During the 1993 Canadian federal election

Canadian federal election, 1993

The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...

, the Progressive Conservative Party

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

 produced a televised attack ad

Attack ad

In political campaigns, an attack ad is an advertisement whose message is meant as a personal attack against another candidate or political party...

 against Jean Chrétien

Jean Chrétien

Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....

, the Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 leader. The ad (sometimes referred to as the "face ad") was perceived by many as a focus on Chrétien's facial deformity, caused by Bell's palsy

Bell's palsy

Bell's palsy is a form of facial paralysis resulting from a dysfunction of the cranial nerve VII that results in the inability to control facial muscles on the affected side. Several conditions can cause facial paralysis, e.g., brain tumor, stroke, and Lyme disease. However, if no specific cause...

. The resulting outcry is considered to be an example of voter backlash from negative campaigning

Negative campaigning

Negative campaigning, also known more colloquially as "mudslinging", is trying to win an advantage by referring to negative aspects of an opponent or of a policy rather than emphasizing one's own positive attributes or preferred policies...

.

Background

Despite making up some ground against the official opposition Liberals in the summer before the 1993 election call, few had felt that the Progressive Conservatives had any hope of remaining in government once the writ was dropped

Dropping the writ

Dropping the writ is the informal term for a procedure in some parliamentary government systems, where the head of government goes to the head of state and formally advises him or her to dissolve parliament...

. The PC party was beset by many problems, notably the recession, the unpopular GST

Goods and Services Tax (Canada)

The Goods and Services Tax is a multi-level value added tax introduced in Canada on January 1, 1991, by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his finance minister Michael Wilson. The GST replaced a hidden 13.5% Manufacturers' Sales Tax ; Mulroney claimed the GST was implemented because the MST...

, and their support bases moving to the newly formed Reform Party

Reform Party of Canada

The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....

 and Bloc Québécois

Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

. While initially optimistic of being able to at least retain second place, the PC's support had dropped badly in the final weeks of the campaign. Realizing that without something dramatic the Liberals were certain to win a majority government

Majority government

A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...

, the PC campaign leaders decided to launch a group of four ads attacking Chrétien and his record.

The decision to launch the ads was taken mainly by PC campaign director John Tory

John Tory

John Howard Tory is a Canadian businessman, political activist, former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, former Member of Provincial Parliament and broadcaster...

 along with Allan Gregg

Allan Gregg

Allan Gregg is a Canadian pollster, political advisor, and pundit.-Early life:Gregg was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He was the eldest child in his family which consisted of four boys and one girl. Gregg graduated from Harry Ainley High School at the second top of his class with honors...

, a pollster who was one of the top campaign managers. Gregg had launched a series of attack ads in the last days of the 1988 election

Canadian federal election, 1988

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 ....

 to great effect. The new ads were produced quickly, and were seen by few in the party before they were aired; Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 and PC Party leader Kim Campbell

Kim Campbell

Avril Phædra Douglas "Kim" Campbell, is a Canadian politician, lawyer, university professor, diplomat, and writer. She served as the 19th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 25, 1993, to November 4, 1993...

, who was on the campaign trail, did not see them before they aired.

The controversial ad was the second in a series of four; the first ad was a strong attack, but not much worse than ads aired by the Liberals or the Reform Party

Reform Party of Canada

The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....

 attacking the Conservatives and their record. The ads as a whole were designed to leverage Campbell's personal popularity, which was still higher than that of Chrétien.

The ad and immediate reaction

The second of the four ads premiered on October 14, 1993, and was mainly played in the Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 market, a market seen as heavy in swing voters

Swing vote

Swing vote is a term used to describe a vote that may go to any of a number of candidates in an election, or, in a two-party system, may go to either of the two dominant political parties...

. The ad featured still pictures of Chrétien’s face interspersed with comments by actors posing as regular Canadians; the first voiceover asked "Is this a Prime Minister?" with other voices questioning his record. The final, and most prominent, line was "I would be very embarrassed if he became Prime Minister of Canada."

While the ad's creators had meant for the voiceover lines to refer to Chrétien's policies and ethics, the intercutting with images of his face focusing on his facial deformity were interpreted by many as an attack on Chrétien's appearance. PC campaign advisor Hugh Segal

Hugh Segal

Hugh Segal, CM is a Canadian senator, political strategist, author, and commentator. Segal is credited with helping Stephen Harper become Prime Minister by moderating his image.-Life and career:...

 was among many Tories contending that the backlash following the ad was mostly manufactured. Indeed the Liberal Party did unquestionably mobilize its members to call media outlets, an effort led by Roméo LeBlanc

Roméo LeBlanc

Roméo-Adrien LeBlanc was a Canadian journalist, politician, and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 25th since Canadian Confederation....

, who was manning the Liberal war room and who organized the counter-attack minutes after the ad premiered.

Reaction and backlash

While some of the subsequent reaction was manufactured, it is certain that part of the widespread anger at the ad was genuine. While only a few Canadians saw the ad on television, millions saw it on news coverage, where reports cut away to show only the most offensive segments. Several Tory MPs also condemned the ad and asked Campbell to pull it from the air.

Though she did not make a full apology for the ad campaign, Prime Minister Campbell ordered the 2nd ad be pulled less than 24 hours after its premiere; she also ordered the remaining 2 ads in the campaign not be aired. However, Campbell's decision caused sharp disagreements between her and her campaign staff. Tory, Gregg, and Segal felt that pulling the ad would validate all of the attacks against it and those in the Tory party who produced it, as well as leaving an impression that the Tories did not know what they were doing. They also argued that leaving the commercial on the air would be far less harmful, and that in time the full slate of attack ads would have the desired effect of lowering Chrétien's personal popularity. Additionally, they pointed out that not only were many newspapers and magazines using photos highlighting Chrétien's facial deformity that were similar to those used in the ad, Chrétien himself had used his half-paralyzed face in the campaign (Liberal advertisements in Quebec used a phrase translated into English as "Strange looking face, but reflect on what's inside").

Even more beneficial for the Liberals than the anti-Tory backlash was Chrétien's reaction to the commercials. One Tory described them as allowing Chrétien to "make the speech he had been waiting his entire career to deliver." Speaking in Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, Chrétien stated that "God gave me a physical defect, I've accepted that since I was a kid." He compared the Tories to the teasing children of his youth: "When I was a kid people were laughing at me. But I accepted that because God gave me other qualities and I'm grateful." The speech not only moved some in the audience to tears, its cut-up into sound bites on news coverage proved hugely effective. Chrétien poked fun at himself in another campaign appearance, saying "It's true, that I speak on one side of my mouth. I'm not a Tory, I don't speak on both sides of my mouth."

It is unclear what effect the ad had on the election, as Campbell's Progressive Conservatives were adversely affected by other issues (see Background above). Nonetheless, the negative backlash over the television spot made the Tories' defeat certain.

Election results and aftermath

The election of October 25, 1993 turned out to be one of the most eventful elections in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

's history, with more than half of the electorate switching parties from the 1988 election

Canadian federal election, 1988

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 ....

. The Liberals won a landslide majority, capturing 177 of the 295 seats in the 35th Canadian Parliament

35th Canadian Parliament

The 35th Canadian Parliament was in session from January 17, 1994 until April 27, 1997. The membership was set by the 1993 federal election on October 25, 1993, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1997 election.It was controlled by...

; Chrétien became Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 as a result, and would hold down the job for the next decade, retiring from politics in 2003.

By comparison, the Progressive Conservatives' share of Parliament was reduced to only two seats, losing official party status

Official party status

Official party status refers to the Canadian practice of recognizing political parties in the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures. The type of recognition and threshold needed to obtain it varies...

 (and the Parliamentary entitlement and federal funding that accompanies it) as a result. Campbell, who lost her riding in Vancouver Centre

Vancouver Centre

Vancouver Centre is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917.-Geography:...

, resigned the leadership soon after the election. The PC's never recovered as a federal political party; in 2003, it merged with the Canadian Alliance

Canadian Alliance

The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...

 party, with the new entity becoming the Conservative Party of Canada

Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

. The Conservatives eventually regained power with a minority government in the 2006 federal election

Canadian federal election, 2006

The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...

.