Gérard Pelletier

Gérard Pelletier PC (French: [pɛltje]; June 21, 1919 – June 22, 1997) was a Canadian politician, dipolmat and journalist^[1] from Quebec best known for his association with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau that started decades before their entries to the political arena. A long time personal confidant of Trudeau, Pelletier served in Trudeau's cabinet and then in two key diplomatic postings.

Pelletier grew up as one of 8 children in a working-class family. He was educated at the Nicolet Seminary, Collège Mont-Laurier, and the Université de Montréal, where he met fellow student Pierre Trudeau.

Pelletier served as secretary-general of Quebec's Jeunesse étudiante catholique from 1939 to 1943. He later worked in Geneva, Switzerland as a field secretary of the World Student Relief organization.

Pelletier returned to Montreal in 1947 where he became a reporter for Le Devoir, a French-language newspaper in Montreal, Quebec. His reporting of the 1949 Asbestos Strike in Quebec helped accelerated his journalist career and led him to the position of director for the journal of the Catholic Workers Confederation of Canada (later Confederation of National Trade Unions (CNTU)). In 1950 Pelletier, with other French-Canadian intellectuals, Pierre Elliott Trudeau included, founded the journal Cité Libre, a magazine voicing opposition to the socially regressive and antidemocratic policies of the government of Maurice Duplessis as well as the clericalism of the Quebec Catholic Church.

In 1961 he became editor-in-chief of the Montreal daily and North America's largest French circulating newspaper, La Presse. After a prolonged strike in 1964, the owners of La Presse fired him for his radical editorial views.^[1]

In 1964 he made a small appearance in Denis Héroux's student film Over My Head (Jusqu'au cou), as himself in a political debate.^[2]

Pelletier met Trudeau while studying in France and worked with him and Jean Marchand during the Asbestos Strike of 1949 in Quebec. Dubbed the "Three Wise Men" in English and Les trois colombes (The three doves) in French, the trio was recruited by Liberal prime minister Lester Pearson in the 1965 election to help derail the rising Quebec separatist movement. Pelletier contested Hochelaga, then considered a safe seat where the Liberals has won majority of the vote in all but one election since World War I (Pelletier won the district four times but only with majority of the vote once, in the 1968 Trudeaumania election) while Trudeau contested Mount Royal, another safe seat.

Following the Liberal victory, Marchand, having gained as leader of the 1949 Strike, entered cabinet immediately, and Trudeau was promoted into cabinet in 1967 following a stint as parliamentary secretary to Pearson. Pelletier served during his first term as parliamentary secretary to the Secretary of State for External Affairs Paul Martin. In this role, he spearheaded passage of the Official Languages Act through Parliament in 1969.

Being Martin's subordinate made an uncomfortable situation for Pelletier while he prepared his friend Trudeau's bid in the lead up to the 1968 Liberal leadership contest. The runner up to Pearson on the previous leadership contest, Martin was widely expected to contest the leadership again upon Pearson's retirement, and exerted considerable pressure on Pelletier for his support and intelligence on young potential rival. It was reported that Martin sent his son, the future Prime Minister Paul Martin, to convey to Pelletier that he wanted to be identified with the "leading wing of the party and not with the old guard."^[3]

He served in various cabinet posts in the first Trudeau ministry. He entered cabinet as a minister without portfolio immediately following Trudeau's leadership victory in 1968. He was appointed Secretary of State for Canada in the post election shuffle in July. Following the 1972 election, he was appointed Minister of Communications in the post election shuffle, serving until 1975.

He left parliament in 1975. He was appointed Canada's ambassador to France (1975-81) and then Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1981-84).

In 1984, Pelletier became chairman of the board of the National Museums of Canada, a post he held until retiring from public life in 1987.^[1]

In 1978 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

• — (1945). J. E. C. d'aujourd'hui : une étude sur le mouvement. Montreal: Centrale de la Jeunesse étudiante catholique. ISBN 9780458982707. OCLC 465845812. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• —; Pelletier, Alec (1945). Quartier Nord. (illustrations by Julien Hébert). Montreal: Éditions Fides.
• — (1950). Histoire des enfants tristes : un reportage sur l'enfance sans soutien dans la province de Québec. Montreal: L'Action nationale. ISBN 9780458982707. OCLC 49083264. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• — (1962). Le concept d'élasticité chez Marshall et quelques auteurs (Maîtrise). Université Laval.
• — (1965). Confederation at the crossroads. Saskatoon: University of Saskatchewan.
• — (1971). La crise d'octobre. Montreal: Éditions du Jour. OCLC 299724407.
• — (1983). Les années d'impatience : 1950-1960. Montreal: Éditions A. Stanké. ISBN 2-76040214-2.
• — (1983–1992). Souvenirs. Montreal: Éditions A. Stanké. (in three volumes)
• — (1986). Le temps des choix, 1960-1968. Montreal: Éditions A. Stanké. ISBN 2-76040288-6.
• — (1992). Aventure du pouvoir, 1968-1975. Montreal: Éditions A. Stanké. ISBN 2-76040422-6.
• —; Hill, Heather (1995). Le diplomate et l'Africain. Montreal: Éditions A. Stanké. ISBN 2-76040491-9.

• Lamonde, Yvan, ed. (1991). Cité libre : une anthologie. (with the collaboration of Gérard Pelletier). Montreal: Éditions A. Stanké. ISBN 2-76040379-3.

Note: Ralliement créditiste vote is compared to Social Credit vote in the 1963 election.

• Gérard Pelletier – Parliament of Canada biography
• Gérard Pelletier fonds, Library and Archives Canada