Editing Jean Chrétien (section)

===1986: Temporarily leaves politics===

Chrétien, whose relations with Turner were very poor, resigned his seat and left public life for a time. On February 27, 1986, Chrétien, accompanied by his special executive assistant [[Jean Carle]], went to Turner's office to hand in his resignation.<ref>Jeffrey, Brooke ''Divided Loyalties: The Liberal Party of Canada, 1984–2008'', Toronto: University of Toronto Press p. 52.</ref> Turner forced Chrétien to wait a considerable period of time during which Carle broke down in tears, and Chrétien was visibly angry when Turner finally received them, making for a tense and barely civil meeting.<ref>Jeffrey, Brooke ''Divided Loyalties: The Liberal Party of Canada, 1984–2008'', Toronto: University of Toronto Press pp. 52–53.</ref> Chrétien's resignation was largely motivated by his desire to better organize against Turner in the [[leadership review]], which was due in the fall of 1986.<ref name="Duffy, John p. 321">Duffy, John ''Fights of our lives: elections, leadership and the making of Canada'', HarperCollins: Toronto, 2002 p. 321.</ref> Now working in the private sector again, Chrétien sat on the boards of several corporations, including the Power Corporation of Canada subsidiary Consolidated Bathurst, the [[Toronto-Dominion Bank]], and the [[Brick Furniture|Brick Warehouse Corporation]]. Chrétien professed to be retired from politics, but he told reporters within days of his retirement, "I will always be a politician. I love politics."<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 358.</ref> Crucially, Chrétien did not disband the campaign organization that he founded in 1984, suggesting that his retirement had always been intended to be temporary.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

In November 1986, when the Liberals held their leadership review, Chrétien attempted to organize against Turner, which led to a bruising battle between factions loyal to the two men.<ref name="Duffy, John p. 321"/> Chrétien used Turner's penchant for heavy drinking to spread rumors that Turner was an alcoholic who was simply too drunk most of the time to lead the Liberals to power effectively.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 p. 359.</ref> He formally claimed to be neutral on the question of Turner's management of the Liberal Party, but lobbied as many Liberal MPs and senators as possible behind the scenes for their support in bringing down Turner.<ref>Martin, Lawrence ''Chrétien: The Will to Win'', Toronto: Lester Publishing, 1995 pp. 360–361.</ref> The intense emotions stirred up by the leadership review boiled over when Chrétien arrived to vote in the review, leading to a chaotic scene on the convention floor where police had to be called to quell physical fighting between Chrétien partisans and Turner partisans.<ref>Jeffrey, Brooke ''Divided Loyalties: The Liberal Party of Canada, 1984–2008'', Toronto: University of Toronto Press p. 86.</ref> Turner won the leadership review, earning about 75% of the delegate vote.{{Cn|date=March 2025}}

In the [[1988 Canadian federal election|1988 election]], the Liberals only experienced a moderate recovery, doubling the number of seats they won in 1984. However, Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives won a second consecutive [[majority government]], campaigning in favour of a [[Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement|free trade agreement with the United States]]. Having lost a second straight general election, Turner announced his resignation as Liberal leader in 1989, triggering the [[1990 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|June 1990 Liberal leadership election]] in [[Calgary]].{{Cn|date=March 2025}}