2004 Liberal Party of Canada Infighting - Turner's Leadership

Turner's Leadership

While the Liberal Party has had internal conflicts during its history, it has had a tumultuous period during the later leadership of Pierre Trudeau. In 1975, John Turner unexpectedly resigned as Minister of Finance.

Internal unrest began after John Turner was elected leader, defeating Trudeau-loyalist Jean Chrétien. Trudeau had resigned due to slipping approval ratings, which showed his party headed for certain defeat against newly elected Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney.

Turner then immediately led the Liberals into a disastrous election, finishing with 40 seats, only ten more than the New Democratic Party. For his part, Turner initially did not give any Trudeau loyalists important campaign positions until near the end of the campaign when it was too late. Some suggested that the Liberals would follow their British namesake into oblivion, as NDP leader Ed Broadbent consistently out-polled Turner in personal approval ratings.

Consequently, Turner's leadership was frequently questioned, and in the lead up to the 1986 Liberal convention, a vote of confidence loomed large. Chrétien, supposedly still bitter over his loss at the 1984 convention, resigned his seat. The ongoing and often open lack of popularity of Turner within his own party led to many editorial cartoonists to draw him with a back stabbed full of knives. Keith Davey and other Liberals began a public campaign against Turner, coinciding with backroom struggles involving Chrétien's supporters. However, the public conflict influenced many Liberals to support Turner, and he ended up getting 75% of the delegate vote.

Further infighting dogged the party during the 1988 election but they were successfully able to re-establish themselves as the main opposition to Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives. Despite doubling their number of seats, the results were considered a disappointment as polls in mid-campaign had predicted a Liberal majority, and Turner resigned as party leader in 1990.

Back in 1986, a group of young Liberals approached Paul Martin as an ideological equivalent of Turner. While Martin did not take part in an attempt to overthrow Turner, he did prepare to succeed him in the leadership should the position open, and he entered Parliament in the 1988 election. From the moment Martin announced his intentions to become an MP, he was touted as a possible leadership candidate.