New Democratic Party leadership election, 1989
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The 1989 New Democratic Party leadership election was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, from November 30 to December 3 to elect a leader of the
New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...
of Canada. Ed Broadbent retired as federal leader, and Audrey McLaughlin was elected as his replacement. McLaughlin's victory was the first time a woman won the leadership of a major federal Canadian political party. This convention was followed by six years of decline for the party, culminating in the worst electoral performance of a 20th-century federal democratic socialist party, when the party received only seven percent of the popular vote in the 1993 federal election.


Prelude

Canadians elected a record 43 NDP Members of Parliament (MPs) in the election of 1988. The Liberal Party, however, had reaped most of the benefits of opposing free trade to emerge as the dominant alternative to the Progressive Conservative (PC) government. The PCs' barrage of attacks on the Liberals, and vote-splitting between the NDP and Liberals, helped them win a second consecutive majority. In 1989, Broadbent stepped down after 14 years as federal leader of the NDP.


Leadership vote

At the 1989 Winnipeg leadership convention, former B.C. Premier Dave Barrett and Audrey McLaughlin were the main contenders for the leadership. During the campaign, Barrett argued that the party should be concerned with western alienation, rather than focusing its attention on Quebec. The Quebec wing of the NDP strongly opposed Barrett's candidacy, with
Phil Edmonston Louis-Phillip Edmonston (26 May 1944 – 2 December 2022) was a Canadian consumer advocate, writer, journalist, and politician. Along with Andrew Scheer, he was one of the few politicians with dual American and Canadian citizenship to be electe ...
, the party's main spokesman in Quebec, threatening to resign from the party if Barrett won. McLaughlin won the leadership on the fourth ballot, with 1316 votes for 55 percent of the vote, versus Barrett's 1072 votes (45 percent). Her victory meant that she became first woman in Canada to lead a major, recognized, federal political party.


Aftermath

The party enjoyed strong support among organized labour and rural voters in the Prairies. McLaughlin tried to expand its support into Quebec without much success. In 1989, the Quebec New Democratic Party adopted a
sovereigntist Sovereigntism, sovereignism or souverainism (from french: souverainisme, , meaning the ideology of sovereignty) is the notion of having control over one's conditions of existence, whether at the level of the self, social group, region, nation o ...
platform and severed its ties with the federal NDP. Under McLaughlin, the party won an election in Quebec for the first time when Edmonston won a 1990 by-election. The party had briefly picked up its first Quebec MP in 1986, when
Robert Toupin Robert Toupin (born January 20, 1949) is a Canadian former politician. Toupin served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons. Toupin had been a worker for the Quebec Liberal Party when he joined the Progressive Conservative Party of ...
crossed the floor Crossed may refer to: * ''Crossed'' (comics), a 2008 comic book series by Garth Ennis * ''Crossed'' (novel), a 2010 young adult novel by Ally Condie * "Crossed" (''The Walking Dead''), an episode of the television series ''The Walking Dead'' S ...
from the Tories after briefly sitting as an independent. However, he left the party in October 1987 after claiming communists had infiltrated the party. New Democrats who declined to run. 1.Nelson Riis, British Columbia M.P 2.Jim Fulton, British Columbia M.P 3.Pauline Jewett, former British Columbia M.P 4.Ross Harvey, Alberta M.P 5.Allan Blakeney, former Saskatchewan Premier 6.Lorne Nystrom, Saskatchewan M.P 7.Howard Pawley, former Manitoba Premier 8.Stephen Lewis, former Ontario N.D.P Leader 9.Michael Cassidy, former M.P, former Ontario N.D.P leader 10.Bob Rae, Ontario N.D.P Leader, former M.P 11.Lynn McDonald, Former Ontario M.P 12.Marion Dewar, Former Ontario M.P, former Ottawa Mayor 13.John Rodriguez, Ontario M.P 14.Bob White, President Canadian Auto Workers 15.Ian Deans, former Ontario M.P 16.Remy Trudel, 1988 Quebec N.D.P candidate 17.Phil Edmonston, soon to be Quebec M.P, consumer advocate 18.Nancy Riche, Union Leader 19.Alexa McDonough, Nova Scotia N.D.P leader 20.Jack Harris, Former Newfoundland M.P 21.Tony Penikett, Yukon Government Leader


Notes


References

* * {{NDP
New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...
1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
New Democratic Party leadership election