BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.

Subject: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Metchosin
Date: 28 Sep 00 - 10:19 PM

His politics weren't mine, he was an elitist and I believed him to be superficial in his personal life, but despite that, I am truly sad this evening.

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Sep 00 - 10:22 PM

I was going to ask how Canadians view him but never mind...

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: balladeer
Date: 28 Sep 00 - 10:34 PM

I loved the idea of him. He was exciting. As long as he was alive, there was always the possibility he would do or say something just a little unusual. I will miss his out-of-the-ordinari-ness.

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Mbo
Date: 28 Sep 00 - 10:39 PM

WHO is Pierre???

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Sep 00 - 10:57 PM

Mbo, that's Pierre Trudeau, Canada's prime minister from- when was it? the 70's? Controversial, colorful- from a USser's pov. Died today at the age of 80.

Ebbie

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Mbo
Date: 28 Sep 00 - 10:59 PM

Ah!

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: bbelle
Date: 28 Sep 00 - 11:00 PM

Funny, I haven't seen a photo of him in years. I always thought he was handsome. In my mind, he will always be young and handsome.

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Little Hawk
Date: 28 Sep 00 - 11:33 PM

Pierre Trudeau was an extraordinary man. I didn't always agree with him, but I respect him tremendously. I will truly and deeply miss him, and I will never forget him. He was the one and only, and had more courage than your average 10 federal politicians put together.

He will, as moonjen indicated, always be special, and in a sense always be young and handsome. He defined the times like none other in Canadian politics, from the late sixties right on through.

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Bugsy
Date: 28 Sep 00 - 11:39 PM

He was very well respected from outside Canada, if you know what I mean. I always liked him.

I am sad to hear that he has passed on.

Vale Pierre.

Cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Peter T.
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 09:32 AM

Whatever you think of him (and I was a confessed fan of everything but his political philosophy, which was wrongheaded) he was a real person. When a real person dies, a little life goes. So many people are half-dead already, or plastic, that he always stood out as fully real, fully alive. We always mourn the loss of real people. yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Little Neophyte
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 09:41 AM

I agree with Peter. Trudeau was a real person. Real people have a vibrance about them because they are truly alive. In that sense, I will alway admire Pierre Trudeau and remember the great teaching he left us all.
The value of being a real person.

Bonnie

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: sian, west wales
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 09:51 AM

Whether you were a Trudeaumaniac or Trudeauphobic, he made us sit up and take notice of politics again. What an enigma - Quebecois, federalist (probably a republican for that matter). A man who spearheaded the idea of an officially bilingual Canada, but who also invoked the War Measures Act in his own province. I blessed him in the mid-seventies for the wage/price freeze (although many didn't) - I'm not sure how I would have managed to survive in Toronto at the time on that paltry first-job-in- the- theatre income without it!

And,hey! Didn't Mad Margaret his then-wife run off with the Stones, or something? Decades before Charles 'n' Di or Imelda Marcos.

Probably one of the top 4 flamboyant PMs in Canada's history. Hope someone writes a song about him someday...

sian

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 09:52 AM

History has shown us that not everything he did was best for Canada. However I truly believe that any decision he made he felt was best for us. And he had the will to carry them through.

Pierre had more gumption than any leader I've seen.

I'll miss the man.

I was appalled driving over 50 Klms into work today that I saw only one flag at half mast and it was at the Yamaha Head office. What the hell is wrong with us?

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: SINSULL
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 10:06 AM

Trudeau will always be 35 and dashing and handsome. You didn't have to agree with him to admire him. From an outsider's point of view, he changed Canadian politics forever, changed Canada's relationship with Britain forever, and changed Canada's "place" in world politics forever.

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: GUEST,Russ
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 10:29 AM

I lived in Buffalo NY while he was Prime Minister. Listened to CBC faithfully because it was by far the best radio network I had ever heard. I was a young at the time and I was fascinated by Pierre and a bit envious of Canadians because they had such a supremely cool leader while we were stuck with old farts. Perhaps my take would have been significantly different had I actually lived in Canada, but for me too he will always be bright, alive, young, sophisticated, cosmopolitain, witty, etc. He reminded me so much of John Kennedy. Worth his weight in gold for sheer entertainment value.

I am truly saddened at his passing.

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 11:34 AM

Wow, what an interesting guy. The closest we'll ever get to a world leader with an actual "personality".(other than the completely insane ones)

His politics were inconsequential to me, simply because when he accepted the mantle of leadership he would have had to temper many of his actual beliefs. How he managed to deal every day with the grey bureaucrats that surrounded him I'll never know, but at least for a few years I guess he found the "trade-off" livable.

For a couple of years I was the Liberal Party's "hired sing-along gun", going out to entertain the Party faithful before Trudeau would make his speech, and afterward while the cheques were being written. I had a chance to talk with him a couple of times, and although I couldn't understand the whole "charisma" thing (he was short, skinny and seemed dis-interested in Politics and especially Politicians) I felt honoured that he'd chat with the folksinger. He knew a bit about Dylan, but since I knew he'd had a long affair with Liona Boyd, I tried to talk classical guitar......he was polite, which I thought was nice of him.

Heather and I often talk about which Political leaders would be fun to have to dinner. We figured that Reagan would have good movie stories, Jean Cretien would be incomprehensible, no matter WHAT he talked abut, Margaret Thatcher would be simply boring. Clinton might come down to the basement and jam on his sax. Afterward he'd tell Peter T. and I harrowing stories of almost being caught in "Flagrante delecto". We figure Carter's the guy we'd like

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 11:45 AM

C'est vraiment triste, je suis d'accord. Et j'ai eu peur ce matin, en me reveillant avec ces nouvelles, parceque je n'avais entendu que "Trudeau" et je pensait que c'etait le dessinateur...

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: Lyrical Lady
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 11:59 AM

Trudeau was definately the Canadian of the Century. He enlightened a dull, dim and dreary Canada and put it on the map. I think a song about him would be great ....perhaps Barbra would sing it!

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: black walnut
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 03:27 PM

what fun it was to grow up canadian in the trudeaumania years...and what a man to help canada 'grow up'.

~black walnut

Subject: RE: BS: Pierre is gone. Il est mort.
From: sophocleese
Date: 29 Sep 00 - 04:13 PM

When I was in grade nine he came to my school; it was an election year and Trudeaumania was waning. He was my first introduction to what a politician could be like. He spoke well from the stage but still managed to not always answer all of the questions he was asked. I was impressed, frustrated and bored. But I did get to shake his hand as our class was elected to be the welcoming party. I am saddened by his passing but I wonder if he's happy to be gone now.