Electoral history of Brian Mulroney Electoral history of Brian Mulroney This article is the Electoral history of Brian Mulroney, the eighteenth Prime Minister of Canada. A conservative, he served one term as Prime Minister (1984-1993). He led the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in two general elections, winning back to back majority governments (1984) and (1988). He was the first Conservative prime minister to do so since Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, in 1887 and 1891. Mulroney defeated Joe Clark for the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives in 1983, and then defeated Prime Minister John Turner in the 1984 election. Mulroney's majority in the
Brian Mulroney visibly angry Mulroney called this "an avowal of failure" and "a confession of non-leadership." The exchange led most papers the next day, with most of them paraphrasing Mulroney's counterattack as "You had an option, sir—you could have said 'no.'" Many observers believe that at this point, Mulroney assured himself of becoming prime minister. On September 4, Mulroney and the Tories won the largest majority government in Canadian history. They took 211 seats, three more than their previous record in 1958. The Liberals won only 40 seats, which, at the time was their worst performance ever and the worst defeat for