Editing Pierre Trudeau (section)

==== United Kingdom and France====

Trudeau attached little importance to [[Canada–United Kingdom relations]]. While he rebuffed a suggestion by one of his ministers to turn Canada into a republic in 1968, he treated the [[Monarchy of Canada|Canadian monarchy]] with a certain bemused contempt.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|p=337}} Britain's decision to join the [[European Economic Community]] (EEC) in 1973 and Japan's replacement of the UK as Canada's second-largest trading partner confirmed Trudeau's view that Britain was a declining power which had little to offer Canada.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|pp=337-338}} However, Trudeau was attached to the Commonwealth, believing it was an international body that allowed Canada to project influence on the [[Third World]] as it was one of the few bodies that allowed leaders from the First and Third Worlds to meet on a regular basis.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|p=291}} Although France was no longer as supportive of Quebec separatism as it had been under President [[Charles de Gaulle]] in the 1960s, repeated expressions of the idea of a special Franco-Quebecois bond as opposed to a Franco-Canadian bond by French politicians throughout the 1970s led to tensions between the two nations.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|p=345}}

In 1970, the Commonwealth was threatened with a split as a number of African members, supported by India, attempted to block planned British arms sales to South Africa, then under the system of [[apartheid]]. The Zambian government submitted a draft of principles which would have bound Commonwealth member states to give no assistance to nations practising racial discrimination.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|p=281}} The [[Labour government, 1964–1970|first Wilson ministry]] had imposed an arms embargo on South Africa in 1964, which the [[Heath ministry]] ended in 1970 on the grounds that the South African government was pro-Western and anti-communist. A number of African Commonwealth nations led by Zambia and Tanzania threatened to leave the organization if the arms sales went through. When British Prime Minister [[Edward Heath]] visited Ottawa in December 1970, his meetings with Trudeau went poorly. In what was described as a "no holds-barred" style, Trudeau told Heath that the planned arms sales were threatening the Commonwealth's unity.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|p=281}} 

At a [[1971 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting|Commonwealth summit]] in Singapore in January 1971, Trudeau argued that apartheid was not sustainable in the long run given that Black South Africans vastly outnumbered white South Africans, and any external support for the apartheid government was myopic given that [[majority rule]] was inevitable.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|p=281}} However, Trudeau worked for a compromise to avoid a split in the Commonwealth, arguing that it needed to do more to pressure South Africa to end apartheid peacefully, and saying that a [[race war]] in South Africa would be the worse possible way to end apartheid.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|p=281}} The conference ended with a compromise agreement in which Britain would fulfil its existing arms contracts to South Africa but henceforth sell no more weapons to them; ultimately, the British only sold South Africa five attack helicopters.{{sfn|Phythian|2000|p=18}} Singaporean Prime Minister and conference host [[Lee Kuan Yew]] later praised Trudeau for his efforts at the summit to hold the Commonwealth together, despite the passions aroused by the South African issue.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|p=281}}