Prime Ministers of Canada

Before he was elected to office, he hitch-hiked across North Africa, swam the Bosporus Strait on a whim, and ran with the bulls in Pamplona, twice. Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada's 15th prime minister, could be called the most colourful of them all. Trudeau was confident that his informed opinions were good for all Canadians. Not everyone agreed. Suspending civil liberties with the War Measures Act wasn't even his most controversial decision, at least, not to those who are still stuttering mad about his National Energy Program or White Paper on Indian Affairs. From his youth as a backwoods canoeist and political activist, to his retirement from politics and the law, Pierre Trudeau lived a life that was, as he put it, "one long curve, full of turning points." That long curve is traced in this new biography, with turning points from Pierre Trudeau's home life, his political machinations, and the lifelong love he had for wilderness places. Details come together here in a narrative that shows how he became a citizen of the world.

Not the worst prime minister of Canada, but not by much, Tupper held office for only ten weeks during an election before reluctantly conceding he lost. As a member of Parliament, he always kept his doctor's bag under his desk, and Parliament kept two bars open while in session. There's a famous Canadian painting of the Fathers of Confederation, with John A. Macdonald at the centre of the assembly. But who is the man on the right of the painting, at the focus of their attention? That man in his mutton-chop sideburns is Dr. Charles Tupper. Queen Victoria granted him a knighthood for his role in bringing together the Confederation of Canada. He kept Confederation together when his home province of Nova Scotia voted to leave and when Red River voted to join as a new province. Sir Charles Tupper became the sixth prime minister of Canada, but only after his party exhausted all alternatives. At 69 days, his term in office is the shortest yet for any Canadian prime minister. Yet his influence was far greater than that brief term, including policies that were disastrous for First Nations peoples in the Western provinces.