Overview
"Just watch me" is a phrase made famous by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on October 13, 1970, during the October Crisis. The term is still regularly used in Canadian political discussion.
Trudeau, who had in previous years been a strong proponent of civil liberties, said there was a need for drastic action to restore order in Quebec. When questioned by CBC reporter Tim Ralfe on how far he would go in the suspension of civil liberties to maintain order, Trudeau replied "Well, just watch me."
Three days later, he invoked the War Measures Act, which led to police action against many Quebec dissidents and great public controversy.
Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the '70s Generation is the title of a 1999 documentary by Catherine Annau. The phrase has also been the title of several biographies of Trudeau, e.g., Larry Zolf's Just Watch Me: Remembering Pierre Trudeau (1984); Ron Coleman's Just Watch Me: Trudeau's Tragic Legacy (2003); and the 2nd volume of John English's biography, Just Watch Me: The Life of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1968–2000 (2009).
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).