WATERLOO — Pierre Trudeau was accused of being a lot of things. Flamboyant and arrogant. Charismatic and intimidating. Preserver of national unity and hostile to the West. But a pack rat?
The second volume of his exhaustive biography by Waterloo’s John English certainly wouldn’t be nearly as interesting if it weren’t true. Trudeau saved everything, from childhood report cards, sketches and receipts to girlfriends’ letters, post cards and cabinet notes.
That handed English a “staggering” stash of records, personal papers and documents to wade through for his new book, Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1968-2000. At once fascinating and elusive, they gave the biographer the impression that Trudeau always intended the material for future public consumption.
“He had a sense of destiny about him,” English said yesterday from his office at the Centre for International Governance Innovation on Erb Street. “He really wanted to be in public life, to make an imprint on the world. He pretty much structured his life around those ambitions.”
With the family’s blessing, English had exclusive access to those papers and co-operation from some unlikely interviewees. Though he gave them copies before the book was published, the Trudeaus didn’t interfere editorially.
“They’re a very private family. They had to trust me not to damage their father’s memory,” he said. “But they were objective about it and let me tell the truth as I saw it.”
The sheer volume of material made the hardest part of his job deciding what to leave out. The first draft of the book came in at over 1,000 pages. English and an editor had to go through the “painful” process to cut it down to 789 pages.
Though the biography pulls back the curtain on corners of Trudeau’s guarded private life, particularly in his exploits with women, some things were left out — including details involving people who are still alive and asked for discretion, English said.
But what he did include offers some intriguing revelations about how Trudeau’s personal turmoil, especially the breakup of his marriage to Margaret, affected his political judgment. That surprised English more than anything.
“He seemed so stoic and cold, but in reality it was tearing his guts out,” said English, who served as a Liberal MP from 1993 to 1997.
Considering it spans his years as prime minister, Trudeau’s policy and political legacy gets significant attention in the biography. Many reviewers, though, have focused on what the book says about the prime minister’s complicated relationship with women — living with his mother until he was nearly 40, his early heartbreak, the serial dating of celebrities, including Barbara Streisand, Kim Cattrall and Liona Boyd.
“It was as if he needed to prove he was attractive to women, and to himself,” English said. “When it came to women, he was not enlightened. He was traditional.”
Part of that could stem from Trudeau’s early years and his heartbreak at the hands of his first lovers, he said.
“He grew up in a very intense and sheltered environment. He was strongly attracted to women, but really didn’t know any other than his mother,” English said. “His early experiences weren’t very positives ones. It left an imprint and made him wary of close relationships.”
It’s been more than 25 years since he served as prime minister, and yet we can’t seem to read enough about him. English thinks the Trudeau biography industry still thrives because the man’s life makes such a great story.
“This was a fellow who had an extraordinary life, but he also shaped our country,” he said. “You could argue he had more impact on us than any other prime minister, except maybe John A. MacDonald.”
And there are more stories to tell about Trudeau’s life and role in some of Canada’s major turning points, but the biographer wants a break first. He needs to show some friends he still exists, after vanishing for months to write the new book, which he did on top of his job as executive director of CIGI.
“My social life ended for a while there,” he said. “This took a lot of energy out of me.”
English will discuss his book further during an onstage interview with University of Waterloo president David Johnson Wednesday, during an invitation-only book launch hosted by the Canadian International Council, a foreign-policy think tank. English will also attend a book signing at Words Worth Books in Waterloo on Nov. 25.