Canadian federal election, 1988

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Image:Can1988-2.PNGImage:Elec1988.PNG The Canadian federal election of 1988 was held November 21, 1988, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.

Incumbent Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, had signed the agreement. The Liberal Party, led by John Napier Turner, was opposed to the agreement, as was the New Democratic Party led by Ed Broadbent. Among the minor parties, the Christian Heritage Party, running its first election candidates, supported the concept of free trade but had serious reservations about the negotiated agreement.

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. Infighting among the Liberals and vote splitting between the NDP and Liberals led to a second Conservative majority government, however.

The Liberals returned as the official opposition, but the lackluster campaign cost Turner his job as Liberal leader. He was replaced by Jean Chrétien in 1990.

The 1988 election was the most successful for the New Democratic Party. The party dominated in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and also won significant support in Ontario.

The election was the last for Canada's Social Credit movement: the party won no seats, and 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.

In all, 76% of eligible voters cast a ballot.

Contents

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 Dissolution Elected % Change # % Change
     Progressive Conservative Brian Mulroney 295 211 203 169 -19.9% 5,667,543 43.02% -7.02%
     Liberal John Turner 294 40 38 83 +107.5% 4,205,072 31.92% +3.89%
     New Democratic Ed Broadbent 295 32 32 43 +34.4% 2,685,263 20.38% +1.57%
     Reform Preston Manning 72 * * - * 275,767 2.09% *
     Christian Heritage Ed Vanwoudenberg 63 * * - * 102,533 0.78% *
     Rhinoceros Charles McKenzie 74 - - - - 52,173 0.40% -0.39%
     Green Seymour Trieger 68 - - - - 47,228 0.36% +0.14%
     Confederation of Regions Elmer Knutson 51 - - - - 41,342 0.31% -0.68%
     Libertarian Dennis Corrigan 88 - - - - 33,135 0.25% +0.06%
     Commonwealth Gilles Gervais 58 - - - - 7,467 0.06% -0.21%
     Communist George Hewison 51 - - - - 7,066 0.05% -0.01%
     Social Credit Harvey Lainson 9 - - - - 3,407 0.03% -0.11%
     Independent 55 - 4 - - 22,982 0.17% -0.01%
     No affiliation 100 - - -   24,516 0.19% -0.12%
     Vacant 5  
Total 1,573 282 282 295 +4.61% 13,175,494 100%  

Note:

"% change" refers to change from previous election

A number of unregistered parties also contested the election. The Western Canada Concept party, led by Douglas 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 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 too few candidates 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 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 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 percent of the vote in a province are not recorded.

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Notes

La Porte, SK

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, PEI: 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



Preceded by:
1984 federal election 		Canadian federal elections Followed by:
1993 federal election


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