SEPT. 4, 1984 SOME NEW SNOUTS IN THE TROUGH

Since Confederation 150 years ago, federal elections have been a game of musical chairs, with Conservatives and Liberals taking their turn at the government trough.

In September 1984, Brian Mulroney led the Progressive Conservatives to power with the largest majority in Canadian history. Canadians had wanted change, but would they get it? As the German philosopher Hegel said, “We learn from history that we do not learn from history.”

The new Conservative government got busy: meetings with smiling premiers, peace pipes smoked with native leaders, economic summits announced, offshore agreements signed. The honeymoon went on for a year. This cartoonist wanted to know when the Tories were going to trip up like any decent new government.

The day finally came. The 1985 tainted tuna scandal led the way. Then a cabinet minister spent $65,000 of government money on two fun trips around Europe. Industry Minister Sinclair Stevens had to step down while being investigated for conflict of interest. Montreal MP Michel Gravel was charged with 50 counts of influence peddling. Now that was more like it!

Free trade with the United States was the single most important campaign issue of 1988. The Liberals and NDP mounted strong anti-free trade campaigns, but when the Conservatives were re-elected, they were able to claim a mandate to pursue a deal, even without a majority of Canadians behind it.

The Meech Lake Accord was Mulroney’s attempt to fulfil an earlier election promise to bring Quebec fully into the Canadian fold. Provinces were on board — then they weren’t. The public supported the agreement — then lost their appetite. A last-ditch meeting between federal and provincial representatives looked promising, but it was too little, too late. The Charlottetown Accord — Meech Lake redux — was doomed by the lack of common goals and Brian Mulroney’s plummeting popularity.

Mulroney left office as the most intensely disliked prime minister in Canadian polling history. With Kim Campbell at its helm, the PC party went into the 1993 election campaign with 156 seats — and emerged with two. Jean Chrétien’s Liberals replaced the Conservatives at the trough. And so it goes ...