Heading into the 1993 election, the Progressive Conservatives were beset by many problems, notably the
then-ongoing recession, the unpopular
Goods and Services Tax, and loss of support to the recently-formed
Reform Party and
Bloc Québécois. While the party was initially optimistic about being able to at least retain second place, its support had dropped badly in the final weeks of the campaign. Realizing that without something dramatic the Liberals were certain to win a
majority government, the PC campaign leaders decided to launch a group of four ads attacking Chrétien and his record.
PC campaign director John Tory (yes, the same person who is currently mayor of Toronto) was mainly responsible for deciding to launch the ads, along with
Allan Gregg, a
pollsterwho was one of the top campaign managers. Gregg had launched a series of attack ads in the last days of the
1988 election to great effect. The new ads were produced quickly, and few in the party, including
Prime Minister and PC leader
Kim Campbell, who was on the campaign trail, saw them before they were aired.
[1]
The controversial ad was the second in a series of four; the first ad was a strong attack, but not much worse than ads aired by the Liberals or the
Reform Party attacking the Progressive Conservatives and their record. The ads as a whole were designed to leverage Campbell's personal popularity, which was still higher than that of Chrétien.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Chrétien_attack_ad
/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/politics/federal/2020/04/24/conservative-mps-anxious-to-name-a-new-leader-after-challenging-week-for-scheer/andrew_scheer.jpg)
www.thestar.com
