1988 Canadian federal election
The 1988 Canadian federal election was held on November 21, 1988, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA); the Progressive Conservative Party campaigned in favour of it, whereas the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party (NDP) campaigned against it.
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295 seats in the House of Commons 148 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 75.3% () | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Canadian parliament after the 1988 election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The incumbent prime minister, Brian Mulroney, went on to lead his Progressive Conservative Party to a second majority government. Mulroney became the party's first leader since John A. Macdonald to win a second majority. The Liberal Party doubled their seat count and experienced a moderate recovery after the 1984 wipeout. The New Democratic Party won the highest number of seats at the time until they would beat that record in 2011.
The election was the last won by the Progressive Conservatives, the last until 2011 in which a right-of-centre party formed a majority government, and the last where a right-of-centre party won the most seats in Quebec. It was also the last election in Canadian history in which only three parties would be elected to Parliament.