1988 Canadian federal election

Canadian federal election, 1988

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November 21, 1988

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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-designate

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.

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