At the risk of boring you with very recent political "history," there is, still, today, in 2022, a substantial wing of the
Liberal Party that
believes that Pierre Trudeau was right.
In 1968 Pierre Trudeau, along with a great many - likely a solid majority of the younger (age 16-30) cohort -
believed (I think that's the right word) that the
USA, in pursuit off unrestrained free-market capitalism for the world, was a greater threat to world peace than were
China and the
USSR and Marxist-Leninist communism. The Vietnam war energized that cohort and made their politics matter.
Pierre Trudeau wanted to detach Canada from the American orbit, but that was, as he discovered, much easier said than done. First, he bumped into a large minority, in his own
Liberal Party, led by e.g. Paul Martin Sr and Mitchell Sharp, that disagreed. Second, his friends in the Euro-American socialist movement wanted to "reform" America, not cast it and its leadership and protection aside.
Pierre Trudeau was not, in any comprehensible way, a
Liberal he certainly wasn't a
liberal. In the 1960s he was, politically, on the
socially progressive/anti-American wing of the then newly formed
NDP. But he became symbolic of Canada in the 1960s and even when new leaders, like John Manley, disavowed almost every single one of Pierre Trudeau's policies they remained loyal to the brand ... and 21st century
Liberals remain equally loyal to the brand name and equally committed to what they
believe Pierre Trudeau wanted.
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Edited to add: I
believe that one of the few things that Justin Trudeau
believes - and not just because Gerry Butts and Katie Telford tell him to believe it - is that his father was great man and his ideas are still good, today.
nationalpost.com
therealstory.substack.com
