The 1990 question – Why call an election before its time?

The early election call, only three years into a huge majority mandate, led to his Liberal Party’s devastating defeat at the polls. It lost 59 of the 95 seats held at dissolution and marked the end of his political career with the loss of his own riding.

Former premier David Peterson recently revealed he called the 1990 Ontario general election because he wanted “a very strong hand” to deal with the resulting schism in Canada following defeat of the Meech Lake Accord.

Collapse of the Meech Lake Accord that would have recognized Quebec as a ‘“distinct society” within Canada “was the saddest day of my life,” Peterson commented during a podcast with political strategist and commentator David Herle. As a result, Quebec later refused to sign on to the patriated Canadian constitution.

“I threw my body on the tracks,” Peterson said, “because I believed passionately (that) if we didn’t solve it it would never be solved and this would haunt the nation, and it has…

“It’s latent. It’s not going to go away. Look at the PQ. Look at the Bloc.. Look at all these issues… It has dominated Quebec politics in various degrees of intensity for the last 30 years,” Peterson said. “It was a tragedy of a lost opportunity.”

Many observers blamed the Liberal defeat in September of 1990 on the writ needlessly being dropped so soon after the 1987 landslide victory. Others accused the Liberals of attempting to extend their hold on government before being struck by a forecast economic recession. Others cited Peterson’s role in the failed accord at Meech Lake as excess political baggage.

Greater accommodation for Quebec

The former premier said he called the election because he was “deeply invested” in the need for greater accommodation of Quebec within Confederation and the damage done to Canadian unity in the wake of Meech.

“Don’t forget,” he said, “in 1987 (Conservative leader) Larry Grossman ran against us and ran an anti-French campaign. I remember that. I was very sensitive.” He likened his situation in 1990 to the urgent need of a father to save his child from running in front of as car. He felt a need to act.

“Separatism was running around 75 percent in Quebec…The collapse of Meech Lake… was like a dagger through the heart of Quebec. I wanted a very strong hand to deal with this. I figured if we left it we would have a helluva problem on our hands.

“That was the big driver, and because it was such a sensitive issue it was very hard to make the case in public. And I didn’t make a very strong case… I didn’t do it well.”

Peterson aid Vince Borg commented: “You’re not going to win a campaign if you can’t answer the first question. Why did you call the election? We struggled with that, and David fumbled the ball, to be frank.”

A longstanding interest

Peterson said his advocacy for a closer relationship with Quebec dated back to his university days. It was also fuelled by his high regard for then-premier John Robarts, who launched the Confederation of Tomorrow Conference in the centennial year of 1967. A fellow Londoner, Robarts sought a new constitution that would strengthen French Canada’s role in Confederation. That included an invitation to Quebec Premier Daniel Johnson to Ontario to make his case.

Peterson twice attended the French immersion sessions in the Quebec village of Trois-Pistole. Sponsored by the University of Western Ontario, the introduction of French was total, with billoting in the homes of residents being part of the process toward the achievement of bilingual students. He was also active on the issue of Quebec while studying law at the University of Toronto

Friendships with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Quebec Robert Bourassa long preceded the development of the Meech Lake Accord. Their discussions deepened his resolve and shaped his conviction that Canadian strength and unity depended on ongoing working relations between Ottawa, Toronto and Quebec City.

As the newly-minted leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, Peterson told a press conference as early as 1982 that he would like to see Ontario become a bilingual province. It was a contentious stance by an aspiring premier in the heart of English Canada and he qualified his remarks by adding he would not push legislation. Majority rights invariably trump minority rights when subject ted to a vote, he explained.

But his candour revealed his deep-seated belief in the need for a greater accommodation of the French fact in Canada. He had studied and debated the issue for years. His self-described passion would contribute to achieving a Meech Lake Accord, lead to the precipitous calling of the 1990 general election, and result his ultimate political downfall.

“A lot of people around me, my dear friends, think I probably spent too much time on this,” he said.” I was too invested in it. But there was a deep, deep, deep engagement there.”

Personal unpopularity

Peterson conceded that the early election call was a factor in the 1990 election defeat.

“But I think it was a combination of arrogance – I think a perceived arrogance – and the early call and Meech Lake, which made some people mad… I don’t think the government was unpopular. I was unpopular… because I made that call.”

He said he was prepared to invest “a lot of political capital” on the decision to call the election in anticipation of a victory, and accepts responsibility for the loss. “I don’t like losing. I hate it,” he said. But he continues to mourn the fact that Canada still hasn’t fully resolved Quebec’s rightful place in Canada as a signatory of the constitution.