Less than a year after entering the House of Commons, Brian Mulroney embarks on the first of his two electoral campaigns as leader of the Conservative Party
John Turner called a general election in July 1984, less than a month after becoming leader of the Liberal Party. All parties must organize themselves quickly. For Brian Mulroney’s Conservatives, organizer Fernand Roberge is struggling to find candidates for the 75 ridings of Quebec.
Many ex-sovereignists will be candidates, “a few dozen” had voted Yes in the 1980 referendum. In his autobiography, Brian Mulroney recalls that the Conservatives had won only 12.6% of the votes in Quebec in 1980. A victory required clearly the support of a coalition of provincial Liberals and PQ members.
Brian Mulroney must himself decide whether he remains a candidate in Central Nova, a simple solution, or whether he risks running in Westmount, where he lives, a Liberal stronghold. His advisors insist that he choose Manicouagan instead, where his home town is located. The risk is significant; an internal poll shows that liberal MP André Maltais has a lead of 10 points. But his visit to Baie-Comeau suggests spontaneous support for the son of the country.
His lack of experience with political reporters will cause him to make a resounding misstep. Before his departure, Pierre Trudeau had appointed Liberal MP Bryce Mackasey ambassador to Portugal. In his campaign plane, “Manicouagan” Mulroney jokes with reporters. “There is no more whore than an old whore!” », he says. Everybody laughs.
Belatedly, Mulroney indicated that he considered himself “off the record”, but the representative of Ottawa Citizen, Neil Macdonald, decides to quote the politician. After two days of storm, Mulroney publicly apologized for having “joked.” This blunder “will cost the momentum” that the Tories really needed at the start of the campaign, he recalls in his memoirs. He will not speak of Mackasey again for the entire campaign.
In the debate, a crucial moment
The 1984 campaign was remembered for one defining moment. In the televised debate, in English, Turner attacks Mulroney on favoritism, a breach into which the Conservative leader rushes. Mulroney recalls the partisan appointments that Trudeau had imposed on Turner, just before his departure.
“I had no choice,” the Liberal leader blurted out. “I reacted strongly and viscerally,” Mulroney wrote. “You had a choice! You could have said: ‘I’m not going to do it, it’s not good for Canada’ […] You could have said no, but you chose to say yes to the old habits of the Liberal Party. »
PHOTO RON POLING, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Defeated Prime Minister John Turner and Prime Minister-elect Brian Mulroney at a press conference about the impending transfer of power, September 1984
“It was Christmas in August,” Mulroney would later quip to describe this unexpected gaffe of his opponent. “My campaign was made… just with that”, he confided to the author and journalist Peter C. Newman, an exchange which should have been “off the record”, but which is found in Secret recordingsa series of interviews where Mulroney speaks openly.
This debate remains in the history books as a rare moment when a victory is so clear between two protagonists in a televised debate.
Turner is devastated, the Conservatives, who were trailing 14 points behind the Liberals, suddenly find themselves with a lead of 20 points, observes Allan Gregg, Conservative pollster. Mulroney will use this exchange in all his speeches until the September 4 election.
Winds of change in Quebec
In Quebec, the campaign also has another facet. While in Sept-Îles, Mulroney promised to repair the absence of Quebec during the unilateral patriation of the Constitution in 1982. In this speech on August 6, Mulroney promised that once in power, he would succeed in convincing Quebec to “ give assent to the new Canadian Constitution with honor and enthusiasm! »
He attacks the Liberals for having “taken advantage of Quebec’s dismay following the referendum to hit it with constitutional ostracism.” Mulroney proposes “reconciliation”, an “authentic national restart”. Jean-Claude Rivest, close advisor to Robert Bourassa, remembered that Mulroney’s desire to allow Quebec to join was accompanied by serious fear about the consequences of failure. A premonitory feeling.
On the evening of September 4, Mulroney’s Conservatives obtained 50% of the votes cast, in Canada and in Quebec. No less than 58 of Quebec’s 75 ridings are painted blue; there are a total of 211 across the country, an unprecedented result. At 45, Mulroney becomes the 18the Prime Minister of Canada. The Liberals, after 20 years of almost unchallenged rule, are reduced to 40 deputies, only 10 more than the New Democratic Party, the eternal third party.