World: Canada: This Very Sorry Moment'

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A Powerful Instrument. Drawn, almost dazed, Trudeau described the execution as a "cowardly assassination" and called on Canadians to "stick together in this very sorry moment of our history." The Prime Minister's reaction to the murder is likely to be forceful, to put it mildly, and in the War Measures Act he has an immensely powerful instrument for applying pressure. Under the act, a large segment of the Canadian Bill of Rights is suspended for up to six months. Police and troops are empowered to make searches, seizures and arrests without warrants, and to hold suspects up to seven days without making charges. The F.L.Q. is formally outlawed. Anyone who attends an F.L.Q. meeting or speaks favorably of the organization is presumed to be a member unless he can prove otherwise—and membership can mean a five-year prison term.

When the act was first put into effect, government forces moved swiftly. All over Quebec, police cars roared through the predawn darkness in search of F.L.Q. members and sympathizers. Nearly 300 people were seized. Among them was a fiery young F.L.Q. sympathizer, Lawyer Robert Lemieux, 29, a sort of Canadian Kunstler with a penchant for publicity and overblown rhetoric. Police also discovered several arms caches, including guns, pistols, bayonets and knives. They found no trace of Cross and Laporte, but messages received from both hostages earlier in the week had indicated that they were then alive and safe. "Decide about my life or death," Laporte wrote to Quebec's Premier Robert Bourassa. "I count on you and thank you."

At that point, Trudeau's mind was just about made up. After canceling a ten-day trip to Russia scheduled for this week, he conferred with opposition leaders, former Prime Ministers, friends and aides in his spacious corner office in the Centre Block of Ottawa's solid gray federal complex. As a lifelong defender of civil liberties, one who helped to legalize homosexuality and broaden the abortion law, Trudeau could not help being disturbed by the draconian powers of the War Measures Act. But there were other considerations. He is a French Canadian from Quebec, but he has always been a staunch federalist, with little sympathy for those who place province over union—and less for those separates who want to quit the union altogether. Moreover, the government was said to have information that the terrorists' next step would be selective assassination of political leaders. Adding to the urgency was the knowledge that over the past year more than 2,000 lbs. of dynamite—9,000 sticks —had been stolen throughout Quebec, and the F.L.Q. was chiefly known for its acts of robbery, arson and bombing.

Sixteen hours after invoking the War Measures Act, Trudeau appeared on nationwide television to explain the move. He delivered perhaps the most effective speech of his career. Referring to the 23 prisoners whose release the F.L.Q. was demanding, he asked: "Who are these men who are held out as latter-day patriots and martyrs?" They included, he said, three convicted murderers, five men jailed for manslaughter, one bomber and several robbers.