Page "Brian Mulroney" Paragraph 20

Mulroney, in spite of publicly endorsing Clark, organized behind the scenes to defeat Clark at the party's leadership review.

Clark's key Quebec organizer Rodrigue Pageau was in fact a double agent, working for Mulroney, undermining Clark's support.

When Clark received an endorsement by only 66. 9 per cent of delegates at the party convention in January 1983 in Winnipeg, Clark resigned and ran to regain his post at the 1983 leadership convention.

Mulroney, despite still not being a member of Parliament, ran against him again, and he campaigned more shrewdly than he had done seven years before.

Mulroney had been criticized in 1976 for lacking policy depth and substance.

He addressed that weakness by making several major speeches across the country in the early 1980s, and collected them into a book, Where I Stand, published in 1983.

Mulroney also avoided most of the flash of his earlier campaign, for which he had been criticized.

Mulroney was elected party leader on June 11, 1983, beating Clark on the fourth ballot.

He attracted broad support from the many factions of the party and especially from representatives of his native Quebec.

Two months later, Mulroney entered Parliament as the MP for Central Nova in Nova Scotia, winning a by-election in what was then considered a safe Tory seat after Elmer MacKay stood down in his favour.

This is standard practice in most parliamentary systems.