The former Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, has died in Montreal at the age of 80. He'd been ill for some time. Mr Trudeau led the Liberal Party to victory in a general election in 1968 and served as Prime Minister for 16 years apart from a nine-month break. Among the reforms he pioneered were equality for the French language alongside English, and separation of the Canadian constitution from that of Britain.
Pierre Trudeau burst onto the Canadian political scene in the Sixties with a flamboyant style that captured the hearts of many Canadians. He was regarded as stylish, arrogant, often irreverent, but never boring. Federalists will recall him as a charismatic champion who fought off several determined attempts by Quebec separatists to split the country.
His health problems have been known for some time. Some of his friends say that he never shook off the pneumonia he had at the beginning of the year. Others say that he never fully recovered from the death of his youngest son in an avalanche in British Columbia nearly two years ago.
