It’s Old News: ‘Just watch me’
By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on October 9, 2025.
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau called his shot in October 1970.
A little over a week after British diplomat James Cross and Quebec Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte were kidnapped by the Front de libération du Québec.
Trudeau was asked by a CBC reporter how far he would go to stop the FLQ and he responded, “just watch me.”
Three days later, the 15th prince minister of Canada invoked the War Measures Act, the first time in Canadian history during peacetime. The War Measures Act took effect around 4 a.m. and hundreds of suspected FLQ members were rounded up, in total 497 people were arrested.
The News is looking back at notable events from Medicine Hat’s history leading up to the celebration of our 140th publishing year later this fall.
The act was imposed after the negotiations with the FLQ had broken down and the premier of Quebec was facing the next stage in the FLQ’s agenda.
Quebec premier, Robert Bourassa and the mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau, supported Trudeau’s invocation of the War Measures Act. The Government of Quebec also requested military aid to support the civil authorities, with Canadian Forces being deployed throughout Quebec.
The invocation of the act has sparked controversy ever since with critics saying it was an excessive use of force. In 1988, the War Measures Act was replaced by the Emergencies Act and subsequently the Emergency Preparedness Act. This was then replaced by the Emergency Management Act in 2007.
As for the October Crisis, Laporte was eventually found killed by his captors, while Cross was freed after 59 days as a result of negotiations with the kidnappers who requested an exile to Cuba rather than facing trial in Quebec. The cell members responsible for Laporte’s death were arrested and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder after they returned.
By 1982, all convicted participants had been paroled and those who were sent to Cuba returned to Canada, some serving short sentences.
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