The Progressive Conservative Party, which had governed Ontario since 1943, was reduced to a precarious minority government in the 1985 election. McClellan, influenced in part by his mother's European socialist background, wanted the NDP to form a coalition government with the Liberals. This proposal was rejected. McClellan was instead appointed chief negotiator for talks with both the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives, in which the NDP agreed to provide support to another party without actually joining government. These talks led to a two-year accord with the Liberal Party, which promised to introduce progressive reforms in return for NDP support in the legislature. After a motion of no confidence in which the Liberals and NDP defeated the Conservative's budget bill, Liberal leader David Peterson was sworn in as Premier of Ontario on June 26, 1985.