On July 25th, 1984, Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney delivers a verbal equivalent of a sucker punch at Prime Minister John Turner. During the 1984 election debate, Mulroney attacks Turner on his controversial patronage appointments. "I had no option," retorts a visibly flustered Turner. It is a key moment in the 1984 federal election when the comfortable lead in the polls enjoyed by the Liberal party takes a drastic turn for the worse.

• In the waning days of his power, Pierre Trudeau named 218 loyal Liberals to plum government jobs. The list included six sitting MPs, including cabinet members Eugene Whelan and Bryce Mackasey, and reduced the Liberal majority in Parliament to a minority.
• For more on Canada's 17th Prime Minister visit CBC Archives: The Long Run: The Political Rise of John Turner.
• For more on Prime Minister Brian Mulroney visit CBC Archives: From Cheers to Jeers: The Mulroney Years

• To alleviate some of the negative publicity, Trudeau suggested to his potential successors in cabinet that they defer some of the appointments until after a new leader was selected. Turner, the front-runner, agreed to a written deal that committed him to make 79 of Trudeau's controversial patronage appointments after the leadership convention.
• As Trudeau's successor, Turner struggled to distance himself from his old rival. He promised to smooth over French Canada, which was upset about being left out of the 1982 Constitutional patriation, and to forge a new relationship with Western Canada.

• But his undoing would prove to be the controversial patronage appointments initiated by Trudeau, and grudgingly approved by Turner.
• Against the advice of his aides, Turner signed a letter affirming to Trudeau that he would follow through on the appointments. (This is the letter that Mulroney refers to this in this clip).

• During the 1984 English Language election debates, Turner attempted to challenge Mulroney about a rumoured plan to reward long time Tories with post-election appointments, saying it smacked of "patronage at its best."
• But before he could follow up his accusations, Mulroney launched a counter-attack that turned the tide of the election.
• "You had an option sir to say No," the Tory leader said. "And you chose to say Yes to the old attitudes and the old stories of the Liberal Party"

• A visibly flummoxed Turner responded by saying "I had no option." Mulroney continues, calling his defence of Liberal patronage "an avowal of failure."
• Voters responded at the polls on Sept. 4, 1984. The Progressive Conservative Party enjoyed a landslide victory, winning half the popular vote and 211 of 282 seats. The Liberals dropped from a pre-election majority of 135 seats to a mere 40, marking the worst showing for the party in the 20th century.

• Turner himself holds the inauspicious record as being the shortest serving prime minister of the century - he served a total of 80 days in office. Prime Minister Sir Charles Tupper holds the record for the shortest ever time in office, having served a mere 69 days in 1896.
• Many held up Turner's defeat as resounding proof that he was "yesterday's man" of the Liberal Party, but Turner defended his decision to run.

• "Life is a trust," he told Saturday Night magazine writer Ron Graham in 1984. "And one has a fiduciary obligation toward one's country to put back into it what one has received. I've received a great deal, and I believe that a free society only operates properly if the best men and women offer to serve."
• Despite calls for his resignation Turner chose to stay on as leader of the Liberal party, and travelled the country in an effort to rebuild his shattered party.

• In a 1986 Liberal policy convention delegates responded to his efforts, voting more than 75 per cent to keep him on as leader. He resigned in 1990 to be replaced by Jean Chrétien.

Medium: Television
Program: News Special
Episode: 1984 Election Debate
Broadcast Date: July 25, 1984
Moderator: Peter Truman
Guest(s): Brian Mulroney, John Turner
Duration: 3:58