David Peterson - Defeat

Defeat

Notwithstanding all of this, Peterson's Liberal Party still retained a comfortable lead over the Progressive Conservatives and NDP in mid-1990 public opinion polls. As a result, Peterson decided to call an snap election, less than three years into his mandate. This proved to be his greatest mistake.

Many voters saw the early election as a mark of arrogance, and a sign that Peterson's Liberals had become detached from the electorate. There was no defining issue behind the campaign, and many believed that Peterson was simply trying to win re-election before the economic downturn reached its worst phase. Some Liberal cabinet ministers, most notably Greg Sorbara and Jim Bradley, were strongly opposed to the early election call. Sean Conway, a member of Peterson's inner circle, would later acknowledge that most backbench MPPs also opposed the timing of the campaign.

At the time the writ was dropped, the Liberals stood at 50% support in the polls. Peterson himself had a 54% approval rating. However, his luck turned immediately upon calling the election. One of the seminal moments in the campaign was at a press conference called to announce the forthcoming election. It was soon interrupted by Greenpeace activist Gord Perks, who arrived with a briefcase handcuffed to his arm, with a tape recorder inside playing a pre-recorded list of broken Liberal environmental promises. David Peterson sat in front of the room full of reporters, awkwardly silent and clearly uncomfortable.

Disappointed by high expectations, groups representing various interests (such as teachers, doctors, and environmentalists), came out against Peterson on television, radio, in print, and at Liberal campaign events. Protesters would follow the Premier throughout the campaign, and often received considerable media coverage. The media reported the election call as cynical, and the party appeared desperate when they unexpectedly proposed to cut the provincial sales tax halfway through the campaign. It did not help that the provincial election campaign was being run in the aftermath of the failed Meech Lake constitutional accord of Brian Mulroney's federal government, with which Peterson had significant media exposure in association with the other first ministers.

The campaign also took place at a time when the federal NDP was performing well in the polls. In the federal election two years earlier, the federal NDP won 44 seats, its highest seat count until the 2011 Canadian federal election. This trend carried over to the provincial level; the provincial NDP under Rae ran a strong campaign and saw its fortunes gradually increase as election day approached. Some voters believed that Peterson deserved to be reduced to a minority government, while others believed the NDP should be given a chance to govern. On September 5, 1990, the NDP scored one of the greatest upsets in Canadian political history, taking 74 seats for a strong majority government. While the NDP only outpolled the Liberals by a narrow six-point margin, they managed to unseat many Liberal incumbents in the Greater Toronto Area. The Liberals suffered their worst defeat ever, falling from 95 seats to 36; the 59-seat loss surpassed the 48-seat loss in 1943 that began the Tories' long rule over the province. This was also the second-worst defeat for a governing party in Ontario.

Peterson even lost his own seat, having been resoundingly defeated by NDP candidate Marion Boyd in London Centre by over 8,200 votes. It is almost unheard of for a provincial premier to be unseated in his own riding. The loss ended Peterson's political career. He announced his resignation as Liberal leader on the night of the election, and formally resigned as premier on October 1, 1990.

In 1992, Peterson endorsed former Minister of Health Murray Elston as the next leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. Elston was narrowly defeated, in part because many party delegates saw him as a throwback to the Peterson years.