My hard copy of the latest issue of the Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law arrived in the mail yesterday – delayed, presumably, by the Newmans of the postal strike – including my article on why John Turner sincerely believed that he “had no option” in 1984. Our 2025 seems poised to become another Year of Three Prime Ministers like 1993, 1984, and 1896. (1926 gave us three ministries but only two prime ministers).

Pierre Trudeau introduced and Gordon Osbaldeston, the Clerk of the Privy Council, subsequently corroborated and convinced Turner of a fanciful fairy tale of Responsible Government: if Trudeau made all his appointments and reduced the Liberals to a plurality in the House of Commons, then Governor General Jeanne Sauve might have invited Brian Mulroney, leader of the opposition and of the Progressive Conservative Party, to form a government instead in June 1984. Turner so sincerely believed this preposterous absurdity that he promised in writing that he would complete Trudeau’s appointments after Sauve commissioned him to form a government but before the dissolution of parliament. Here I examine the relevant precedents which existed at the time in 1984 to show why the advice that Trudeau and Osbaldeston offered Turner made no sense and show how transfers of power between ministries happen in Canada.

I remain ever grateful to Paul Litt for having included in full Gordon Osbaldeston’s memo outlining this preposterous theory in his biography of John Turner from 2011, Elusive Destiny: The Political Vocation of John Napier Turner. If you want to learn more about John Turner, I highly recommend this book.

Similar Posts:

• The Caretaker Convention
• “I Had No Option”: How John Turner Became Pierre Trudeau’s Patronage Patsy in 1984 (September 2024)
• The Commonwealth Realms Diverge: Whether the Prime Minister Determines the Life of the Ministry or Not (July 2024)
• A Review of the Play 1979 and Joe Clark’s Legacy (May 2017). This contains some equally hilarious moments from the Leaders’ Debate of 1979, “Encounter ’79.”
• Why the Finance Minister Is Most Important After the Prime Minister (April 2017)