Canadian federal election, 1988

Canadian federal election, 1988

November 21, 1988
295 seats in the 34th Canadian Parliament 148 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	75.3%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Brian Mulroney John Turner Ed Broadbent Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Democratic Leader since June 11, 1983 June 16, 1984 July 7, 1975 Leader's seat Charlevoix Vancouver Quadra Oshawa Last election 211 seats, 50.03% 40 seats, 28.02% 30 seats, 18.81% Seats before 203 38 32 Seats won 169 83 43 Seat change −34 +45 +11 Popular vote 5,667,543 4,205,072 2,685,263 Percentage 43.02% 31.92% 20.38% Swing −7.02pp +3.89pp +1.57pp
Prime Minister before election Brian Mulroney Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney Progressive Conservative

The Canadian federal election of 1988 was held November 21, 1988, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Incumbent Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, had signed the agreement. The Liberal Party, led by John Turner, was opposed to the agreement, as was the New Democratic Party led by Ed Broadbent.

The Conservatives went into the election suffering from a number of scandals. Despite winning a large majority only four years before, they looked vulnerable at the outset.

The Liberals had some early struggles, notably during one day in Montreal where three different costs were given for the proposed Liberal daycare program. The campaign was also hampered by a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report that stated there was a movement in the backroom to replace Turner with Jean Chrétien, even though Turner had passed a leadership review in 1986.

Support swung back and forth between the Conservatives and Liberals over free trade. With mid-campaign polls suggesting a Liberal government, this prompted the Conservatives to stop the relatively calm campaign they had been running, and go with Allan Gregg's suggestion of "bombing the bridge" that joined anti-FTA voters and the Liberals: Turner's credibility. The ads focused on Turner's leadership struggles, and combined with over $6 million CAD in pro-FTA ads, managed to stop the Liberals' momentum.

The Liberals reaped most of the benefits of opposing the FTA and doubled their representation to 83 seats to emerge as the main opposition; the NDP had also made gains but finished a distant third with 43 seats. The Progressive Conservatives won a reduced but strong majority government with 169 seats. Despite the Liberals' improved standing, the results were considered a disappointment for Turner, after polls in mid-campaign predicted a Liberal government. The election loss sealed Turner's fate and he eventually resigned in 1990, and was succeeded by Jean Chrétien.

Although most Canadians voted for parties opposed to free trade, the Tories were returned with a majority government, and implemented the deal.

Until the 2011 federal election, the 1988 election was the most successful in the New Democratic Party's history. The party dominated in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, won significant support in Ontario and elected its first (and, until the 2008 election, only) member from Alberta.

This was the second election contested by the Green Party, and it saw a more than 50% increase in its vote, but it remained a minor party.

The election was the last for Canada's Social Credit movement: the party won no seats, and had an insignificant portion of the popular vote.

The newly founded Reform Party also contested the election, but was considered little more than a fringe group, and did not win any seats.

For the Progressive Conservatives, this was the last federal election they would win.

National results

For a complete list of MPs elected in the 1988 election see 34th Canadian Parliament.

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats				Popular vote
				1984	Dissol.	Elected	% Change	#	%	Change
	Progressive Conservative	Brian Mulroney	295	211	203	169	-19.9%	5,667,543	43.02%	-7.02pp
	Liberal	John Turner	294	40	38	83	+107.5%	4,205,072	31.92%	+3.89pp
	New Democratic Party	Ed Broadbent	295	30	32	43	+34.4%	2,685,263	20.38%	+1.57pp
	Reform	Preston Manning	72	*	-	-	*	275,767	2.09%	*
	Christian Heritage	Ed Vanwoudenberg	63	*	-	-	*	102,533	0.78%	*
	Rhinoceros	Cornelius I	74	-	-	-	-	52,173	0.40%	-0.39pp
	Green	Seymour Trieger	68	-	-	-	-	47,228	0.36%	+0.14pp
	Confederation of Regions	Elmer Knutson	51	-	-	-	-	41,342	0.31%	-0.68pp
	Libertarian	Dennis Corrigan	88	-	-	-	-	33,135	0.25%	+0.06pp
	No affiliation		100	-	-	-		24,516	0.19%	-0.12pp
	Independent		55	1	4	-	-	22,982	0.17%	-0.01pp
	Commonwealth of Canada	Gilles Gervais	58	-	-	-	-	7,467	0.06%	-0.21pp
	Communist	George Hewison	51	-	-	-	-	7,066	0.05%	-0.01pp
	Social Credit	Harvey Lainson	9	-	-	-	-	3,407	0.03%	-0.10pp
	Vacant				5
	Total		1,573	282	282	295	+4.6%	13,175,494	100%

Note:

"% change" refers to change from previous election

↓
169	83	43
Progressive Conservative	Liberal	NDP

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
PC			43.02%
Liberal			31.92%
NDP			20.38%
Reform			2.09%
Others			2.59%

Seat totals
PC			57.29%
Liberal			28.14%
NDP			14.58%

A number of unregistered parties also contested the election. The Western Canada Concept party, led by Doug Christie, fielded three candidates in British Columbia. The Western Independence Party ran one candidate in British Columbia, seven in Alberta, and three in Manitoba (although one of the Manitoba candidates appears to have withdrawn before election day).

The Liberal candidate in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Emmanuel Feuerwerker, withdrew from the race after suffering a heart attack, resulting in the Liberals not running a candidate in all 295 ridings during this election.

The Marxist–Leninist Party fielded candidates in several ridings.

Blair T. Longley campaigned in British Columbia as a representative of the "Student Party". Newspaper reports indicate that this was simply a tax-avoidance scheme.

The moribund Social Credit Party actually fielded fewer candidates than was required for official recognition, but the Chief Electoral Officer allowed the party's name to appear on the ballot by virtue of its history as a recognized party.

Results by province

Party name			BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	NL	NT	YK	Total
	Progressive Conservative	Seats:	12	25	4	7	46	63	5	5	-	2	-	-	169
		Popular Vote:	35.3	51.8	36.4	36.9	38.2	52.7	40.4	40.9	41.5	42.2	26.4	35.3	43.0
	Liberal	Seats:	1	-	-	5	43	12	5	6	4	5	2	-	83
		Vote:	20.4	13.7	18.2	36.5	38.9	30.3	45.4	46.5	49.9	45.0	41.4	11.3	31.9
	New Democratic Party	Seats:	19	1	10	2	10	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	43
		Vote:	37.0	17.4	44.2	21.3	20.1	14.4	9.3	11.4	7.5	12.4	28.3	51.4	20.38
Total seats			32	26	14	14	99	75	10	11	4	7	2	1	295
Parties that won no seats:
	Reform	Vote:	4.8	15.4		3.3									2.1
	Christian Heritage	Vote:		1.1			1.4							2.0	0.8
	Rhinoceros	Vote:						1.2							0.4
	Green	Vote:													0.4
	Confederation of Regions	Vote:							4.3						0.3
	Libertarian	Vote:													0.3
	Commonwealth of Canada	Vote:						0.2							0.1
	Communist	Vote:													0.1
	Social Credit	Vote:													xx
	Other	Vote:													0.4

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote.

Note: Parties that captured less than 1% of the vote in a province are not recorded.

Notes

• Number of parties: 11
  • First appearance: Christian Heritage Party, Reform Party
  • Final appearance: Confederation of Regions Party, Rhinoceros Party, Social Credit Party
  • Final appearance before hiatus: Communist Party (returned in 2000)

10 closest ridings

1. London-Middlesex, ON: Terry Clifford (PC) def. Garnet Bloomfield (Lib) by 8 votes
2. Northumberland, ON: Christine Stewart (Lib) def. Reg Jewell (PC) by 28 votes
3. Hamilton Mountain, ON: Beth Phinney (Lib) def. Marion Dewar (NDP) by 73 votes
4. York North, ON: Maurizio Bevilacqua (Lib) def. Michael O'Brien (PC) by 77 votes
5. Rosedale, ON: David MacDonald (PC) def. Bill Graham (Lib) by 80 votes
6. London East, ON: Joe Fontana (Lib) def. Jim Jepson (PC) by 102 votes
7. Haldimand-Norfolk, ON: Bob Speller (Lib) def. Bud Bradley (PC) by 209 votes
8. Hillsborough, PE: George Proud (Lib) def. Tom McMillan (PC) by 259 votes
9. Cariboo—Chilcotin, BC: Dave Worthy (PC) def. Jack Langford (NDP) by 269 votes
10. Vancouver Centre, BC: Kim Campbell (PC) def. Johanna Den Hertog (NDP) by 269 votes

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada

Articles on parties' candidates in this election:

• Independents
• Confederation of Regions
• Commonwealth
• Communist
• Green
• Libertarian
• Liberal
• New Democrats
• Progressive Conservative
• Rhinoceros

Further reading

• Argyle, Ray. Turning Points: The Campaigns That Changed Canada - 2011 and Before (2011) excerpt and text search ch 14

External links

• Riding map
• Election 1988, by Stephen Azzi
• Debate '88