B.C. mountain named after Trudeau

A peak in easternBritish Columbia was officially renamed Mount Pierre Elliott Trudeau on Saturday in a ceremony attended by the former prime minister's eldest son.

People in Valemount, a village in the Cariboo Mountains about 75 kilometres west of the town of Jasper,have been lobbying to have Ski Hill Mountain renamed in Trudeau's honour since he died in September 2000.

On Saturday, they received thanks fromhis family.

"There has been since [Trudeau's] death, one notable lacking in the way I think of his legacy,"Trudeau's son Justinsaid at the naming ceremony. "And today, here, you people have fixed that.

"His love for the outdoors, his love for Canada in all its beauty, majesty and ruggedness is something that is so beautifully exemplified by this magnificent peak that I am deeply moved."

After the ceremony, Justin Trudeau joined mountaineers on a helicopter flight and short hike to the snow-capped summit of the mountain.

Thepeak is in a rangeset aside in 1927 to honour former prime ministers.

Nearby mountains have already been named in honour of Arthur Meighen, Richard Bennett, John Abbott, John Thompson, Mackenzie Bowell and Lester Pearson.

The federal government looked to rename Yukon's Mount Logan in honour of Trudeau a few weeks after he died, but there were so many people who wanted to keep the original namethat Ottawa had to back down.

Located in the Kluane National Park Reserve of the southwest Yukon, Mount Logan is 5,959 metres high, making it the highest mountain in Canada and the second highest in North America.

The new Mount Trudeau is not as high, but it is easier to get to. It is located near the village of Valemount, west of Jasper just off the highway to Prince George.

Trudeau, a Liberal,was prime minister from 1968 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1984.

He died of prostate cancer on Sept. 28, 2000.

Trudeau's youngest son Michel, 23, was killed in an avalanche while skiing in B.C.'s Kootenay Mountains in 1998.