AHC WI NDP Wins 1988 Canadian Election

Before 2011, 1988 was the NDP's best performance and best chance at government. What if it had won that election, crushing the Liberals and Mulroney's free trade ideas? How cpuld this be done? Would Canada ever get free trade? How qould the economy and constitutional reforms go differently? What about Quebec independence? How would 1993 go? Would the Liberals recover? What if?
 
Easy. NDP is OO in 1984, and use that to take control of the free trade debate to win a minority government in 1988.
 
What about the effects? Do the Liberals recover? What happens in the next few years? And what are the other PoDs?
 
Well, it depends on whether or not the NDP wins a majority. If they do, than they're most definitely in power until 1992 at least, in which case given the constitutional drama that's likely to occur no matter who's in power, as well as the recession, they likely go the way of Bob Rae's NDP in Ontario - back to third-place for the foreseeable future.

As for the other PODs, it may well end up that the PCs end up as the third-party in 1988. Keep in mind, polls in 1987 (and if I remember correctly, even in early 1988) had the PCs in third, with the Liberals and NDP fighting for first. If the PCs never recover, you could well see the NDP win a minority (if not a majority).

Heck, even a POD as late as the start of the 1988 campaign could result in the NDPs winning a minority. If Turner ran a worse campaign (a campaign more like his disastrous 1984 campaign IOTL), the NDP could be able to paint themselves as the primary alternative to the PCs.
 
Easy. NDP is OO in 1984, and use that to take control of the free trade debate to win a minority government in 1988.

I am not sure it is that "easy"... the NDP lost votes in the election and a seat. While not as bad as the Liberal losses, they were still over a million votes behind the Liberals. I think it is going to be tough to overcome that hurdle. What changes in order to get this result?
 
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