hi there Howard

No he wasn't that tiny. Average height, slight build.

Indeed it is a small world. When elected PM in the late sixties my dad told me, with a big grin, that he had 'been to school with the new PM'. They had both gone to the LSE, circa 1949, and were in the same class but not at all friends. My dad seemed amused when he mentioned it to me then so I could never be sure whether or not he was making this up.

Dad died in 1983 and the topic never did come up again.

A few years ago I was walking down Peel Street near de Maisonneuve and sudddenly realised that Trudeau was right next to me. I stopped and introduced myself. He was quite friendly and when I told him the story he thought for moment and said 'yes that's right, the Roumanian chap'.

Good memory I must say after all those years.

One always imagined him to be 6 feet tall, but I think he was closer to 5'7 or 5'8, and very trim.

That's one to dine out on. Did you see the thing on TV last week about Rene Lesveque (sp)? I had no idea what that guy was all about until then. I know it was a dramatisation but I imagine that it was largely based on fact.

no I didn't watch it.

Rene L. was the Minister of Mines and Resources in the Lesage cabinet. It was rumoured, even then, that he was the power behind the throne. A brilliant mind, lots of charm, was a journalist in his younger days. Perfect command of English. I myself quite liked the man.

Big shock when he gained power Nov 15, 1976. Pity he turned separatist though.

Catholic priest frequent boy's clubs not bars. Where have you been ?

Bars. Where have you been?

Reading the newspaper and listening to TV!

Tell that to the judge.

I'm a Canadian who has yet to take up residence I have heard of Trudeau, Conrad and Mulroney but have never heard of Hannah

Please could some one educate me?

I'd never heard of him either. Try Google.

According to this columnist (French text), the poll was a joke (surprise, surprise...): people could cast their votes more than once, there was no socio-demographic sampling, and... er... Whatshisname from Winnipeg had even publicly asked his fans to vote for him.

Oh, well...

Ooooh, get her (the journalist, Dave, not you!) - and people think the English whinge a lot... "it's obvious that [the participants] are not at all representative of the Canadian population... only about a dozen Quebecois took part" if my French has that right.

Although I actually agree that it was very questionable editorial judgement, for a magazine that (in his words) "claims to be THE historical magazine for Canada" to run a story based on such a patently absurd poll.