The 1998 Progressive Conservative leadership election was held on October 24 and November 14, 1998 to choose a successor to

Jean Charest John James "Jean" Charest (; born June 24, 1958) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the 29th premier of Quebec from 2003 to 2012. Prior to that, he was a member of Parliament (MP) between 1984 and 1998. After holding se ...

. This was the first time the Progressive Conservatives used a

one member, one vote "One man, one vote" or "one vote, one value" is a slogan used to advocate for the principle of equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of democracy and political equality, especially with regard to electoral reforms like ...

system to choose a leader rather than a delegated

leadership convention {{Politics of Canada In Politics of Canada, Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leadership, leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader. Overview In Canada, ...

, which has been the norm since 1927. The 1998 election used a point system that allocated 100 points to each riding, regardless of the number of votes cast in the riding. The candidate who won a majority of points (not necessarily a majority of voters) would win the leadership. All party members were eligible to cast a vote. If no candidate received a majority of points on the first ballot, the lowest ranking candidate would be automatically eliminated and a second ballot was to be held using a

preferential ballot Ranked voting is any voting system that uses voters' Ordinal utility, rankings of candidates to choose a single winner or multiple winners. More formally, a ranked vote system depends only on voters' total order, order of preference of the cand ...

if more than two candidates remained. The 100-point-per-riding system was again used by the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC; , ), sometimes referred to as the Tories, is a Government of Canada, federal List of political parties in Canada, political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main Right-wing ...

in their leadership elections.

Background

The Progressive Conservatives had formed two back-to-back

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multi ...

s under

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

from 1984 to 1993 but in the 1993 federal election under leader

Kim Campbell Avril Phaedra Douglas "Kim" Campbell (born March 10, 1947) is a Canadian politician who was the 19th prime minister of Canada from June to November 1993. Campbell is the first and only female prime minister of Canada. Prior to becoming the f ...

, the party had almost been completely wiped out. The rise of the

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, led by former Progressive Conservative cabinet minister

Lucien Bouchard Lucien Bouchard (; born December 22, 1938) is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat and retired politician. A minister for two years in the 24th Canadian Ministry, Mulroney cabinet, Bouchard then founded and led the Bloc Québécois and became Leader ...

, and the conservative Reform Party in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West, or Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a list of regions of Canada, Canadian region that includes the four western provinces and t ...

caused the PCs to lose their electoral base. Charest, the runner up to Campbell in the 1993 leadership convention was one of only two PC MPs elected in 1993 and became party leader. Under his leadership, the party won 20 seats in the 1997 federal election but still placed fifth. By 1998, Bouchard had become leader of the provincial

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

and had promised a further Quebec referendum on independence should there be "winning conditions". With the opposition

Quebec Liberal Party The Quebec Liberal Party (QLP; , PLQ) is a provincial political party in Quebec. It has been independent of the federal Liberal Party of Canada since 1955. The QLP has traditionally supported a form of Quebec federalist ideology with nuance ...

seeking a new leader, Charest was under considerable public and political pressure, especially among business circles, to leave federal politics and become leader of the Quebec Liberal Party as he was considered the best hope among

federalists The term ''federalist'' describes several political beliefs around the world. It may also refer to the concept of parties, whose members or supporters call themselves ''Federalists''. History Europe federation In Europe, proponents of deep ...

to defeat the PQ. Charest announced on March 28, 1998 that he was resigning as federal Progressive Conservative leader in order to seek the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party. The Progressive Conservatives, meanwhile, after two successive electoral defeats were under pressure from a Unite the Right movement for the Progressive Conservatives to co-operate with the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada () was a right-wing populism, right-wing populist and conservative List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada- ...

; Manitoba Tory cabinet minister

Brian Pallister Brian William Pallister (born July 6, 1954) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Manitoba from 2016 until 2021. He served as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 2012 to 2021. He had been a cabinet ...

, Major-General

Lewis MacKenzie Lewis Wharton MacKenzie Order of Canada, CM, Meritorious Service Cross, MSC, Order of Ontario, OOnt, Canadian Forces' Decoration, CD (born 30 April 1940) is a Canadian retired major general, author and media Pundit (expert), commentator. MacKen ...

, former Reform MP

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...

, former Manitoba premier

Gary Filmon Gary Albert Filmon (born August 24, 1942) is a Canadian politician from Manitoba who served as the 19th premier of Manitoba. He was the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba from 1983 to 2000, and served as the premier from ...

, Alberta premier

Ralph Klein Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 2 ...

, and former Alberta treasurer

Jim Dinning James Francis Dinning (born December 4, 1952) is a Canadian Progressive Conservative politician and businessman. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta (1986–1997), and now is on the board of directors of several Canadian compa ...

were all encouraged to run as Unite the Right candidates for leader - with Pallister proceeding to do so. Conversely, the movement was resisted by

Red Tories A Red Tory is an adherent of a centre-right or paternalistic-conservative political philosophy derived from the Tory tradition. It is most predominant in Canada; however, it is also found in the United Kingdom, where it is more commonly known a ...

who sought a standard-bearer who would keep the party independent.

Timeline

*March 2, 1998 - Quebec Liberal leader

Daniel Johnson, Jr. Daniel Johnson Jr. (born December 24, 1944) is a former Canadian politician. He was a member of the Liberal Party of Quebec and was the 25th premier of Quebec for nine months in 1994 until his party's defeat in the provincial general election ...

announces his resignation as party leader. *March 26, 1998 - Jean Charest announces he is resigning as federal Progressive Conservative leader in order to seek the leadership of the Quebec Liberal Party. *April 2, 1998 - Charest resigns as party leader, and as an MP.

Elsie Wayne Elsie Eleanore Wayne (née Fairweather; April 20, 1932 – August 23, 2016) was a Canadian politician who served as a Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Saint John from 1993 to 2004. She was born in Shediac, New Brunswick. Pol ...

, the party's longest-serving MP after Charest, is appointed as interim leader, and announces that she will not seek the permanent leadership of the party. *April 29, 1998 - The party executive announces that the next leader will not be chosen by a delegated convention but by a point system with ballots cast by all party members. *June 9, 1998 - Tory strategist

Hugh Segal Hugh Segal (October 13, 1950 – August 9, 2023) was a Canadian political strategist, author, commentator, academic, and senator. He served as chief of staff to Ontario Premier Bill Davis and later to Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. S ...

announces his candidacy. *June 10, 1998 - Former Manitoba cabinet minister

announces his candidacy. *June 25, 1998 - Former prime minister

Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian businessman, writer, and retired politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. He also served as Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the ...

announces his candidacy; he receives the endorsement of 11 out of 19 PC MPs. *July 22, 1998 - Anti-free trade campaigner

David Orchard David Orchard (born June 28, 1950) is a Canadian author and political figure, member of the Liberal Party of Canada, who was the Liberal Party candidate for the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River in the 2008 federal ...

announces his candidacy. *July 27, 1998 - Montreal lawyer

Michael Fortier Michael M. Fortier, (born January 10, 1962) is a Canadian financier, lawyer and former politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Minister of Public Works and Government Services from 2006 to 2008, and Minister of Interna ...

announces his candidacy. *July 31, 1998 - deadline for candidates to file their nomination papers and pay their entry fees. *October 23, 1998 - all candidates debate. *October 24, 1998 - first ballot. *November 14, 1998- second ballot.

Candidates

, 59, had been party leader from 1976 to 1983 and

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada () is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority of the elected House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons ...

from 1979 to 1980. Clark served as Secretary of State for External Affairs (1984-1991) and then as Minister of Constitutional Affairs (1991-1993) negotiated the

Charlottetown Accord The Charlottetown Accord () was a package of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada, proposed by the Canada, Canadian federal and provincial governments in 1992. It was submitted to a public referendums in Canada, referendum on October ...

. *

, 48, was a prominent Red Tory strategist, policy analyst, and commentator, who served as a senior aide to Ontario Premier

Bill Davis William Grenville Davis, (July 30, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was a Canadian politician who served as the 18th premier of Ontario from 1971 to 1985. Behind Oliver Mowat, Davis was the List of premiers of Ontario by time in office, second-longes ...

in the 1970s and 1980s and as

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

to Prime Minister Mulroney from 1992 to 1993. *

, 44, was a provincial politician who had served as Minister of Government Services in the

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

government of

from 1995 to 1997 before resigning to unsuccessfully run as a federal Progressive Conservative in 1998. He ran on a platform of trying to attract Reform Party supporters and conservative economic strategies. *

, 36, was a prominent Quebec lawyer and investment broker who advocated a dialogue with Reform Party supporters but said he did not favour a merger. He supported

tax cut A tax cut typically represents a decrease in the amount of money taken from taxpayers to go towards government revenue. This decreases the revenue of the government and increases the disposable income of taxpayers. Tax rate cuts usually refer ...

s, a

Triple-E Senate The Triple-E Senate (a mnemonic contrived acronym for ''equal'', '' elected'', and ''effective'') is a proposed reform of the Canadian Senate, calling for senators to be elected to exercise effective powers in numbers equally representative of ...

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, w ...

s for Members of Parliament and a

voucher A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain money, monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include house, housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term vou ...

system for university students. *

, 48, was a

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

farmer and a prominent opponent of

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

and both the

Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement The Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA), official name as the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States of America (), was a bilateral trade agreement reached by negotiators for Canada and the United States on ...

and the

North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...

as well as any co-operation with the Reform Party. Considered an outsider who had no previous affiliation with the party, Orchard had a large following among free trade opponents and hoped to sign up enough new members to the party in order to win election under the new One Member One Vote system.

Results

Fortier was automatically eliminated; as Clark had only narrowly fallen short of a majority and had a wide lead over his closest opponent, Pallister and Segal withdrew and endorsed Clark for the sake of party unity and to forestall running up campaign debts needlessly. Orchard refused to do so and went on to the second ballot.

Background

Timeline

Candidates

Results

References

See also