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The Honourable Donald S. Macdonald’s new memoir, Thumper, offers a behind-the-scenes account of his political career that spanned four decades and included posts as House leader, minister of national defence, minister of energy, and minister of finance.
Drawing on extensive archival resources and contemporaneous personal diaries, Macdonald insightfully details his friendship with Trudeau, fascinating encounters with world leaders, and personal revelations about the October Crisis.
This week, iPolitics posted two key excerpts from Macdonald’s memoir (here and here). The first piece recounts the 1965 transition in the Liberal party with Jean Marchand, Gérard Pelletier, and Pierre Elliott Trudeau, commonly known as ‘Les Trois Colombes’ (The Three Doves). In this second excerpt, Macdonald describes Trudeau’s popular appeal.
Pierre wasn’t just a life force; he had an alluring style. He wore an ascot and sandals to the House. Pierre was also quotable. “The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation,” he famously said when speaking about his omnibus bill. When asked by the media about his Mercedes, he responded, “Do you mean the car or the girl?” He then answered his own question by saying, “No matter, I’m keeping both.” Journalists fawned; Canadians became fans.
Even members of my own family were drawn into his orbit. One evening, when I returned to the House after dinner, I brought along my daughter Nikki, who was then about eleven. Pierre was wearing a safari suit; Diefenbaker twitted him about coming to work in his pyjamas. Amidst the joviality, Pierre noticed Nikki and her blonde pigtails, sitting in the gallery, and summoned a page to take her the red rose from his lapel.
Pierre’s face seemed made for television, the “perfect mask” as it was described by communications guru Marshall McLuhan. Expo 67, the very successful World’s Fair in Montreal, created new-found pride among all Canadians. After far too many years of fractious standoffs in minority Parliaments, Canada seemed ready to head full tilt into the future. Pierre was just the man we needed to take us there.
To learn more about Thumper, click here.
For media requests, please contact Jacqui Davis.
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