Looking back on the "NAFTA election" 29 years later

Canada's 1988 election was the last election that was fought over a single national issue. The issue: whether or not Canada should sign the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, the precursor to NAFTA. The sitting prime minister, Brian Mulroney, said that a free trade deal with Canada's southern neighbours would boost prosperity for the average Canadian. His political opponents, Liberal Party leader John Turner and NDP leader Ed Broadbent believed that the deal would effectively erase the border between the two countries and turn Canada into a client state of the U.S. In the end though, Mulroney won the election and the agreement went into effect a few weeks later on January 1, 1989.