1989 New Democratic Party leadership election

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1989 New Democratic Party leadership election
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg
  1975 November 30 – December 3, 1989 1995  
  AudreyMcLaughlin2012 1.png Dave Barrett, 1975.jpg SL
Candidate Audrey McLaughlin Dave Barrett Steven Langdon
Fourth ballotdelegate count1,316
(55.1%)
1,072
(44.9%)
Eliminated
Third ballotdelegate count1,072
(44.4%)
947
(39.3%)
393
(16.3%)
Second ballotdelegate count829
(34.3%)
780
(32.3%)
519
(21.5%)
First ballotdelegate count646
(26.9%)
566
(23.6%)
351
(14.6%)

 SDJHMIW
Candidate Simon De Jong Howard McCurdy Ian Waddell
Fourth ballotdelegate countEliminatedWithdrewWithdrew
Third ballotdelegate countEliminatedWithdrewWithdrew
Second ballotdelegate count289
(12.0%)
WithdrewWithdrew
First ballotdelegate count315
(13.1%)
256
(10.7%)
213
(8.9%)

 RL
CandidateRoger Lagasse
Fourth ballotdelegate countEliminated
Third ballotdelegate countEliminated
Second ballotdelegate countEliminated
First ballotdelegate count53
(2.2%)

Leader before election

Ed Broadbent

Elected Leader

Audrey McLaughlin

1989 New Democratic Party leadership election
DateNovember 30 – December 3, 1989
Convention Winnipeg, Manitoba
Resigning leader Ed Broadbent
Won by Audrey McLaughlin
Ballots4
Candidates7
New Democratic Party leadership elections
1961 · 1971 · 1975 · 1989 · 1995 · 2003 · 2012 · 2017

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 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. [1]

Contents

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. [2]

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, the party's main spokesman in Quebec, threatening to resign from the party if Barrett won. [3]

McLaughlin won the leadership on the fourth ballot, with 1316 votes for 55 percent of the vote, versus Barrett's 1072 votes (45 percent). [4] Her victory meant that she became first woman in Canada to lead a major, recognized, federal political party. [4]

Delegate support by ballot
Candidate1st ballot2nd ballot3rd ballot4th ballot
NameVotes cast %Votes cast %Votes cast %Votes cast %
Audrey McLaughlin 64626.9%82934.3%1,07244.4%1,31655.1%
Dave Barrett 56623.6%78032.3%94739.3%1,07244.9%
Steven Langdon 35114.6%51921.5%39316.3%
Simon De Jong 31513.1%28912.0%
Howard McCurdy 25610.7%
Ian Waddell 2138.9%
Roger Lagasse532.2%
Total2,400100.0%2,417100.0%2,412100.0%2,388100.0%

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 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 crossed the floor 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.

Notes

  1. Globe Editorial (October 28, 1993). "Retooling the New Democrats". The Globe and Mail . Toronto: CTVglobemedia. pp. A26.
  2. "CBC News Indepth: Ed Broadbent". CBC News.
  3. "Barrett, David". Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  4. 1 2 Goar, Carol (December 3, 1989). "Raw leader must soar to prevent NDP losses". The Toronto Star . Toronto: Torstar. pp. A1, A11.

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