Editing John Turner (section)

==Prime Minister (June–September 1984)==
Trudeau retired after polls showed the Liberals faced certain defeat in the next election if he remained in office. Turner then re-entered politics, and defeated [[Jean Chrétien]], his successor as finance minister, on the second ballot of the [[1984 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|June 1984 Liberal leadership convention]]. He was formally appointed prime minister on June 30.<ref name="darling">{{Cite news|last=Winsor|first=Hugh|date=September 19, 2020|title=Former PM John Turner was old Liberalism's darling and its final, flawed champion|work=[[The Globe and Mail]]|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-obituary-john-turner-pm-for-79-days-was-old-liberalisms-darling/|url-status=live|access-date=September 20, 2020|archive-date=September 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919233904/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-obituary-john-turner-pm-for-79-days-was-old-liberalisms-darling/}}</ref> When he was sworn in, Turner was not an MP or senator; the next occurrence of a PM not being elected to the Commons or Senate would be [[Mark Carney]] in [[2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|2025]]. He also announced that he would not run in a by-election to get into the Commons, but would instead run in the next general election as the Liberal candidate in the [[British Columbia]] riding of [[Vancouver Quadra]], a seat held by the Tories. However, this was part of Turner's strategy to rebuild the Liberals' image in [[western Canada]]; at the time, the party held no seats west of [[Winnipeg]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Martin |first1=Douglas |title=Turner Sworn in as Canada Chief; Trudeau Era Ends |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/01/world/turner-sworn-in-as-canada-chief-trudeau-era-ends.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=September 21, 2020 |date=July 1, 1984 |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524145814/http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/01/world/turner-sworn-in-as-canada-chief-trudeau-era-ends.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In his final days of office, Trudeau recommended that [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]] [[Jeanne Sauvé]] appoint over 200 Liberals to [[patronage]] positions, including [[Senate of Canada|senators]], judges, and executives on various governmental and [[crown corporation]] boards. Turner then made a further 19 appointments himself, one of Trudeau's conditions for retiring earlier than he had planned.<ref name="Mulroney 1991">{{Cite book|last=Sawatsky|first=John|title=Mulroney: The Politics of Ambition|date=1991|publisher=Macfarlane Walter & Ross|isbn=0-921912-06-4|location=Toronto|oclc=25965485|author-link=John Sawatsky}}</ref>

===1984 federal election===
{{Main|1984 Canadian federal election}}
On July 9, only nine days after being sworn in, Turner asked Sauvé to dissolve parliament and advised her to [[1984 Canadian federal election|call an election]] for early September. Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney and other experts had expected Turner to tour Canada during the summer and early autumn, accompanying [[Queen Elizabeth II]] and [[Pope John Paul II]] on their upcoming visits, and then call the election for later in the autumn.<ref name="Mulroney 1991"/> As the campaign unfolded, the Tories and Mulroney, who was fighting his first general election in any capacity, soon took the lead.<ref name="Mulroney 1991"/>

Early in the campaign, Turner appeared rusty and old-fashioned.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Litt|first=Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mMdjxPPLdBsC&q=rusty|title=Elusive Destiny: The Political Vocation of John Napier Turner|date=October 21, 2011|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-2267-1|language=en|access-date=November 28, 2020|archive-date=November 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107054714/https://books.google.com/books?id=mMdjxPPLdBsC&q=rusty|url-status=live}}</ref> His policies contrasted with Trudeau's and seemed to legitimize the Tory calls for lowering the deficit, improving relations with the United States, cutting the bureaucracy, and promoting more federal-provincial harmony. He spoke of creating "make work projects",<ref name=":2" /> a discarded phrase from the 1970s that had been replaced by the less patronizing "[[job creation program]]s". Turner was also caught on television patting the bottoms of Liberal Party President [[Iona Campagnolo]] and Vice-President Lise St. Martin-Tremblay, causing an uproar among [[feminists]], who saw such behaviour as sexist and condescending.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2652870398 | work=[[CBC News]] | title=The Long Run: The Political Rise of John Turner – CBC Archives | access-date=June 27, 2012 | archive-date=December 29, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229000305/http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/john-turner-a-very-tactile-politician | url-status=live }}</ref>

During the televised leaders' debate, Turner attacked Mulroney over the patronage machine that the latter had allegedly set up in anticipation of victory, comparing it to the [[Union Nationale (Quebec)|Union Nationale]] governments of [[Quebec]]. Mulroney responded by pointing to the raft of patronage appointments made on the advice of Trudeau and Turner. Turner had the right to advise Sauvé to cancel Trudeau's appointments—advice that she was bound to follow by convention—but failed to do so and added to his own. Mulroney demanded that Turner apologize to the country for what he called "these horrible appointments." Turner claimed that "I had no option" except to let them stand. Mulroney responded, "[[You had an option, sir]]{{spaced ndash}}to say 'no'{{spaced ndash}}and you chose to say 'yes' to the old attitudes and the old stories of the Liberal Party." He highlighted the Liberals' long record in government and resulting patronage appointments.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/archives/|title=CBC Archives|website=www.cbc.ca|access-date=January 10, 2019|archive-date=January 11, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190111045125/https://www.cbc.ca/archives|url-status=live}}</ref>

Turner discovered late in the campaign that the Liberals' electoral hopes were poor in their traditional stronghold of Quebec.<ref>John Sawatsky, ''The Insiders: Government, Business, and the Lobbyists,'' (1987)</ref> The party had heretofore relied on Trudeau's appeal, patronage, and traditional dislike of the Progressive Conservatives for victory in recent previous elections. Turner had surrounded himself with Trudeau's factional opponents and Trudeau himself did not endorse Turner.<ref>{{cite book|author=Howard Rae Penniman|title=Canada at the Polls, 1984: A Study of the Federal General Elections|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pC3wqzDBlCcC&pg=PA106|year=1988|publisher=Duke University Press|pages=106–13|isbn=0822308215|access-date=November 3, 2016|archive-date=May 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524075933/https://books.google.com/books?id=pC3wqzDBlCcC&pg=PA106|url-status=live}}</ref> In a last-minute turnaround, Turner rehired much of Trudeau's staff during the final weeks, but this had little effect. Quebec's disaffection with the federal Liberals regarding [[patriation]] in 1982 further contributed to their defeat. Mulroney, a native [[Demographics of Quebec|Quebecker]], was able to harness that discontent to the Progressive Conservatives' advantage by promising a new constitutional agreement.<ref>Sawatsky, ''Mulroney: The Politics of Ambition''</ref>

On September 4, the Liberals were swept from power in a Tory landslide.<ref>{{cite book|author=Howard Rae Penniman|title=Canada at the Polls, 1984: A Study of the Federal General Elections|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pC3wqzDBlCcC&pg=PA106|year=1988|publisher=Duke U.P|page=37|isbn=0822308215|access-date=November 3, 2016|archive-date=May 24, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524075933/https://books.google.com/books?id=pC3wqzDBlCcC&pg=PA106|url-status=live}}</ref> The Liberals were cut down to 40 seats, the fewest in the party's history until [[Canadian Federal Election 2011|2011]], against 211 for the Progressive Conservatives. The Liberals fell to 17 seats in Quebec, all but four in and around [[Montreal]]. Eleven members of Turner's cabinet were defeated. It was the worst defeat the Liberals experienced in a federal election since [[1958 Canadian federal election|1958]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Penniman|first=Howard Rae|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pC3wqzDBlCcC&pg=PA37|title=Canada at the Polls, 1984: A Study of the Federal General Elections|date=1988|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|isbn=978-0-8223-0821-8|pages=37|language=en|access-date=September 21, 2020|archive-date=September 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922224945/https://books.google.ca/books?id=pC3wqzDBlCcC&pg=PA37|url-status=live}}</ref>

Turner stepped down as prime minister on September 17.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Goar|first=Carol|title=John Turner maps his future|date=September 17, 1984|url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1984/9/17/john-turner-maps-his-future|access-date=September 21, 2020|website=Maclean's|language=en-US|archive-date=September 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200922224949/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1984/9/17/john-turner-maps-his-future|url-status=live}}</ref> The election having been called just over a week after his being sworn in, Turner held the office of prime minister for two months and seventeen days, the second-shortest stint in Canadian history, ahead of only [[Charles Tupper|Sir Charles Tupper]], who took office after dissolution of parliament.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Litt|first=Paul|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mMdjxPPLdBsC&q=tupper|title=Elusive Destiny: The Political Vocation of John Napier Turner|date=October 21, 2011|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-2267-1|language=en|access-date=November 28, 2020|archive-date=November 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107054714/https://books.google.com/books?id=mMdjxPPLdBsC&q=tupper|url-status=live}}</ref> Turner, along with Tupper and later Mulroney's successor [[Kim Campbell]], were the only PMs who never faced a parliament or implemented any legislative initiative.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Turner |first1=Bonnie |title=TURNER: Remembering Kim Campbell's time in office |url=https://www.wallaceburgcourierpress.com/opinion/columnists/turner-remembering-kim-campbells-time-in-office |website=Wallaceburg Courier Press |access-date=September 21, 2020 |date=June 26, 2020 |archive-date=September 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918094334/https://www.wallaceburgcourierpress.com/opinion/columnists/turner-remembering-kim-campbells-time-in-office |url-status=live }}</ref>