Young Trudeau 1919 1944

This book shines a light of devastating clarity on French-Canadian society in the 1930s and 1940s, when young elites were raised to be pro-fascist, and democratic and liberal were terms of criticism. The model leaders to be admired were good Catholic dictators like Mussolini, Salazar in Portugal, Franco in Spain, and especially Pétain, collaborator with the Nazis in Vichy France. There were even demonstrations against Jews who were demonstrating against the Nazis' actions in Germany. Trudeau, far from being the rebel that other biographers have claimed, embraced this ideology. At his elite school, Brébeuf, he was a model student, the editor of the school magazine, and admired by the staff and his fellow students. But the fascist ideas and the people he admired—even when the war was going on, as late as 1944—included extremists so terrible that at the war’s end they were shot. And then there’s his manifesto and his plan to stage a revolution against les Anglais. This is astonishing material—and it’s all demonstrably true—based on Trudeau's personal papers that the authors were allowed to access after his death. What they have found has astounded and distressed them, but they both agree that the truth must be published. Translated by William Johnson, this explosive book is a key part of Canadian political history.

"Published in 2011 as "Trudeau, fils du Quaebec, paere du Canada, Tome 2: La formation of d'un homme D'aEtat" by Les aEditions de L'Homme"--T.p. verso.

This book shines a light of devastating clarity on French-Canadian society in the 1930s and 1940s, when young elites were raised to be pro-fascist, and democratic and liberal were terms of criticism. The model leaders to be admired were good Catholic dictators like Mussolini, Salazar in Portugal, Franco in Spain, and especially Pétain, collaborator with the Nazis in Vichy France. There were even demonstrations against Jews who were demonstrating against the Nazis' actions in Germany. Trudeau, far from being the rebel that other biographers have claimed, embraced this ideology. At his elite school, Brébeuf, he was a model student, the editor of the school magazine, and admired by the staff and his fellow students. But the fascist ideas and the people he admired—even when the war was going on, as late as 1944—included extremists so terrible that at the war’s end they were shot. And then there’s his manifesto and his plan to stage a revolution against les Anglais. This is astonishing material—and it’s all demonstrably true—based on Trudeau's personal papers that the authors were allowed to access after his death. What they have found has astounded and distressed them, but they both agree that the truth must be published. Translated by William Johnson, this explosive book is a key part of Canadian political history.

This groundbreaking biography, now in paperback, continues the story begun in Young Trudeau, taking Canada's legendary Prime Minister from his pro-fascist youth all the way to his entry into federal politics as a crusading Liberal democrat. When he went to Harvard in 1944, Pierre Trudeau was twenty-five, a recent graduate of the University of Montreal Law School; true to his elite Catholic-French education, he had been till recently pro-fascist, and he disliked democracy. Years of graduate study at Harvard, then the Sorbonne, then the London School of Economics exposed him to new ideas, as did his hitchhiking travels around the world. Returned to Quebec as a new man, he engaged in educating workers and other jobs that made him a famous defender of federal democracy. He entered Parliament in 1965, within three years of rocketing, Obama-like, to the very top.

This magnificent second volume, written with exclusive access to Trudeau’s private papers and letters, completes what the Globe and Mail called “the most illuminating Trudeau portrait yet written” — sweeping us from sixties’ Trudeaumania to his final days when he debated his faith. His life is one of Canada’s most engrossing stories. John English reveals how for Trudeau style was as important as substance, and how the controversial public figure intertwined with the charismatic private man and committed father. He traces Trudeau’s deep friendships (with women especially, many of them talented artists, like Barbra Streisand) and bitter enmities; his marriage and family tragedy. He illuminates his strengths and weaknesses — from Trudeaumania to political disenchantment, from his electrifying response to the kidnappings during the October Crisis, to his all-important patriation of the Canadian Constitution, and his evolution to influential elder statesman.

William Johnson was the first to write a book about Stephen Harper, and he has become the authority on Harper. Who is this man? Everyone knows that he became leader of the Alliance Party and, against all odds, gathered in the old Conservative Party to create a force designed to win power. Yet what are his core beliefs? Where will he takes us now that he has gained power? William Johnson has researched the Harper family background and the historical context that shaped Harper’s political career. He paints a fascinating picture of a man who, like Pierre Trudeau, trained mentally for political power like an athlete training for the Olympics, yet is not a natural politician and never really wanted the political leader’s life. By studying Harper’s approach to the main issues in Canadian politics, he shows that Harper is a sophisticated political operative, far more complex and intellectual than the right-wing Republican image that has been created for him. For the paperback edition, Johnson has updated this serious, objective biography with several new chapters taking us right up through Harper’s early days in power.