Contender from Quebec

About the hottest contender for Pearson's job is the man who drew up much of last week's agenda for reform and argued persuasively for its adoption. Though he has not yet said whether he wants the post, Justice Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 46, has become something of a Roman candle in the usually staid, grey world of Canadian politics--and thus a candidate without having to declare himself one.

Bachelor Trudeau drives a fast sports car, skis, skindives, holds a judo brown belt and dresses in a highly individualistic style; he was once reprimanded by ex-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker for wearing a sports shirt and ascot in Parliament. But he is also a widely traveled law professor and economist and --very important--a bilingual Quebecois who gets along as well at the mannerly teas of the English-speaking majority as at mercurial political rallies in Quebec and Montreal. A firm opponent of separatism, Trudeau believes that the only way to discourage it is to make French Canadians feel as comfort able elsewhere in Canada as they are in French-speaking Quebec.

The Liberal Party will choose Pearson's successor at a convention in April, and he will carry on as Prime Minister until he calls an election or the Conservative Party forces him to the polls. Already, campaign committees for Trudeau have sprung up in many cities, and a straw poll shows him leading other contenders for the nomination in five Toronto constituencies. The fact that Trudeau sat by Pearson's right hand throughout last week's conference gave him another boost. Three announced candidates for the nomination--Finance Minister Mitchell Sharp, 56, External Affairs Secretary Paul Martin, 64, and Transport Minister Paul Hellyer, 44--took turns sitting on Pearson's left in order to get equal time before the TV cameras.

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