Electoral history of Brian Mulroney he ended in third place on the fourth ballot, behind Joe Clark, who won the leadership, and Claude Wagner, who came in second. Following a leadership review at the 1983 Progressive Conservative convention, Clark triggered a leadership convention, in which he stood for re-election. Mulroney again entered the leadership race. This time, he defeated Clark and succeeded him as party leader. 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
Brian Mulroney him an advantage that eventually proved decisive. Because of health problems shortly after becoming party leader, Mulroney quit smoking in 1983. By the start of 1984, as Mulroney began learning the realities of parliamentary life in the House of Commons, the Tories took a substantial lead in opinion polling. It was almost taken for granted that Trudeau would be heavily defeated by Mulroney in the general election due no later than 1985. Trudeau announced his retirement in February, and the Liberal Party chose John Turner, previously the Minister of Finance under Trudeau in the 1970s, as its new leader. The