Reign of Error: The Inside Story of John Turner's Troubled Leadership
About this book
Reign of error : the inside story of John Turner's troubled leadership / Greg In his political career, Turner held several prominent Cabinet posts, including minister of justice and minister of finance, under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau from 1968 to 1975. Amid a world recession and the prospect of having to implement the unpopular wage and price controls, Turner surprisingly resigned his position in 1975. After a hiatus from politics from 1975 to 1984, Turner returned and successfully contested the Liberal leadership. Turner held the office of Prime Minister for 79 days (the second shortest tenure in Canadian history after Sir Charles Tupper), as he dissolved Parliament immediately after being sworn in as Prime Minister, and went on to lose the 1984 election in a landslide. Turner stayed on as Liberal leader and headed the Official Opposition for the next six years, leading his party to a modest recovery in the 1988 campaign; he resigned as Liberal leader in 1990 and stepped down as an M.P. at the 1993 election. Turner was Canada's first Prime Minister born in the United Kingdom since Mackenzie Bowell in 1896.