The
1983 Progressive Conservative leadership convention was held on June 11 1983 in
OttawaOttawa is the capital of Canada and a municipality within the Province of Ontario. Located in the Ottawa Valley in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, the city lies on the southern banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the Provinces of Ontario and...
,
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
to elect a leader of the
Progressive Conservative Party of CanadaThe Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and a centrist stance on social issues....
. At the convention,
Brian MulroneyMartin Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ was the eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of highly contentious economic...
was elected leader of the PC Party on the fourth ballot, defeating former
Prime Minister of CanadaThe Prime Minister of Canada is the primary Minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government of Canada. The office is not outlined in any of the documents that constitute the written portion of the constitution of Canada; executive authority is formally vested in the...
Joe ClarkCharles Joseph "Joe" Clark, PC, CC, AOE is a Canadian journalist, politician, statesman, businessman, and university professor...
.
Background
Joe Clark had been leader of the party since the party's
1976 leadership conventionThe 1976 leadership convention of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was held in Ottawa on February 22 1976, to elect a leader to replace Robert Stanfield, who had resigned after losing the 1968, 1972, and 1974 elections. It unexpectedly elected a 36-year-old, little-known PC Member of...
. While credited with uniting the PCs after the difficult
StanfieldRobert Lorne Stanfield, PC, QC was Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had", and earned the nickname "Honest Bob"...
years and leading the Progressive Conservatives to victory in the
1979 Federal electionThe Canadian federal election of 1979 was held on May 22, 1979 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 31st Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of Liberal Party of Canada after 11 years in power under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Joe Clark led the Progressive...
, a lack of what
Jeffrey SimpsonJeffrey Carl Simpson, OC , is an influential Canadian journalist. For the past 23 years he has been The Globe and Mail's national affairs columnist...
referred to as the "Discipline of Power" in Cabinet tarnished the government, and Clark's misjudgment of a Parliamentary motion resulted in the government falling. The Conservatives lost the
1980 Federal electionThe Canadian federal election of 1980 was held on February 18, 1980 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 32nd Parliament of Canada...
, and found themselves returned to opposition.
Certain voices within the party called for Clark's ouster. While some focused on Clark's skills or personality, others maintained that he and his policy decisions were aloof from the party's grassroots. At the party's 1981 convention, 33.5% of delegates supported a leadership review. Some behind the scenes maneuvering was taking place, but reports are conflicting as to who specifically was involved.
At a national convention of the party in Winnipeg in January 1983, 66.9% of the delegates voted against, and 33.1% voted for a review of Clark's leadership. Clark, seeing only a marginal gain in popularity among his party, decided with his advisers that he would resign as leader, but opt to run in the convention to succeed him. This was seen within his inner circle the only way to drown out the opposition to his leadership.
During his term as leader, the
LiberalsThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is a major political party in Canada. The party sits between the centre-left and centre of the Canadian political spectrum. The party currently forms the Official Opposition in the Parliament of Canada since the 2006 federal election...
lagged in opinion polls, with the PCs ahead at times by over 20 percentage points. While Clark would probably have thought this an advantage, it also made the leadership a much more lucrative prize than it would have been.
- For detailed results, see Progressive Conservative leadership conventions
The first Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership convention was held in 1927, when the party was called the Conservative Party. Prior to then the party's leader was chosen by caucus....
Candidates
Joe ClarkCharles Joseph "Joe" Clark, PC, CC, AOE is a Canadian journalist, politician, statesman, businessman, and university professor...
was supported largely by the more centrist elements of the party and some Red Tories, along with other party members who were opposed to the public attacks on the party leader by others in the party.
Brian MulroneyMartin Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ was the eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of highly contentious economic...
, who had lost to Clark at the 1976 leadership convention, was the early front-runner to replace Clark. As former head of the
Iron Ore Company of CanadaIron Ore Company of Canada is a Canadian-based producer of iron ore. The company was founded in 1949 from a partnership of Canadian and American M.A. Hanna Company...
, Mulroney attracted much of the party's more pro-business faction who were opposed to the continued leadership of Clark. Mulroney's main pitch was that as a fluently bilingual Quebecer, he would enable the party to break the Liberal Party's stranglehold on Quebec seats in the House of Commons.
John CrosbieJohn Carnell Crosbie, PC, OC, ONL, QC is a retired provincial and federal politician in Canada. He sometimes sparked controversy when a Cabinet minister during the government of Brian Mulroney, from 1984 to 1993. On February 4, 2008, Crosbie was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and...
, who had been Clark's Minister of Finance in 1979, was also an attractive candidate for the party's right wing, and attempted to distinguish himself by adopting what he called a
continentalist platform, i.e.,
free tradeFree trade is a type of trade policy that allows traders to act and transact without interference from government. According to the law of comparative advantage the policy permits trading partners mutual gains from trade of goods and services....
with the United States of America. Crosbie, an accomplished debater, and known for his sense of humour, ran a strong campaign, but was hobbled by his inability to speak French, and by a political base concentrated in the small province of
Newfoundland and LabradorNewfoundland and Labrador is a province of Canada on the country's Atlantic coast in northeastern North America. This easternmost Canadian province comprises two main parts: the island of Newfoundland off the country's eastern coast, and Labrador on the mainland to the northwest of the island.A...
.
Michael WilsonMichael Holcombe Wilson, PC, OC is a Canadian diplomat, politician and business leader.Born in Toronto, Ontario, Wilson attended Upper Canada College, Trinity College at the University of Toronto where he joined The Kappa Alpha Society...
, who was a well-respected
Bay StreetBay Street is a street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's financial district and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial industry just as Wall Street is used in the United States and The City in the United Kingdom. This is a rather recent...
banker and had been Minister of State for International Trade in Clark's government, attracted modest support within his home province of
OntarioOntario is a province located in east-central Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area. Ontario is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba to the west and Quebec to the east, and 5 U.S...
, and a smattering of support from other provinces. While Tories respected his financial acumen, he was an uninspiring speaker who struggled in French. Wilson inherited the bulk of abortive candidate
Peter BlaikiePeter Macfarlane Blaikie is a prominent Canadian lawyer and a fluently bilingual statesman from Quebec.-Genealogy:Blaikie was born in Shawinigan, Mauricie on May 10, 1937. He was the son of Kenneth Guy "Bill" Blaikie and Mary Petrie Black....
's support in Quebec
David CrombieDavid Edward Crombie, PC, OC is a Canadian politician, professor and consultant.Crombie was a lecturer in politics and urban affairs at Ryerson in the 1960s when he became involved in Toronto's urban reform movement...
, the former mayor of
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
, and another minister in Clark's cabinet, attracted Red Tories who opposed Clark's leadership. Crombie was the only candidate to openly identify himself as a "Red Tory."
Peter NewmanPeter Charles Newman, CC, CD is a Canadian journalist.Born in Vienna, Austria, he emigrated from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to Canada in 1940 as a Jewish refugee. His father, Peter, was a wealthy factory owner. Newman was educated at Upper Canada College, where he was a member of Seaton's...
said at the convention, "He was a good man in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Peter PocklingtonPeter H. Pocklington is a Canadian entrepreneur who has dabbled in politics.He made his initial fortune as the owner of one of the largest auto dealerships in Canada, and later took over a meat packing company involved in a high-profile labour strike.Pocklington is best known as the former owner...
, a mercurial and controversial
AlbertaAlberta is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south....
businessperson ran a campaign based on strict adherence to the principles of free enterprise, with most of his focus on a
flat taxA flat tax is a tax system with a constant tax rate. Usually the term flat tax would refer to household income being taxed at one marginal rate, in contrast with progressive taxes that may vary according to such parameters as income or usage levels...
. He gained some support through the
AmwayAmway is a direct selling company and manufacturer that uses multi-level marketing to sell a wide variety of products, primarily in the health & beauty industry.Amway was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos...
retail system.
John GambleJohn Albert Gamble was a far-right Canadian politician. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative in the 1979 federal election and re-elected in the 1980 election representing the riding of York North.He was a candidate at the 1983 Progressive Conservative...
, the Member of Parliament for York North, a
ridingAn electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding in Canadian English political terminology, is a geographically-based constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
north of
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
managed to attract a small band of supporters with a hard-line right-wing platform. Gamble had been an out-spoken critic of Clark, and had hoped to parlay his role in Clark's downfall into a strong showing at the convention and a role in a future Conservative cabinet.
Neil FraserNeil Fraser is a former Canadian civil servant who came to prominence for his crusade against the Metric system of weights and measures in the early 1980s. To promote his campaign, he ran as a candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada at the 1983 leadership...
ran against the implementation of the
metric systemSi, si, or SI may refer to :- Places :* Mount Si, a mountain in state of Washington* Si County, county in Anhui, China* Si River, a river in China* Slovenia, a European nation Si, si, or SI may refer to (all SI unless otherwise stated):- Places :* Mount Si, a mountain in state of Washington* Si...
in Canada, based on the slogan, "Your freedom to measure is a measure of your freedom". Fraser didn't mount much of a campaign, was only seen by himself through the convention, and had to be dragged off stage from his nationally televised speech that accused the Liberals of deliberately favouring Quebec over English Canada.
Lise BissonnetteLise Bissonnette, OQ is a Canadian writer and journalist.Born in Rouyn, Quebec, Bissonnette studied education science at the Université de Montréal from 1965 to 1970. She later pursed doctoral studies at the University of Strasbourg and the École pratique des hautes études in Paris. In 1974, she...
commented that if the speech had been heard on
Radio-Canada-Education:* Sid Richardson College, one of nine residential colleges on the Rice University campus in Houston, Texas, USA* Simon's Rock College, a small liberal arts college located in the small town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA...
, it would set the Tories back 10 years.
The campaign
Clark already had most of a campaign team up and running by the time of his calling the leadership convention, as he had mobilized support to help gain in the convention's leadership review. Mulroney and Crosbie had been laying the ground work for a campaign for some time, with Crosbie expecting Clark to lose or resign soon, and Mulroney supportive of the anti-Clark movement. Much of the campaign's early months were overshadowed by
Ontario PremierThe Premier of Ontario is the first Minister of the Crown for the Canadian province of Ontario. The Premier is appointed as the province's head of government by the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, and presides over the Executive council, or Cabinet.Although sometimes referred to as the Prime...
Bill DavisWilliam Grenville "Bill" Davis, PC, CC, O.Ont., QC was the Progressive Conservative Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985.-Youth:Davis was politically active from a young age...
and
Alberta PremierThe Premier of Alberta is the first minister for the Canadian province of Alberta. He or she is the province's head of government and de facto chief executive. The current Premier of Alberta is Ed Stelmach. He became Premier by winning the Progressive Conservative leadership elections on...
Peter LougheedEdgar Peter Lougheed, PC, CC, AOE, QC is a Canadian lawyer, and a former politician and Canadian Football League player. He served as premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985....
, both of whom commanded great respect in the party, and who would have easily been front runners had they chosen to run. Both declined, giving Crombie and Wilson some hope in Ontario for recruiting members of Davis's "
Big Blue MachineThe Big Blue Machine was a nickname for the group of strategists and advisors to the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in Ontario, Canada, in the 1970s and 1980s. The moniker was coined by journalist Claire Hoy of the Toronto Star in April 1971...
." Lougheed would attract criticism in outside of Alberta for inviting candidates for interviews with the Alberta PC Caucus, which was referred to by candidates as an "inquisition" and seen as using government resources for an internal election.
Media coverage emphasized the pro-business and
neo-liberalNeoliberalism is a synonym of classical economic liberalism. The term was coined in 1938 at the Colloque Walter Lippmann by the German sociologist and economist Alexander Rüstow, one of the fathers of Social market economy. The label is referring to a redefinition of classical liberalism,...
bent of most of the candidates as a "Changing of the Guard" within the PC party from their more classical conservative and moderate elements. This allowed the Clark campaign to try polarize the election between right wingers and a centrist who had been able to win before. The Mulroney campaign responded by continuing their pro-business line, but attacking Crosbie's proposal for a free trade agreement to find a middle ground between delegates. Crosbie's free trade proposal found a surprisingly large following with the traditionally protectionist Progressive Conservatives, even among delegates who didn't support him, which would eventually help turn the party's platform into a pro free trade one by 1987.
The campaign was one of the most bitter in Canadian history, and some of the battles for delegates would become arguments against the delegated leadership convention. Quebec riding associations were especially fierce: delegates were called by rival camps with false meeting information, children were recruited by the Clark and Mulroney camps, and as the icing on the cake, a
Canadian Broadcasting CorporationThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , a Canadian crown corporation, is the country’s national public radio and television broadcaster. In French, it is called la Société Radio-Canada...
(CBC) report showed a bus full of obviously intoxicated men traveling to vote for Mulroney (One man on the bus said he was voting to "Get rid of
LevesqueRené Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, Canada , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party, and 23rd Premier of Quebec...
"). A meeting between the eight candidates would set stricter rules, but this occurred after the crucial Quebec contests had been decided. The Clark and Mulroney camps roughly split the province's delegates evenly, which was seen as a victory for the Clark side.
Crosbie was seen as a
dark horseA "dark horse" is a term used to describe a little-known person or thing that emerges to prominence.-Origin:The term began as horse racing parlance. A dark horse is a race horse that is not known to gamblers and thus is difficult to place betting odds on....
in the race. Some Crosbie delegates wore buttons that had Clark and Mulroney as fighting hares, with Crosbie as a
tortoise sneaking byThe Tortoise and the Hare is a fable attributed to Aesop. The story concerns a hare who ridicules a slow-moving tortoise. In response, the tortoise challenges his swift mocker to a race. The hare soon leaves the tortoise far behind and, confident of winning, he decides to take a nap midway through...
. Crosbie attracted many talented advisors, and among the more creative moves was exploiting a loophole in the rules that "student associations" could have delegates by creating over 20 new student associations at Canadian universities. 18 associations were accepted, among the rejected was a Newfoundland Flight school. Crosbie's campaign hit a major snag, however, when he snapped at a news reporter for again making an issue of his not being bilingual, comparing it to him not speaking German meaning he disliked Germans.
Pocklington's campaign was hampered by the fact that his
Edmonton OilersThe Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League ....
were in the
Stanley CupThe Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club cup trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion. It has been referred to as The Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
playoffs. This prompted many trips to
Long IslandLong Island is an island located in southeastern New York, United States, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City, and two of which are mainly suburban...
, and he missed several meetings with delegates. He was embarrassingly confronted by the Mayor of
Belleville, OntarioBelleville, Ontario is a city located at the mouth of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte in Southern Ontario, Canada, in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is the seat of Hastings County...
on the convention floor for missing a meeting.
Convention strategy
Each Federal riding was permitted to elect 6 delegates, 2 of which had to be youth delegates. Furthermore, PC MPs, MLAs, and higher ups were permitted to be ex officio delegates. Delegates were not pledged or required to vote for certain candidates, so it was difficult to know what the initial count would be for any candidate.
Controversy erupted when then-CBC reporter
Mike DuffyMichael Dennis Duffy, known as Mike Duffy, is a Canadian Senator and former Canadian television journalist. Prior to his appointment to the upper house he was the Ottawa editor for CTV News Channel, and a host of Mike Duffy Live and Countdown with Mike Duffy on the network...
reported in the beginning of May that Mulroney's and four other candidates' agents had met to make an "ABC" (Anybody But Clark) strategy for the convention. While Mulroney denied the meeting repeatedly, the other candidates' campaigns admitted to the meeting.
Due to the leak of the "ABC" meeting, it was believed that Clark would have to score very close to 50% on the first ballot in order to regain the leadership. Clark's strategy relied on a large first ballot total, featuring a good part of the Quebec caucus, that would bring the left-leaning Crombie and Clark-loyalist Wilson to his side, and convince other delegates that he could win a majority government in the next election.
Mulroney's strategy remained mobilizing anti-Clark sentiment around himself: However, over enthusiastic aides had annoyed some of the other candidates with assumptions of support, leaving some question marks over the minor candidates.
Crosby hoped to use his status as the least polarizing personality to attract delegates from either Mulroney or Clark if there had been a disappointing finish by either, and to attract support from minor candidates.
Despite ideological differences, Pocklington, Crombie, and Wilson were all on good terms throughout the race, with some speculation that if either of their delegate numbers were respectable, the three candidates could mount a movement together, greatly influencing the outcome.
The convention
An interesting incident occurred when Crosbie was introduced, as his rented mini-Blimp failed to work properly. The blimp may have been a blessing: most delegates were watching it when Crosbie made a wrong turn on his grand entrance. Pocklington fell far below his predictions of delegates, the only advisor close to predicting his number had jokingly guessed "99", a reference to the jersey number of Oilers' star
Wayne GretzkyWayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player. He is currently a part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League...
. He, Gamble, and Fraser all supported Mulroney after the first ballot, with Fraser being automatically taken off the ballot.
Clark's vote numbers fell in the second ballot, with Mulroney pulling closer. Crombie was eliminated, and supported Crosbie. Many Clark delegates were considering switching to Crosbie to hold off Mulroney, however Crosbie's unilingualism, lack of support in Quebec, and more right-wing economics did not appeal to Clark. Newfoundland Premier
Brian PeckfordAlfred Brian Peckford, PC is a former teacher, politician and premier of Newfoundland.Born in Whitbourne, Newfoundland, Peckford first won election to the House of Assembly in 1972 as a Progressive Conservative. In 1974 he became minister of municipal affairs and housing in the cabinet of Premier...
was shown on television attempting to persuade Clark to drop out and endorse Crosbie, to no avail.
Crosbie finished last on the third ballot. The conventional wisdom was that his delegates would break at least 2:1 in favour of Mulroney over Clark. The conventional wisdom played out, with Mulroney being elected on the fourth ballot and declared the winner.
Political commentators have said that of the other possible two-man ballots among the front runners, Clark would probably have had the advantage over Crosbie (Because of the bilingualism factor), while Crosbie could possibly have defeated Mulroney.
|
First ballot |
Second ballot |
Third ballot |
Fourth ballot |
|
Votes |
% |
Votes |
% |
Votes |
% |
Votes |
% |
Brian MulroneyMartin Brian Mulroney, PC, CC, GOQ was the eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of highly contentious economic...
|
874 |
29.25% |
1,021 |
34.56% |
1,036 |
35.09% |
1,584 |
54.45% |
Joe ClarkCharles Joseph "Joe" Clark, PC, CC, AOE is a Canadian journalist, politician, statesman, businessman, and university professor...
|
1,091 |
36.51% |
1,085 |
36.73% |
1,058 |
35.84% |
1,325 |
45.55% |
| John Crosbie John Carnell Crosbie, PC, OC, ONL, QC is a retired provincial and federal politician in Canada. He sometimes sparked controversy when a Cabinet minister during the government of Brian Mulroney, from 1984 to 1993. On February 4, 2008, Crosbie was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and...
|
639 |
21.39% |
781 |
26.44% |
858 |
29.06% |
|
|
| Michael Wilson Michael Wilson may refer to:*Michael Wilson , member of the South Australian House of Assembly, 1977–1985*Michael Wilson , former player of the Harlem Globetrotters and the University of Memphis, also known as 'Wild Thing'*Michael Wilson , American theater director*Michael Wilson ,...
|
144 |
4.82% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| David Crombie David Edward Crombie, PC, OC is a Canadian politician, professor and consultant.Crombie was a lecturer in politics and urban affairs at Ryerson in the 1960s when he became involved in Toronto's urban reform movement...
|
116 |
3.88% |
67 |
2.27% |
|
|
|
|
| Peter Pocklington Peter H. Pocklington is a Canadian entrepreneur who has dabbled in politics.He made his initial fortune as the owner of one of the largest auto dealerships in Canada, and later took over a meat packing company involved in a high-profile labour strike.Pocklington is best known as the former owner...
|
102 |
3.41% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| John Gamble John Gamble may refer to:* John Gamble * John Gamble , musician and song collector* John A. Gamble Canadian politician* John M. Gamble Officer in the United States Marine Corps...
|
17 |
0.57% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Neil Fraser Neil Fraser is a former Canadian civil servant who came to prominence for his crusade against the Metric system of weights and measures in the early 1980s. To promote his campaign, he ran as a candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada at the 1983 leadership...
|
5 |
0.17% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Totals |
2,988 |
100.0% |
2,954 |
100.0% |
2,952 |
100.0% |
2,909 |
100.0% |
- Percentages are rounded, so they may not equal 100%.
Aftermath
The two party conventions in 1983 were very divisive for the PC Party as they set those loyal to the party's leader against those who believed that change was necessary for the party to win. While these divisions were pushed aside by the euphoria over Mulroney's massive victory in the
1984 electionThe Canadian federal election of 1984 was held on September 4 of that year to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 33rd Parliament of Canada...
, the divisions lingered for many years. Crosbie, Clark, Wilson, and Crombie all gained prominent cabinet positions in Mulroney's government.
See also