Canadian election wipeout

CAN you imagine the following political scenario? A party has been in power for a lot of years; its leader has very high popularity ratings and everything seems rosy.

Slowly but surely the leader’s ratings start to drop and there are dark hints of forthcoming revelations. Coming up to an election, the leader of the party decides to resign but does not do it straight away.
Instead, he goes on a number of visits to foreign capitals to end his term of office. When he does retire, the new leader is given very little time to prepare for the election and the party is annihilated. No, this is not Ireland but rather Canada and the similarities do not stop there.
The Progressive Conservative party, under Brian Mulrooney, swept into power in 1984 with an overall majority and were easily re-elected in 1988. As they faced their third visit to the polls, their popularity dropped. Mulrooney, in particular, saw his ratings fall to the lowest ever since polling began in Canada.
Facing the inevitable he decided to resign but did not give his successor a clear run. He delayed his departure and went on a grand farewell tour to other capitals. He was eventually succeeded by Kim Campbell, who became Canada’s first female Prime Minister.
At first she was popular, having over 50% approval in early polls and it looked as if she might save the party.  Her openness and honesty was seen as sharp contrast to Mulrooney’s highly polished style. However, as the time for the election neared, the style backfired and some public relations gaffes caused her popularity to plummet.
She was not greatly helped by the rest of her cabinet, most of whom decided to retire from politics rather than face the electorate. They were further weakened by the emergence of new parties and independents who targeted their traditional core vote.
The result was the greatest political wipeout in Canadian, and possibly world, history. They went into power in 1984 with 211 seats. They dropped some in 1988 but still had 43% of the vote winning 169 seats for an overall majority. During the course of that parliament, their number of seats dropped to 151, a loss of 18. In 1993, however, their vote share dropped to 16% – they lost 149, with most of their candidates losing their deposits and the party was left deeply in debt. Going back to parliament with only two seats meant they also lost their designation as a political party. Campbell lost her own seat to a newcomer.
Jean Charest, who had opposed Campbell for the leadership and managed to keep his seat in 1993, took over as leader. He succeeded in regaining their official recognition as a political party by winning 20 seats in 1998. That was the summit of their comeback and eventually they voted to merge with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative Party of Canada.
Just to prove there can be comebacks, the new party won the elections of 2006 and 2008 and are currently in power.
The general election disaster for the ruling Progressive Conservative government in Canada took place on October 25, 1993 – 18 years ago this week.