GREAT interview clip with PM Trudeau - Reporter smackdown on FLQ crisis

[MountainRunner]

This is great.  It is 36 years old, but it's refreshing.  Decisive political leadership in action.  I wonder what the response would be today?

"Canada looks more like a police state than a democracy eight days after the kidnapping of British Trade Commissioner James Cross. On Parliament Hill, a reporter confronts Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau: "What is it with all these men and guns around here?" With army tanks and men in full gear, Trudeau boosted national security. But the military's presence makes some Canadians feel a whole lot more insecure. How far will the prime minister extend law and order? Just watch him."

http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-71-162-429-11/conflict_war/twt/ (Approx. 4 mins)

 

[Cloud Cover]

WTF was so great about that?
The former PM being interviewed was responsible for letting the situation get out of hand to begin with. Then he calls out the army to save his own butt.

 

[Slim]

WTF was so great about that?
The former PM being interviewed was responsible for letting the situation get out of hand to begin with. Then he calls out the army to save his own butt.

I agree with you completely Whiskey...

...But I do like the "Just watch me" comment. :cheers:

 

[herseyjh]

I think the FLQ could be blamed for letting things get out of hand.  Either way you have to give the man credit for how he handled himself during the interview.

 

[2 Cdo]

Sorry as a member of the Forces who remembers the "Trudeau years" of my fathers service as well as my first couple of years, I cannot give that man credit for anything except the begining of the slow bleeding to the Canadian ARMED Forces.  :threat:

I forgot, we are no longer ARMED, thanks to that POS Trudeau!

 

[MountainRunner]

Love him or hate him, I enjoyed the "interview".
Afterall, how often do you see a politician turn the tables on a reporter and make him squirm?

Trudeau: "So what would you suggest? That we protect no one since we can't protect everyone?"

 

[x westie]

Sorry as a member of the Forces who remembers the "Trudeau years" of my fathers service as well as my first couple of years, I cannot give that man credit for anything except the beginning of the slow bleeding to the Canadian ARMED Forces.  :threat:

I forgot, we are no longer ARMED, thanks to that POS Trudeau!         

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I often wondered how Trudeau had the nerve to attend Remembrance Day Ceremonies at the Cenotaph in Ottawa, all those vets from WW2 with their medals,on parade in the cold November chill,all from that generation that went to war, {Trudeau was born in 1919, would have been 20 when the war started in 1939}, managed to avoid going overseas, even as a medic, claims that he didn't want to fight a war for the British Empire. I don't have alot of respect for this guy.

 

[nULL]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I often wondered how Trudeau had the nerve to attend Remembrance Day Ceremonies at the Cenotaph in Ottawa, all those vets from WW2 with their medals,on parade in the cold November chill,all from that generation that went to war, {Trudeau was born in 1919, would have been 20 when the war started in 1939}, managed to avoid going overseas, even as a medic, claims that he didn't want to fight a war for the British Empire. I don't have alot of respect for this guy.

He served his country in other ways.

 

[x westie]

He served his country in other ways.

                                              Please explain how he served his country?????

 

[Michael Dorosh]

I think the FLQ could be blamed for letting things get out of hand.  Either way you have to give the man credit for how he handled himself during the interview.

That's all he was good for....PR....

 

[Michael Dorosh]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I often wondered how Trudeau had the nerve to attend Remembrance Day Ceremonies at the Cenotaph in Ottawa, all those vets from WW2 with their medals,on parade in the cold November chill,all from that generation that went to war, {Trudeau was born in 1919, would have been 20 when the war started in 1939}, managed to avoid going overseas, even as a medic, claims that he didn't want to fight a war for the British Empire. I don't have alot of respect for this guy.

He was an officer, and he didn't go overseas because Canada was an all-volunteer army as far as combat employment overseasgoes until Nov 1944.

Why dilute the gene pool with draftees?

As for Rememberance Day, I'll go you one better.  On June 6th, 1984, he arrived in Normandy to be met by Canadian veterans (who had to sit in the back of the bleachers at the 40th anniversary commemoration while the politicians sat up front) who reportedly called out "we didn't need you then, we don't need you now."

EDIT - hmm, watching the clip he comes off rather well.  Though I think he had nerve calling the reporter (not directly ) a "bleeding heart" and criticized those that "just don't like seeing people with helmets and guns." If nothing else, Trudeau was very much a political opportunist; that was a brilliant example of that.  I'll give him this - he stuck to his true strengths.

 

[nULL]

                                              Please explain how he served his country?????

He performed a very difficult yet essential job during one of the most turbulent periods in modern Canadian history, and did so with grace and panache. While the same could very generally be said about the military personnel of this era, the main difference between the two parties is that even after his death he is still being slandered and denigrated by the latter.

Your not having respect for a dead Canadian prime minister says infinitely more about you then it ever could about him.

 

[Koenigsegg]

I like the clip because it shows how he would alsways take a stance and stick with it all the way through.  A lot of politicians just sit on the fence and see what way the wind blows.  He was demonstrating a sort of iron fist that was important for that time and all politicians, a push over gets you nowhere.  Said things how they were and how he saw them, he did not tip-toe through the tulips.  He made have put us in a whole lot more debt and brushed a lot of people the wrong way, but he had a lot of character and was reasonable.  If you did not deserve something, you did not get it, like Quebec.  What a witty dude.  We could use a guy like him now, but someone who is good with money and current economics...

 

[TCBF]

"I forgot, we are no longer ARMED, .."

Members of the federal cabinet were issued handguns in Oct 1970.  After the crisis, they all gave them back - EXCEPT PM Trudeau.

Tom

 

[Cloud Cover]

Tom: I didn't know that....  Jean Chretien had a handgun? The possibilities are endless ... 

 

[lawandorder]

Its hard to pin the drain of the CF on Trudeau and easy in hindsite.  No other Prime Minister back then was really any better in that regard.  Look at Diefenbaker.  Cancelled the AVRO Arrow.  They all slashed the CF budget to put other things in. 

Trudeau was a good man who did a lot for the country, although we did slip in to a tad bit of debt.

At least now we can agree that it looks like they're trying ot put the wheels back on the track.

 

[TCBF]

After Dief cancelled the Arrow, the Libs said they would have done it sooner.  The RCAF said 'can it' because it was swallowing too much of their coin while they were engaging in other expensive and technically risky projects like the Mid-Canada Line, the Pinetree Line,  THREE HUNDRED Mk.5 and 6 Sabres in an Air Division in Europe, integration of the CF-100 Canuck, etc.

Nothing new here, and it was not necessarily a better aircraft than those like the XF-108, which the Americans cancelled for some similar reasons.

Now, if politics at the time would have allowed a national tech program to fund the Arrow, Iroquois engine and the wpn system outside of the RCAF budget...

But it didn't, and still doesn't.

Tom

 

[2 Cdo]

Trudeau was a good man who did a lot for the country, although we did slip in to a tad bit of debt.
Good for the country? Tad bit of debt? Understatement of the century!

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Good for the country? Tad bit of debt? Understatement of the century!

There's nothing wrong with going into debt if you come back out of it (which we did) and have something to show for it afterwards.  On a personal level, I finally climbed out of debt at the start of this year, and have a nice TV, a car, a brand new computer, lots of books and stuff I enjoy every day.

But for the life of me, and perhaps 2 Cdo will agree with me, I can't think of anything tangible we got for the money we gave to the Rt Hon Mr. Trudeau to spend.  The 1976 olympics?  Too bad the roof of the damn stadium caved in, eh?  Multiculturalism?  Official bilingualism?  Well, except in Quebec where you can't post signs in English even though we have to read the Rice Krispies box in two languages in Alberta. 

The Leopard tanks were nice and so were the CF-18s and MLVWs and Sea Kings and CC-130s.  Too bad we're still using them...

 

[nULL]

Well, the prime minister has to deal with other issues besides the military. Couldn't we redirect blame onto a senior military leadership that failed to adapt to the political realities and tailor their requests accordingly?

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