Talk:David Peterson

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The 1985-1987 government was not a formal coalition. No NDPers served in the Liberal cabinet and the NDP remained in opposition. What occured was a Liberal-NDP accord, a two year agreemeing in which the NDP agreed not to vote for the government's defeat in exchange for the Liberals implementing part of the NDP's program.

The reference to the turnaround of Liberal fortunes in other provinces as Peterson's doing is highly contestable. In fact, the Liberals lost popularity in most provinces (particularly in the west) in part because of the growing unpopularity of Pierre Trudeau. Conversely, under Conservative PM Brian Mulroney the Tories became increasingly unpopular in many provinces so Liberal fortunes revived (as well there's the logic of power rotation in which longstanding governments of one stripe tire out and are replaced by their opponents.). To credit Peterson with the revival of provincial Liberal fortunes in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Quebec (for instance) or the growth of Liberal parties in Manitoba and Saskatchewan is simply not credible - people outside of Ontario don't really care who is in power at Queen's Park and don't vote based on the peformance of an Ontario premier. To think otherwise is to be very "Ontario-centric".

[edit] Leader of the Opposition

How was he Leader of the Opposition before he was Ontario Liberal Leader? - Fishhead64 03 February 2006 20:35 (UTC)

He wasn't; the numbers have been corrected. CJCurrie 20:40, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Warning Signs" Section

This assessment seems to be very disputable. We need to get some references in here. However, I don't think we should remove it because it does provide quite a bit of information.