BLOC'S DEMAND FOR APOLOGY RIGHTFULLY DENIED
Pierre Trudeau did `many things wrong,' but invoking War Measures Act was not one
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-francois Blanchet wants Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make a formal apology for his father invoking the War Measures Act 50 years ago this month.
Pierre Trudeau did many things wrong during his 15-year tenure as prime minister from 1968 to 1984 (with just a brief time in opposition) but suspending civil liberties for a short period of time to deal with murderous terrorists wasn't one of them.
Context is needed to understand what was going on in Quebec at the time. Throughout the 1960s, the Front de Libération du Québec conducted more than 900 bombings in Quebec. During a single day in 1963, for instance, the Montreal train station, the federal tax building and a CN Rail line were all bombed. Wilfred O'neil, an evening security guard at the Canadian Forces Recruiting Centre, was killed in an explosion that same year, radio stations and Canada Post were targeted. On Feb. 13, 1969, the Montreal Stock Exchange was bombed, injuring 27 people.
The FLQ was a radical separatist group that robbed banks to finance its agenda and stole explosives from construction sites to make bombs. The police infiltrated the group and dozens of those involved in these acts of violence were jailed.
In March 1970, Jacques Lanctot was charged with the foiled kidnapping of an Israeli diplomat, but he was released on bail.
Seven months later, on Oct. 5, 1970, Lanctot joined an armed crew who kidnapped James Cross, the British trade commissioner in Montreal. Five days later, Quebec's deputy premier, Pierre Laporte, was kidnapped from his front yard while he was playing with his children. It would be their last memory of their father.
The FLQ wanted to trade its hostages for 23 FLQ members who were jailed and demanded that a long manifesto be broadcast to the public.
Some news outlets did publish and broadcast the manifesto, but Trudeau remained firm that he would not negotiate with terrorists.
Within days of Laporte's kidnapping, 12,500 troops were on the streets of Quebec and more still were in Ottawa.
CBC journalist Tim Ralfe challenged Trudeau on camera, which led to his famous quote “Well, just watch me” after he was asked how far he would go.
“There are a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns,” continued Trudeau. “All I can say is, go on and bleed, but it is more important to keep law and order in society than to be worried about weak-kneed people.”
Blanchet, who is clearly trying to whip up anti-government fervour in Quebec for his own political benefit, needs to recall that Quebec's premier at the time, Robert Bourassa, and Montreal's powerful Mayor Jean Drapeau asked the federal government to use the War Measures Act.
Also, in the House of Commons, the motion to suspend the civil liberties of Quebecers, which would be the only time that would be done during peacetime in Canada, was passed by a vote of 190 to 16.
NDP Leader Tommy Douglas likened Trudeau's response to the October Crisis as “using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut.”
Trudeau, as usual, was quick on his feet.
“This criticism doesn't take the facts into account. First, peanuts don't make bombs, and don't take hostages and don't assassinate prisoners. And, as for the sledgehammer, it was the only tool at our disposal.”
Critics argue that's incorrect, that the Criminal Code provided all the tools Trudeau needed to quell the crisis. But if that's true, why did the FLQ violence last more than a decade?
A few hours after the War Measures Act came into effect on Oct. 16, 497 people were arrested and as many as 10,000 homes were searched without warrants. Ultimately, just 62 people were charged and 32 were not granted bail.
On Oct. 17, 1970, the body of Laporte was found in the trunk of a car in an airport parking lot after FLQ members tipped off journalists.
Some scholars and historians wonder if Laporte might have survived had the War Measures Act not been used. The French note left with his body said, “faced with the arrogance of the federal government and of its lackey Bourassa, faced with their obvious bad faith, the FLQ has decided to take action.”
Later, however, those responsible say Laporte was killed accidentally after he tried to escape.
The murder of Laporte lost the group many followers and made it nearly impossible to call those from the group already behind bars political prisoners.
Many of those rounded up in the mass arrests may have been separatists, but there was no doubt they weren't terrorists. That was clearly heavy-handed. However, many of them dined out on the notoriety of being one of those swept up under the act, for years if not decades in Quebec. Mistakes were made but Trudeau was not wrong to invoke the War Measures Act.
On Thursday, the Opposition Conservatives voted against the Bloc's motion along with the Liberals.
“For us, the October Crisis is first and foremost the death of the deputy premier of Quebec, Pierre Laporte, a guy who had been elected by the people of Quebec who had been killed by terrorists,” said Opposition House leader Gerard Deltell prior to the vote.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed. “(Laporte) was taken and assassinated by a terrorist cell,” he said. “Those are the events of the October Crisis that we should remember. Yes, there will always be political debates around what happened, but let's remember the fact that a Quebec politician was taken and assassinated in an awful context and we should remember his family and his service.”
No apology required.