Canadian Government Executive - Volume 25 - Issue 02

44 / Canadian Government Executive // April/May 2019 T he 1988 general election is remembered as a refer- endum on the proposed Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Before the election, Pro- gressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mul- roney had negotiated the deal with United States President Ronald Reagan and had already signed on the dotted line, but John Turner’s Liberals and Ed Broadbent’s New Dem- ocrats both opposed the FTA. Mulroney led a strong majority government, which would normally be enough to clear a Prime Minister’s path towards achieving his objectives, but the Liber- al-heavy Senate would not approve the deal unless it received electoral support. So, off to the polls Canada went. During the 1988 campaign, the result of the election was far from a foregone conclusion. Public opinion polls indicated that the country was divided on free trade. While Prime Minister Mulroney appealed to voters by emphasizing the opportunities for economic growth that the trade deal presented, Broadbent and Turner tapped into voters’ apprehensions about the loss of sovereignty and self-determination that could result from open- ing up the border. In the end, though most voters supported one of the parties that opposed the FTA, the Progressive Conserva- tives formed another majority government and free trade with the United States went ahead (the North American Free Trade Agreement, which created a trilateral arrangement inclusive of Mexico, took effect in 1994). Both the Senate and the first-past- the-post system bear some responsibility for this defining event in our history. As we head into a federal election in 2019, just over thirty years since the “free trade election,” our trade relationship with the United States is, once again, poised to be a prominent issue on the campaign trail. Since the formation of a Liberal majority government in 2015, one of the most important, time-consuming, and high-profile portfolios for the federal government has been the negotiation of the “new NAFTA.” THE LAST WORD A LOOK BACK AT TRADE POLITICS By Lori Turnbull Since the formation of a Liberal majority government in 2015, one of the most important, time-consuming, and high-profile portfolios for the federal government has been the negotiation of the “new NAFTA.” Foreign Minister Freeland, U.S. Trade Representative Lighthizer and Mexican Ministry of Economy Guajardo Participate in the Fourth Round of NAFTA Negotiations. State Department Photo.