The assignment given to writer Merle Shain was whether being prime minister "had changed Pierre Elliott Trudeau." Shain noted: "When his scarf disappeared from inside his coat during a February leadership speech in Toronto he dropped to his knees to look under the couch. When it didn't appear even there, he whispered in an aside to the foot at hand, 'You know, I think someone pinched it.' Today, I don't think he'd be as surprised."
