Step Toward Policy

"In all our history," said the Toronto Star, "probably no man has entered the prime ministry so untried, so unfamiliar, so formless in his policies, yet so capable of capturing the imagination of so many Canadians." As he took over the leadership of the Liberal Party from Lester Pearson and prepared to succeed him as Canada's 15th Prime Minister next week, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 48, began slowly to give his policies a little more form--and himself something of a new image.

Meeting with reporters in Ottawa, Trudeau called for a "just society" in Canada and a "complete reassessment" of the country's foreign policy, particularly of Canada's role in NATO. Terming it "essential" that Canada and France improve their relations, Trudeau offered to meet personally with Charles de Gaulle. Within hours after his election he also moved to heal some of the divisions caused within his party by the scramble for Pearson's job (one Cabinet minister resigned in a huff).

Trying to preserve at least a semblance of party solidarity, Trudeau asked most of the six Cabinet ministers who had run against him for the Liberal leadership to stay on and serve in his own Cabinet--at least until he calls general elections, probably in the fall. "I'm concerned with this problem of unity," he said. "After this kind of battle, there are always some scars left, not so much in terms of ideologies as in terms of personalities." By settling its own differences, Trudeau suggested, the party can help settle the broader differences within the country itself. "This image of the party--united, progressive, turned toward the future--must be the model for Canada."

At the same time, Bachelor Trudeau set out to shed his image as a carefree ladies' man and swinger. "I expect to start mounting some opposition to my former self," he said. "I will not be the Pierre Elliott Trudeau I used to be." The demands of his new job will see to that. Rather than leggy young women, he suddenly found himself surrounded by burly bodyguards. Instead of driving his powder blue Mercedes, he is now being chauffeured in a Chevrolet. And at week's end, forgoing the usual victory parties, he went into seclusion "somewhere on the continent" to bone up for his new job.

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