Federal New Democrat MP
Rae was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in a 1978 by-election, defeating Progressive Conservative Tom Clifford by 420 votes in the Toronto riding of Broadview. Rae won the NDP nomination over former MP John Paul Harney and activist Kay Macpherson.
He was re-elected in the new riding of Broadview—Greenwood in the 1979 federal election, and gained national prominence as the NDP's finance critic. In December 1979, Rae attached a rider to a budget bill proposed by the government of Joe Clark, declaring that "this House has lost confidence in the government." It was this motion's passage that toppled Clark's government after only eight months.
Rae was elected to parliament for a third time in the 1980 federal election, and married Arlene Perly days later. In caucus, he sided with party leader Ed Broadbent in supporting patriation of the Canadian Constitution with a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He also articulated his party's policy on the Canadian Bank Act, and criticized the Bank of Canada's high interest rate policy.
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