Progressive Conservative leadership convention, 1983
Encyclopedia
The 1983 Progressive Conservative leadership election was held on June 11, 1983 in Ottawa
, Ontario
to elect a leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
. At the convention, Brian Mulroney
was elected leader of the PC Party on the fourth ballot, defeating former Prime Minister
Joe Clark
.
Joe Clark had been leader of the party since the party's 1976 leadership convention
. While credited with uniting the PCs after the difficult Stanfield
years and leading the Progressive Conservatives to victory in the 1979 federal election
, a lack of what Jeffrey Simpson
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 election
, 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 Liberals
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.
was supported largely by the more centrist elements of the party, some Red Tories, and other party members who were opposed to the public attacks on him in years previous. He had learned fluent French.
Brian Mulroney
, 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 Canada
, 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 Crosbie
, who had been Clark's Minister of Finance in 1979, was also an attractive candidate for the party's pro-business wing, and attempted to distinguish himself by adopting what he called a continentalist platform, i.e., free trade
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
.
Michael Wilson
, who was a well-respected Bay Street
banker and had been Minister of State for International Trade in Clark's government, attracted modest support within his home province of Ontario
, 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 Blaikie
's support in Quebec
David Crombie, the former mayor of Toronto
, 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 Newman
said at the convention, "He was a good man in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Peter Pocklington
, a mercurial and controversial Alberta
businessperson ran a campaign based on strict adherence to the principles of free enterprise
, with most of his focus on a flat tax
. He gained some support through the Amway
retail system.
John Gamble
, the Member of Parliament for York North, a riding
north of Toronto
managed to attract a small band of supporters with a hard-line right-wing platform. Gamble had been an outspoken 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 Fraser ran against the implementation of the metric system
in Canada, based on the slogan, "Your freedom to measure is a measure of your freedom". Fraser didn't mount 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 Bissonnette
commented that if the speech had been heard on Radio-Canada
, it would have set the Tories' Quebec efforts back 10 years.
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 delegates in the previous convention's leadership review. Mulroney and Crosbie had been laying the groundwork 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 speculation surrounding Ontario Premier
Bill Davis
and Alberta Premier
Peter Lougheed
, both of whom commanded great respect in the party, and who would have easily been among the front runners had they chosen to run. Davis had previously had a strained relationship with Clark, having criticized the gasoline tax in the Clark government's 1979 budget. As both men declined, this gave Crombie and Wilson some hope in Ontario for recruiting members of Davis's "Big Blue Machine
." Lougheed would attract criticism from 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-liberal
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 polarizing the race between right wingers and a centrist who had been able to previously defeat the Liberals. 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, the culmination of years of ideological and backroom conflicts within the party, was one of the most bitter in Canadian history. 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 Corporation
(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 Levesque
"). 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 the dark horse
of the race, with some of his delegates wearing buttons that had Clark and Mulroney as fighting hares, featuring Crosbie as a tortoise sneaking by
. Crosbie's popularity within the party 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 those rejected was a Newfoundland Flight school. Crosbie's campaign hit a major snag, however, when he snapped at a news reporter for raising his unilingualism, saying that he would still be able to understand Quebec issues, as his lack of French was similar to not speaking German or another language.
Pocklington's campaign was hampered by the fact that his Edmonton Oilers
were in the Stanley Cup
playoffs. This prompted many trips to Long Island
, and he missed several meetings with delegates. He was embarrassingly confronted by the Mayor of Belleville, Ontario
on the convention floor for missing a meeting.
Controversy erupted when then-CBC reporter Mike Duffy 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.
Crosbie 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.
. 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 Peckford
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.
, the divisions lingered for many years. Crosbie, Clark, Wilson, and Crombie all gained prominent cabinet positions in Mulroney's government.
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, 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....
to elect a leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
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....
. At the convention, Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th 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 major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
was elected leader of the PC Party on the fourth ballot, defeating former 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...
Joe Clark
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...
.
Background
Progressive Conservative leadership convention, 1976
The 1976 leadership election 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 Stanfield
Robert Stanfield
Robert Lorne Stanfield, PC, QC was the 17th 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 election
Canadian federal election, 1979
The 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 Simpson
Jeffrey Simpson
Jeffrey Carl Simpson, OC , is a Canadian journalist. He has been The Globe and Mails national affairs columnist for almost three decades...
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 election
Canadian federal election, 1980
The 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 Liberals
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...
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 conventionsProgressive Conservative leadership conventionsThe first Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership election 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 ClarkJoe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...
was supported largely by the more centrist elements of the party, some Red Tories, and other party members who were opposed to the public attacks on him in years previous. He had learned fluent French.
Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th 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 major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
, 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 Canada
Iron Ore Company of Canada
Iron 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 Crosbie
John Crosbie
John Carnell Crosbie, PC, OC, ONL, QC is a retired provincial and federal politician and the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada...
, who had been Clark's Minister of Finance in 1979, was also an attractive candidate for the party's pro-business wing, and attempted to distinguish himself by adopting what he called a continentalist platform, i.e., free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
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
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
.
Michael Wilson
Michael Wilson (politician)
Michael Holcombe Wilson, PC, CC 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 Street
Bay Street
Bay Street, originally known as Bear Street, is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Street in that role in the 1970s...
banker and had been Minister of State for International Trade in Clark's government, attracted modest support within his home province of 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....
, 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 Blaikie
Peter Blaikie
Peter 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 Crombie, the former mayor of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, 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 Newman
Peter C. Newman
Peter Charles Newman, CC, CD is a Canadian journalist and writer.Born in Vienna, Austria, Newman emigrated from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to Canada in 1940 as a Jewish refugee. His father, Oscar, was a self-made wealthy factory owner. Newman was educated at Upper Canada College, where he was...
said at the convention, "He was a good man in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Peter Pocklington
Peter Pocklington
Peter Hugh Pocklington is a Canadian entrepreneur.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....
, a mercurial and controversial Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
businessperson ran a campaign based on strict adherence to the principles of free enterprise
Free enterprise
-Transport:* Free Enterprise I, a ferry in service with European Ferries between 1962 and 1980.* Free Enterprise II, a ferry in service with European Ferries between 1965 and 1982....
, with most of his focus on a flat tax
Flat tax
A flat tax is a tax system with a constant marginal tax rate. Typically the term flat tax is applied in the context of an individual or corporate income that will be taxed at one marginal rate...
. He gained some support through the Amway
Amway
Amway is a direct selling company and manufacturer that uses network marketing to sell a variety of products, primarily in the health, beauty, and home care markets. Amway was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos...
retail system.
John Gamble
John A. Gamble
John 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 riding
Electoral district (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
north of Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
managed to attract a small band of supporters with a hard-line right-wing platform. Gamble had been an outspoken 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 Fraser ran against the implementation of the metric system
Si
Si, si, or SI may refer to :- Measurement, mathematics and science :* International System of Units , the modern international standard version of the metric system...
in Canada, based on the slogan, "Your freedom to measure is a measure of your freedom". Fraser didn't mount 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 Bissonnette
Lise Bissonnette
Lise 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
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, it would have set the Tories' Quebec efforts back 10 years.
The campaign
Much of the campaign's early months were overshadowed by speculation surrounding Ontario Premier
Premier of Ontario
The 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. The Executive Council Act The Premier of Ontario...
Bill Davis
Bill Davis
William Grenville "Bill" Davis, was the 18th Premier of Ontario, Canada, from 1971 to 1985. Davis was first elected as the MPP for Peel in the 1959 provincial election where he was a backbencher in Leslie Frost's government. Under John Robarts, he was a cabinet minister overseeing the education...
and Alberta Premier
Premier of Alberta
The 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 Alison Redford. She became Premier by winning the Progressive Conservative leadership elections on...
Peter Lougheed
Peter Lougheed
Edgar Peter Lougheed, PC, CC, AOE, QC, is a Canadian lawyer, and a former politician and Canadian Football League player. He served as the tenth Premier of Alberta from 1971 to 1985....
, both of whom commanded great respect in the party, and who would have easily been among the front runners had they chosen to run. Davis had previously had a strained relationship with Clark, having criticized the gasoline tax in the Clark government's 1979 budget. As both men declined, this gave Crombie and Wilson some hope in Ontario for recruiting members of Davis's "Big Blue Machine
Big Blue Machine
The 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 from 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-liberal
Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism is a market-driven approach to economic and social policy based on neoclassical theories of economics that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade and relatively open markets, and therefore seeks to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the...
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 polarizing the race between right wingers and a centrist who had been able to previously defeat the Liberals. 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, the culmination of years of ideological and backroom conflicts within the party, was one of the most bitter in Canadian history. 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 Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
(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 Levesque
René Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 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 the dark horse
Dark horse
Dark horse is a term used to describe a little-known person or thing that emerges to prominence, especially in a competition of some sort.-Origin:The term began as horse racing parlance...
of the race, with some of his delegates wearing buttons that had Clark and Mulroney as fighting hares, featuring Crosbie as a tortoise sneaking by
The Tortoise and the Hare
The Tortoise and the Hare is a fable attributed to Aesop and is number 226 in the Perry Index. The story concerns a hare who ridicules a slow-moving tortoise and is challenged by him to a race. The hare soon leaves the tortoise behind and, confident of winning, decides to take a nap midway through...
. Crosbie's popularity within the party 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 those rejected was a Newfoundland Flight school. Crosbie's campaign hit a major snag, however, when he snapped at a news reporter for raising his unilingualism, saying that he would still be able to understand Quebec issues, as his lack of French was similar to not speaking German or another language.
Pocklington's campaign was hampered by the fact that his Edmonton Oilers
Edmonton Oilers
The 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 Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
playoffs. This prompted many trips to Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, 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, Ontario
Belleville, Ontario
Belleville 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, but is politically independent of it. and the centre of the Bay of Quinte Region...
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 Duffy 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.
Crosbie 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 Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
. 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 Peckford
Brian Peckford
Alfred Brian Peckford, PC served as the 3rd Premier of Newfoundland. He served as leader of the Progressive Conservatives from 1979 until his retirement in 1989....
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 Mulroney Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th 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 major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S... |
874 | 29.25% | 1,021 | 34.56% | 1,036 | 35.09% | 1,584 | 54.45% |
| Joe Clark Joe Clark Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician... |
1,091 | 36.51% | 1,085 | 36.73% | 1,058 | 35.84% | 1,325 | 45.55% |
| John Crosbie John Crosbie John Carnell Crosbie, PC, OC, ONL, QC is a retired provincial and federal politician and the 12th Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada... |
639 | 21.39% | 781 | 26.44% | 858 | 29.06% | ||
| Michael Wilson Michael Wilson (politician) Michael Holcombe Wilson, PC, CC 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... |
144 | 4.82% | ||||||
| David Crombie | 116 | 3.88% | 67 | 2.27% | ||||
| Peter Pocklington Peter Pocklington Peter Hugh Pocklington is a Canadian entrepreneur.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.... |
102 | 3.41% | ||||||
| John Gamble John A. Gamble John 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... |
17 | 0.57% | ||||||
| Neil Fraser | 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 electionCanadian federal election, 1984
The 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
- Progressive Conservative leadership conventionsProgressive Conservative leadership conventionsThe first Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership election was held in 1927, when the party was called the Conservative Party. Prior to then the party's leader was chosen by caucus....
- Photographs from the floor of the 1983 convention