Canadian Federal Election, 1993 - Campaign - Pre-campaign

Pre-campaign

An election had to be called in the fall of 1993, since Parliament's term would expire some time in September. By the end of the summer, Campbell's personal popularity was far ahead of that of Chrétien. Support for the Progressive Conservative Party had also increased after Campbell won the leadership, and they were only a few points behind the Liberals, while Reform had been reduced to single digits.

With this in mind, Campbell asked Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn to dissolve parliament on September 8, only a few weeks before Parliament was due to expire. The election date was set for October 25, the last legal day to hold an election with the then-current enumeration still valid. In accordance with Canadian constitutional practice, Hnatshyn granted the request, beginning the seven-week campaign.

At the ceremony at Rideau Hall, Campbell made the first of a series of remarks that would dog the Conservative campaign. When she was running for the party leadership, Campbell's frank honesty was seen as an important asset and a sharp contrast from Mulroney's highly polished style (Mulroney was criticized for waiting until the last year of his mandate resignation, leaving only two-and-a-half months left in the Tories' five-year term, and for his international farewell tour without transacting any official business). However, during the campaign, Campbell repeatedly made statements that caused problems for the party. At the Rideau Hall event, she told reporters that it was unlikely that the deficit or unemployment would be much reduced before the "end of the century". Later in the campaign, she would famously state that 47 days were not enough to discuss the overhaul in social policy that she thought Canada needed. Unfortunately for Campbell, a reporter shortened the quote to "an election is no time to discuss serious issues."