Explaining the "jokes"

"Margaret Joan Trudeau (née Sinclair, formerly Kemper; born September 10, 1948) is a Canadian author, actress, photographer, former television talk show hostess, and social advocate for people with bipolar disorder, with which she is diagnosed. She is the mother of Justin Trudeau, the 23rd and current Prime Minister of Canada; the journalist and author Alexandre "Sacha" Trudeau; and the deceased Michel Trudeau. She is the first woman in Canadian history to have been both the wife and the mother of prime ministers." [1]

"As an 18-year-old vacationing in Tahiti with her family, Sinclair met Pierre Trudeau, who was then Minister of Justice. Sinclair did not recognize him, and she, in fact, thought little of their encounter, but Trudeau was captivated by the carefree 'flower child', nearly thirty years younger than he was, and began to pursue her." [1]

Excerpts from articles available online about Margaret Trudeau	Excerpts from Pat Grubb's three "open letters" to Margaret Trudeau
"Asked about her role in a marriage to the prime minister, Trudeau said, 'I want to be more than a rose in my husband's lapel.'" [1]	"Maggie, is it ok that I call you Maggie?" "Oh, Maggie, Maggie, Maggie." "Mags! You did it! You got Justin to open the border! You rock, girl!"
"Although the couple initially appeared to have a very close and loving relationship, the marriage soon began to fall apart. (Margaret) Trudeau resented her husband's constant work-related absences, and was forced to raise her three young sons largely by herself." [1]
"Over time, the marriage disintegrated to the point, as recounted in her book, Trudeau had an affair with US Senator Ted Kennedy. She was also associated with members of the Rolling Stones, including Ronnie Wood and, according to Keith Richards's autobiography, Life, Mick Jagger." [1]	"Maggie, do you remember Mick, Ronnie, Keith and What’s his Face? We think, can’t be sure, that the Stones’ recent big hit, Living in a Ghost Town, was written about Point Roberts."
"On the eve of the 1979 election, in which Pierre Trudeau's party lost the majority of seats in the House of Commons, she was seen dancing at Studio 54 nightclub in New York City." [1]	"Once you get Jilly on the phone, you go to work and charm her. She’s a teacher. How exciting could that be? She’ll eat up any and all of your stories about the Rolling Stones and Mick and Keith and Ronnie and What’s His Face. Tell her about your nights at The Plaza Hotel and Studio 54."
"'From the day I became Mrs. Pierre Elliott Trudeau,' she writes in her memoirs, 'a glass panel was gently lowered into place around me, like a patient in a mental hospital no longer considered able to make decisions and cannot be exposed to a harsh light.'" [1]	"Give her a life story she can tell her students that will turn their hair frizzy from disbelief."
"Pierre Trudeau won custody of the children and did not pay any spousal support. (Margaret) Trudeau had a difficult time earning a living after her marriage." [1]	"Do you think you could ring Justin up and go all Mom on him? He’d listen to you."
"In 1998, she was back in the headlines with news she’d been committed to a psychiatric facility in Vancouver after telling a television interviewer she’d skied with princes William and Harry—a fabrication. Then events took a tragic turn: (son) Michel was killed in an avalanche in B.C. in 1998. The next year, she and Kemper divorced. In 2000, Pierre Trudeau died." [2]
"There were two more hospital stays, and a straitjacket, and even a patient who once pointed to her and remarked to another, 'You see that lady over there, the one in the corner, crying? She thinks she’s Margaret Trudeau.' She didn’t want to live anymore." [3]
“'When I became a dad, 10 years ago, I remember asking my mom what the secret was to being a great parent,' Justin Trudeau recounts today. '"Love," she said. "Before and above all else, be filled with love for your children, no matter what the circumstances." But long before she ever told me that, she showed me that, all through my life.'” [3]	"Be sure to dial back the Joan Crawford/Mommie Dearest act."
"On May 5, 2006, Trudeau announced she has bipolar disorder. Since then, she advocated for reducing the social-stigma of mental illness—bipolar disorder in particular—with speaking engagements across North America.... In 2013, Trudeau received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Western Ontario in recognition of her work to combat mental illness." [1]	"Hey, do you remember walking past the admin building at Simon Fraser and seeing the deadheads harvesting magic mushrooms in the grass by the entrance door? When Premier WAC Bennett was deciding where to build B.C.’s newest university, do you think he knew he was planting it on some of the most prolific magic mushroom-growing grounds in the province? Of course he did. That’s why they called him Wackie Bennett... Shrooms! Sillycybin! That takes ya back, huh?"
“'Self-loathing is the biggest hurdle you have to get over,' she says on the lanai, taking a sip of tea. 'When I was living it up, no one could have told me I was as mad as a hatter. Clearly, I was beyond reason—I wasn’t thinking with a rational mind. That is the essence of mental illness: not being able to access the reasoned, judgment part of your brain.'” [2]	"I hear that during the ’70s you were a frequent guest at parties in New Westminster where many of the guests were pilots and, as my informant put it, 'stewardesses.' And all the booze came in little airline bottles. Maggie – Look me in the eye. Were you an accessory after the fact of theft in the 3rd degree of liquor from everybody’s favorite airline, Air Canada? Because if even a drop passed through your lips into the beyond, you were. You did, didn’t you? I knew it, you little party animal! Hot damn! That makes you a fugitive from justice. This is getting so exciting!"

From a letter to the editor published in the August 2021 All Point Bulletin:

"People coming north on such a ferry would be unvetted, such as sex offenders, the homeless, the mentally ill, and other criminals…"

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