[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Pages 20907-20908]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         PIERRE ELLIOT TRUDEAU

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, it is often said that Canada and the U.S. 
share the longest undefended border in the world. While this is 
repeated so often it has become a cliche, like all cliches, there is a 
fundamental truth in it. In this case, the fundamental truth is a 
striking geopolitical reality which Americans do not always appreciate. 
The peace we enjoy in North America is largely a function of this 
border.
  With our neighbor to the north, we share a border of approximately 
4,000 miles, a border that runs through New England and the Great 
Lakes, through the great forests, plains, and mountains, and along the 
Alaskan frontier of this rich North American continent. Mutually 
respected sovereignty is the fundamental basis of peaceful 
international discourse. But I will add that an undefended border makes 
for the warmest of relations, and the greatest of respect.
  Last Thursday, Canada lost perhaps its best known Prime Minister of 
recent times, when Pierre Elliott Trudeau died, at the age of 80. For 
the past week, our neighbors to the north have been in mourning, and I 
stand today to pay my respects to the family of former Prime Minister 
Trudeau and to all the citizens of the country he served with singular 
dedication.
  Mr. Trudeau and I did not share a common political tradition, nor did 
we share a political ideology. This does not diminish my respect for 
the man and his work one bit. I note, with appreciation, that one of 
Mr. Trudeau's mottos was ``reason before passion,'' a principle I 
certainly believe conservative lawmakers would share.
  I admired former Prime Minister Trudeau for his dedication to his 
country, to the rule of law, and to the betterment of the world. In his 
moving tribute at his father's funeral earlier this week, Justin 
Trudeau said, ``My father's fundamental belief never came from a 
textbook, it stemmed from his deep love and faith in all Canadians.''
  Pierre Trudeau led Canada at a tumultuous time in its history and in 
the history of the world. In 1970, he was confronted with a terrorist, 
separatist threat from Quebecois extremists. Prime Minister Trudeau--
who, in Canadian history, was at the time, only its third of Quebecois 
descent himself--was a dedicated federalist and, even more 
fundamentally, dedicated to the rule of law. He faced down the 
terrorists, and since then issues of separatism have been dealt with at 
the ballot box. While he successfully defended the rule of law, 
Canadians recognize the advances he instituted to preserve Canada's 
unique cultural diversity.
  Mr. Trudeau had a different view of geopolitics than did most of the 
American administrations with which he dealt. It is said that he 
succeeded, at times, in aggravating U.S. presidents from Nixon to 
Reagan.
  Some of this had to do, in my opinion, with the nature of the 
relationship between our countries. While Canada is the second largest 
political land-mass in the world, its population is small, 
approximately one-tenth of ours, and its economy is dwarfed by ours. In 
fact, the former Prime Minister famously said once: ``Living next to 
you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how 
friendly and even-tempered is the beast, one is affected by every 
twitch and grunt.''
  While Mr. Trudeau held substantively different views on the world 
than many American leaders, he demonstrated that policy disputes can 
exist and nations remain civilized and respectful. And that is how I 
think of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

[[Page 20908]]

  In closing, I wish to note another story his son, Justin, told at his 
father's funeral this week. He recounted how, as a child, his father 
took him one day for lunch at the cafeteria in Ottawa's Parliament. 
There, young Justin saw a political rival of his father and made a 
childish crack about him to his dad. His father sternly rebuked him 
and, according to his son, said ``You never attack the person. You may 
be in total disagreement with the person; however, you shouldn't 
denigrate him.'' That day, Pierre Trudeau taught his son, who is now a 
teacher, that ``having different opinions from those of another person 
should in no way stop you from holding them in the greatest respect 
possible as people.''
  That is the principle of a civilized man, and the practice of a 
civilized nation. As the world bids adieu to Pierre Trudeau, I extend 
my deepest condolences to his family and to all the good citizens of 
our great neighbor Canada.

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