Editing Preston Manning (section)

=== 1993 federal election ===
In June 1993, Prime Minister Mulroney resigned, to be replaced by [[Kim Campbell]], who then called a [[1993 Canadian federal election|federal election]] for October 25, 1993. Manning and Reform campaigned on the theme of "The West Wants In". and the Reform agenda adopted at previous party conventions. When the results were in, Reform had received 2,559,245 votes and elected 52 members to the House of Commons – with Manning winning in [[Calgary Southwest]], Stephen Harper winning in [[Calgary West]], and Deborah Grey being re-elected in Beaver River. The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was reduced to two seats, the greatest electoral defeat ever suffered by a major federal political party in Canada. 51 of Reform's seats were in the west and Manning emerged as the principal political voice of the West and fiscal conservatism in the House of Commons.

Despite finishing second in the popular vote, Reform came up three seats short of becoming the [[Official Opposition (Canada)|Official Opposition]], largely because the concentration of support for the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois in Quebec was slightly stronger than the concentration of support for Reform in the West. However, the Liberal government under Jean Chrétien characterized Manning and Reform as their main opponent on non-Quebec matters. In 1995 when Bloc leader Lucien Bouchard's position as Opposition Leader granted him a meeting with visiting US President Bill Clinton, Manning was also given a meeting with Clinton to diffuse Bouchard's separatist leverage.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/02/22/Clinton-embarks-on-visit-to-Canada/8609793429200/|title=Clinton embarks on visit to Canada|work=United Press International|access-date=April 9, 2018}}</ref>