I happened to be in Montreal when Pierre Trudeau’s funeral service was held in 2000.
asserted
service → happen → 2000
Notre-Dame Basilica was packed with mourners, so I stood outside in Place d’Armes, one among the many hundreds listening to the service on loudspeakers and saying our sad farewells.
asserted
I → pack → farewells
I was struck by how the very architecture of the surroundings spoke to the always frosty relationship between the former prime minister and the business community.
asserted
architecture → strike → minister
The soaring spires of the Basilica, completed in 1830, dominated one side of the square.
asserted
spires → soar → square
On the opposite side stood the head office of Bank of Montreal, built in 1847, with its six sturdy Corinthian columns and stately dome.
asserted
office → stand → columns
During a previous incarnation, I was press secretary to the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, Robert Stanfield, who lost three elections to Trudeau.
asserted
who → lose → Trudeau
Politicians regularly receive requests from groups for messages to be read aloud on special occasions.
asserted
messages → receive → occasions
One such plea to Stanfield that I saw was for a message to be sent to a Chamber of Commerce lunch that was to say, simply: “Profit is not a dirty word.”
asserted
Profit → see → lunch
A telegram was duly dispatched and, presumably, read to a rousing round of applause.
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telegram → dispatch → applause
Trudeau would never send such a communication.
asserted
Trudeau → send → communication
For all his political success and personal charisma, the one connection that he never consummated was with business.
asserted
he → consummate → business
Trudeau and the business community stood apart, just like the bank and the Basilica, Mammon and God, resolute and unmoving, ever wary and watchful of each other.
asserted
Trudeau → stand → other
No corporate directorships with their six-digit retainers were taken up by Trudeau after he retired from politics.
asserted
he → take → politics
Trudeau’s father had been in business but sold his company.
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father → sell → company
As a result, Pierre grew up with inherited wealth.
asserted
Pierre → grow → wealth
There was little need for him to work.
asserted
him → be → ?
Instead, he travelled, taught, took on causes, and wrote.
asserted
he → travel → causes
I’ve heard many corporate executives hold his past against him, saying, “He never met a payroll.”
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He → hear → payroll
As if he could have changed his heritage even if he’d sought to.
uncertain
he → change → heritage
Nor did Trudeau have close friends or advisors from business.
asserted
Trudeau → have → business
He embraced people in the arts, academia, labour, and politics, but had little concern for commerce beyond what he’d learned at the London School of Economics from Marxist Harold Laski.
asserted
he → embrace → Laski
Those closest to Trudeau in the federal public service were more interested in the machinery of government than creating an environment in which Canadian businesses could flourish.
uncertain
businesses → create → which
That studied indifference had serious policy implications.
asserted
indifference → study → implications
I’m no historian, but the government of Pierre Trudeau must have been among the most interventionist in Canada’s annals.
asserted
government → ’m → annals
To be sure, many industrialized nations of that era were activist, but few leaders of any democratic country set out as Trudeau did to nationalize the oil and gas industry or invoke budgetary measures without even consulting his own minister of finance.
Trudeau also carried out economic flip-flops with no attempt to seek consensus with those affected.
asserted
Trudeau → set → those
In the 1974 election, he ran against price and income controls, saying derisively, “Zap, you’re frozen.”
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you → run → controls
A year later he brought in controls, thus drinking deeply from the very beaker that he had pronounced held poison.
asserted
he → bring → poison
Until Trudeau stepped down in 1984, business and Ottawa were at such loggerheads that executives would grouse and wonder what Ottawa could possibly be thinking.
uncertain
Ottawa → step → what
For their part, when business did come calling, civil servants and cabinet ministers alike would heave a sigh and say, “What do they want now?”
asserted
they → come → What
Some of the blame must fall on business leaders themselves because too few of them run for office.
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few → fall → office
Among all Canadian prime ministers, only R. B. Bennett and Paul Martin qualify as businessmen.
asserted
Bennett → qualify → businessmen
Louis St. Laurent and Brian Mulroney both presided over companies, but they were lawyers who had landed at the top and didn’t work their way up from within.
asserted
who → preside → within
Of course, the promise of strong, self-sufficient leadership was what drew Canadians to Pierre Trudeau in the first place.
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what → draw → place
That was why in 1968 I went to see him campaigning in Toronto’s west end with my son, Mark, not yet three years old, perched on my shoulders amid the teeming outdoor crowd.
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him → go → crowd
Pierre’s son, Justin, was not half the man his father was, nor did he have any closer connection with business.
asserted
he → have → business
But, love Pierre or hate him, at least we always knew where he stood when he was in our midst.
asserted
he → love → midst
The Aporia
