Canada Changes Course

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Mulroney's triumph brought to a close an eventful chapter in Canadian political life, the era of Pierre Trudeau. He came to symbolize Canada not only for Canadians but for the rest of the world, often to the delight of his countrymen. At a time when the French-speaking province of Quebec noisily threatened to secede, Trudeau blunted the menace with bilingual reforms. Toward the end of his tenure, however, Trudeau was increasingly perceived by Canadians as having overstayed his welcome. Many felt that the Prime Minister had grown bored and petulant, and that the Liberal Party had become rudderless, lazy, unimaginative. Against the backdrop of a stagnant economy, Canadians yearned for a fresh new course. The election results were not so much a resounding note for Mulroney as they were a deafening rejection of the incumbents. "The Liberal Party had become too remote, too arrogant," says George Perlin, professor of political science at Queens University at Kingston, Ont. Editorialized the Toronto Sun the day after the ballot: "The people didn't speak, they bellowed, then chewed up the Liberals and spit them out."

The Liberals expected a different outcome in early July, when Turner dissolved Parliament and scheduled new elections. Though he had succeeded Trudeau only nine days earlier and could have called for a vote as late as next spring, Turner decided to take advantage of opinion polls that showed his party with an eleven-point lead over the Tories. Immediately, however, the new Prime Minister committed his first major blunder: he reappointed nearly all Trudeau's ministers to his own Cabinet. Bowing to pressure from his predecessor, Turner also awarded cushy patronage posts to 17 Liberal colleagues.

By then Mulroney had already assembled a nationwide political machine and raised an estimated $14 million. After years of relying on the Trudeau name to win elections, the Liberals found themselves with an organization in disarray and a bankroll of only $2 million. So chaotic was the Turner team that the Prime Minister replaced his campaign manager halfway through the race. "Part of the problem is that you must have a horse and a jockey," says a Turner associate. "John tried to be both."

Mulroney and Turner differed so little on the issues that New Democratic Party Leader Edward Broadbent dubbed them "MasterCard and Visa." Both candidates, for example, pledged to cut the government's deficit of $23 billion and increase defense spending. At times the only real squabble between them seemed to be how many promises Mulroney had made; by Turner's count, the Tory had made 338. One Liberal TV ad featured a shopping cart crammed with packages at a cash register; the items were labeled "Tory promises," but none carried prices.