Liberals down, but history says they're not out

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Their leader has resigned, their standing in the House of Commons has been reduced by more than half and the political centre they occupied appears to have been blown to bits, its ideological debris falling toward the Conservatives on the right and the NDP on the left.

But ask political scientist Brooke Jeffrey of Concordia University if things could possibly get any worse for the federal Liberals and she'll remind you that once upon a time, things were worse.

"You can look at history . 1984 was a catastrophic event," she says, referring to the year that saw Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative Party win 211 seats in the House of Commons, sending John Turner's Liberal government to the opposition benches with 40 seats, 107 fewer than they held when the election was called. "And I remember clearly all sorts of my colleagues in academe saying the Liberal party is finished."

It took nine years, but the Liberals returned to power under Jean Chrétien, trouncing the Mulroney Conservatives and setting the stage for three majority governments.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/decision-canada/Liberals+down+history+says+they/4722348/story.html#ixzz1LNLeA1aF