Just watch me

Last updated

"Just watch me" is a phrase made famous by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on October 13, 1970, during the October Crisis. The term is still regularly used in Canadian political discussion.

Contents

Trudeau, who had in previous years been a strong proponent of civil liberties, said there was a need for drastic action to restore order in Quebec. When questioned by CBC reporter Tim Ralfe on how far he would go in the suspension of civil liberties to maintain order, Trudeau replied "Well, just watch me."

Three days later, he invoked the War Measures Act , which led to police action against many Quebec dissidents and great public controversy.

Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the '70s Generation is the title of a 1999 documentary by Catherine Annau. The phrase has also been the title of several biographies of Trudeau, e.g., Larry Zolf's Just Watch Me: Remembering Pierre Trudeau (1984); Ron Coleman's Just Watch Me: Trudeau's Tragic Legacy (2003); and the 2nd volume of John English's biography, Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1968–2000 (2009).

Excerpt from interview

The following is a partial transcript of the impromptu interview between Tim Ralfe of the CBC and Trudeau. [1]

Tim Ralfe: …what you're talking about to me is choices, and my choice is to live in a society that is free and democratic, which means that you don't have people with guns running around in it.

Pierre Trudeau: Correct.

Ralfe: And one of the things I have to give up for that choice is the fact that people like you may be kidnapped.

Trudeau: Sure, but this isn't my choice, obviously. You know, I think it is more important to get rid of those who are committing violence against the total society and those who are trying to run the government through a parallel power by establishing their authority by kidnapping and blackmail. And I think it is our duty as a government to protect government officials and important people in our society against being used as tools in this blackmail. Now, you don't agree to this but I am sure that once again with hindsight, you would probably have found it preferable if Mr. Cross and Mr. Laporte had been protected from kidnapping, which they weren't because these steps we're taking now weren't taken. But even with your hindsight I don't see how you can deny that.

Ralfe: No, I still go back to the choice that you have to make in the kind of society that you live in.

Trudeau: Yeah, well there's a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns. All I can say is, go on and bleed, but it's more important to keep law and order in this society than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don't like the looks of a soldier's helmet.

Ralfe: At any cost? How far would you go with that? How far would you extend that?

Trudeau: Well, just watch me.

Ralfe: At reducing civil liberties? To that extent?

Trudeau: To what extent?

Ralfe: Well, if you extend this and you say, ok, you're going to do anything to protect them, does this include wire-tapping, reducing other civil liberties in some way?

Trudeau: Yes, I think the society must take every means at its disposal to defend itself against the emergence of a parallel power which defies the elected power in this country and I think that goes to any distance. So long as there is a power in here which is challenging the elected representative of the people I think that power must be stopped and I think it's only, I repeat, weak-kneed bleeding hearts who are afraid to take these measures.

Contemporary usage

In March 2013, Trudeau's son Justin, while running for the Liberal Party leadership, evoked his father's memory during his campaign by repeating this phrase. It was in answer to a fellow airplane passenger's question in a handwritten note, asking Justin if he could beat Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The comment sparked a frenzy on Twitter, as well as mixed reaction from several commentators, some of whom saw the quote as a politically sensitive and risky one in Quebec. [2] Two years later, Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister of Canada, beating Harper in federal election by a significant margin.

On September 12, 2021, Justin Trudeau said that NDP leader Jagmeet Singh could not go after Canada's wealthiest people with "unlimited zeal" in response to his party's campaign promise to tax the rich. Singh responded on Twitter with the line "Just watch me." [3]

In response to the Freedom Convoy protests in 2022, some commentators called for Justin Trudeau to have a "just watch me" moment of his own. [4] [5] The younger Trudeau later invoked the Emergencies Act for the first time in Canadian history. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Trudeau</span> Prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and 1980 to 1984

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. He also briefly served as the leader of the Opposition from 1979 to 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Front de libération du Québec</span> Militant separatist group active in Quebec from 1963 to 1971

The Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) was a militant Quebec separatist group which aimed to establish an independent and socialist Quebec through violent means. It was considered a terrorist group by the Canadian government. Founded sometime in the early 1960s, the FLQ conducted a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970, which totaled over 160 violent incidents and killed eight people and injured many more. These attacks culminated with the Montreal Stock Exchange bombing in 1969 and the October Crisis in 1970, the latter beginning with the kidnapping of British Trade Commissioner James Cross. In the subsequent negotiations, Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte was kidnapped and murdered by a cell of the FLQ. Public outcry and a federal crackdown subsequently ended the crisis and resulted in a drastic loss of support for the FLQ, with a small number of FLQ members being granted refuge in Cuba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">October Crisis</span> 1970 series of events in Quebec, Canada

The October Crisis was a chain of political events that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross from his Montreal residence. These events saw the Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoking the War Measures Act for the first time in Canadian history during peacetime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Trudeau</span> 23rd Prime Minister of Canada

Justin Pierre James Trudeau is a Canadian politician who has served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada since 2015 and the leader of the Liberal Party since 2013.

The fuddle duddle incident in Canadian political history occurred on February 16, 1971, when Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau was alleged to have spoken or at least mouthed unparliamentary language in the House of Commons, causing a minor scandal. Trudeau mentioned the words "fuddle duddle" in an ambiguous answer to questions about what he may or may not have said in Parliament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Mosher</span> Canadian political cartoonist in Montreal

Christopher Terry Mosher, is a Canadian political cartoonist for the Montreal Gazette. He draws under the name Aislin, a rendition of the name of his eldest daughter Aislinn. Aislin's drawings have also appeared in numerous international publications, such as Punch, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, National Lampoon, Time, The Washington Star, The New York Times and the Canadian edition of The Reader's Digest. According to his self-published website, as of 2020, he is the author of 51 books.

Trudeaumania was the term used throughout 1968 to describe the excitement generated by Pierre Elliott Trudeau's entry into the April 1968 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election. Trudeau won the leadership election and was sworn in as prime minister. Trudeaumania continued during the subsequent federal election and during Trudeau's early years as prime minister. Decades later, Trudeau's son, Justin Trudeau, drew a similar international reaction when he became prime minister himself in 2015.

<i>Emergencies Act</i> 1988 Canadian law about emergency powers

The Emergencies Act is a statute passed by the Parliament of Canada in 1988 which authorizes the Government of Canada to take extraordinary temporary measures to respond to public welfare emergencies, public order emergencies, international emergencies and war emergencies. The law replaces the War Measures Act passed in 1914. It asserts that any government action continues to be subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Higgitt</span> Canadian civil servant

William Leonard Higgitt was the 14th commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), holding office from 1969 to 1973, and President of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) from 1972 to 1976. Leonard Higgitt's background in intelligence and counterintelligence with the RCMP during and after World War II made him the preferred choice as RCMP Commissioner at what was the height of the Cold War. Higgitt also directed national security operations during the October Crisis of 1970, when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross, events which saw then Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoke the War Measures Act, the first time in Canadian history that the Act was invoked during peacetime. As Commissioner, Higgitt also presided over the RCMP centenary.

William Peter Main Trueman was a Canadian television and radio personality, best known for his work for the Global Television Network between 1974 and 1977, and from 1978 to July 1988. In the 1960s and early 1970s he was a reporter, editor and producer for CBC News.

Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the '70s Generation is a Canadian documentary film by Catherine Annau, produced in 1999 by the National Film Board of Canada.

Tim Ralfe was a Chinese-born Canadian television journalist for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation who provoked a controversial moment in Canadian political history. During the October Crisis on 13 October 1970, Ralfe interviewed Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and pointedly questioned Trudeau about the use of the military to protect cabinet ministers and senior officials, and the possible threat that it represented for civil liberties.

The death and state funeral of Pierre Trudeau took place in September 2000. Pierre Trudeau was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from 1968 to 1984, with a brief interruption in 1979–1980. Trudeau died on September 28, 2000. His casket lay in state on Parliament Hill from September 30 to October 1 and the following day at Montréal City Hall. On October 3, a state funeral was held at Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jagmeet Singh</span> Canadian politician (born 1979)

Jagmeet Singh Jimmy Dhaliwal is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) since 2017. Singh has sat as the member of Parliament (MP) for Burnaby South since 2019. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2011, representing Bramalea—Gore—Malton until his entry into federal politics. A practicing Sikh of Punjabi descent, Singh is an Indo-Canadian, making him the first Sikh and first visible minority to be elected to lead a major federal political party in Canada.

The following is a page of endorsements from prominent individuals and organisations made during the 42nd Canadian federal election

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Canadian federal election</span>

The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Members of the House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the maximum four-year term under a 2007 amendment to the Canada Elections Act, the writs of election for the 2019 election were issued by Governor General Julie Payette on September 11, 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Premiership of Justin Trudeau</span>

The premiership of Justin Trudeau began on November 4, 2015, when the first Cabinet headed by Justin Trudeau was sworn in by Governor General David Johnston. Trudeau was invited to form the 29th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of Canada following the 2015 election, where Trudeau's Liberal Party won a majority of seats in the House of Commons of Canada, defeating the Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government. In both federal elections of 2019 and 2021, Trudeau was re-elected with minority governments; with his party losing the popular vote twice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elbowgate</span> 2016 Canadian political scandal

Elbowgate was an incident in which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came into physical contact with two opposition Members of Parliament in the House of Commons on May 18, 2016 during the parliamentary session. During the incident Trudeau grabbed Conservative MP Gord Brown by the arm and then inadvertently elbowed New Democratic MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau in the chest. Trudeau subsequently apologized and was not subject to parliamentary sanctions for the incident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speaking Moistly</span> 2020 single by Anonymotif

"Speaking Moistly" is a remix song of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau's voice edited by Brock Tyler, known on YouTube as anonymotif. It is based on Trudeau's words from a press conference regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The quote "speaking moistly" refers to respiratory droplets that are spit out when one speaks, which can potentially spread COVID-19.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada convoy protest</span> 2022 protest against COVID-19 mandates

A series of protests and blockades in Canada against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions, called the Freedom Convoy by organizers, began in early 2022. The initial convoy movement was created to protest vaccine mandates for crossing the United States border, but later evolved into a protest about COVID-19 mandates in general. Beginning January 22, hundreds of vehicles formed convoys from several points and traversed Canadian provinces before converging on Ottawa on January 29, 2022, with a rally at Parliament Hill. The convoys were joined by thousands of pedestrian protesters. Several offshoot protests blockaded provincial capitals and border crossings with the United States.

References

  1. ↑ "CBC Archives: Just Watch Me, 1970" (video). CBCtv. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. (also at "Pierre Trudeau: just watch me" (video). CBC .)
  2. ↑ "Justin Trudeau writes 'Just watch me' when asked if he can beat Stephen Harper" (article). Yahoo News. Yahoo. 20 March 2013.
  3. ↑ "Jagmeet Singh on Twitter: Just watch me". Twitter . September 15, 2021.
  4. ↑ Bilefsky, Dan (8 February 2022). "Some critics call for Justin Trudeau to channel his father and be more forceful" . The New York Times.
  5. ↑ Fawcett, Max (7 February 2022). "Justin Trudeau needs his own 'just watch me' moment". Canada's National Observer. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  6. ↑ Tunney, Catharine (14 February 2022). "Federal government invokes Emergencies Act for first time ever in response to protests, blockades". CBC News. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.