I know very little about the election except that it was close (Trudeau had to form a minority government). What would be a good POD for Stanfield winning and what would a Stanfield government be like? How would Canada without Trudeau look like?
The POD? I'm not sure... Perhaps there is a big government corruption scandal, or for a more subtle one, the photos of Stanfield dropping the football don't run, and instead, there are photos of him catching passes, and overall he look more youthful and more competent.
With Trudeau gone early, Canada would be (for better or worse) a more Conservative nation. Unless the Tories show the same fiscal incompetence as Trudeau's Liberals, Canada will not have gone through the cuts to social programs that happened in the 1990s. Canada would have maintained it's armed forces to the level they were at in the early to mid 1970s, and new equipment would have been purchased quickly, instead of waiting until Joe Clark's government in 1979. It is likely that Capital Punishment (the death penalty) would not have been abolished in 1976. (That vote was very close, and even with Trudeau's bunch could have gone the other way) There would not have been the divisive 1982 constitution, nor would there have been a "National Energy Program" to anger and alienate the West.
It is likely that the Liberal party would have become the party of the right, with the Progressive Conservatives on the Center-Left. The ATL versions of the Bloc Quebecois and the Reform/Canadian Alliance would have been formed out of a split in the Liberal Party, if that mess even happens here.
Here is an idea for the ATL governemnts and PMs.
1972-1978 Tory (Robert Stanfield)
1978 Liberal (John Turner)
1978-1983 Tory (Robert Stanfield)
1983 Tory (Joe Clark)
1983-1991 Liberal (John Turner)
1991-1992 Liberal (Paul Martin, Jr.)
1992-2004 Tory (Martin Brian Mulroney)
2004- Reform (Stephen Harper) (TTL Reform is a fusion of the Liberal Party with the Canadian Alliance and right-wing elements of the PCs. The name is not far-fetched as the Liberals, pre-1867 were called the Reform party.)
Political Parties TTL
Liberal (pre-2001) Reform (post 2001)
Progressive Conservative
Action Quebecois (TTL's Bloc Quebecois)
New Democratic Party (similar to OTL, but with traditional "family values" as a party platform)
Party Leaders TTL (1972-2008), *indicates that the person was PM at some point in his career.
Liberal/Reform
Pierre Eliot Trudeau (1968-1974)*
John Turner (1974-1992)*
Paul Martin, Jr. (1992-1993)*
Jean Chretien (1993-1999)
Allan Rock (1999-2001)
Stephen Joseph Harper (2001-)*
Progressive Conservative
Robert Stanfield (1968-1983)*
Joe Clark (1983-1989)*
Martin Brian Mulroney (1989-2005)*
Peter McKay (2005-)
Action Quebecois
Lucien Bouchard (1990-1997)
Gilles Duceppe (1997-)
New Democratic Party
David Lewis (1971-1978)
Edward Broadbent (1978-1993)
Svend Robinson (1993-2000)
Olivia Chow (2000-)