegation. On Claude Morin, see his Lendemains piégés: Du référendum à la nuit des longs couteaux (Montréal: Boréal, 1988), 289–99. Chrétien, Straight from the Heart, 182–83. Peckford is quoted in Byers, ed., Canadian Annual Review 1981, 57.

  49. Chrétien, Straight from the Heart, 185. Clarkson and McCall have some excellent material in their account of the deal based on interviews with principals, notably Trudeau himself (Heroic Delusion, 380–85). Mr. Chrétien has confirmed the substance of this account.

  50. Charron made the comment in the CBC/NFB film documentary The Champions, part 3. Lévesque biographer Pierre Godin has commented that the statement about what each represented was often made by Lévesque.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN: HARD TIMES