Editing Preston Manning (section)

== Early parliamentary years (1993–1997) ==
The 1993 Liberal Red Book<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poltext.org/sites/poltext.org/files/plateformes/can1993lib_plt_en_12072011_131100.pdf|title=Creating Opportunity|access-date=April 9, 2018|archive-date=April 14, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414203618/http://www.poltext.org/sites/poltext.org/files/plateformes/can1993lib_plt_en_12072011_131100.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> containing its election platform scarcely mentioned deficit and debt reduction, but Reform had gained over 2.5&nbsp;million votes campaigning heavily on the need to balance the federal budget. Much of Manning's and Reform's energy in the 35th Parliament was therefore focused on pressuring the Chrétien government on this issue and in 1998 the federal budget was at last balanced for the first time in years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fin.gc.ca/budget98/bp/bp98e.pdf|title=The Budget Plan 1998|access-date=April 9, 2018|archive-date=April 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427020235/https://fin.gc.ca/budget98/bp/bp98e.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Manning and Reform also continued to pressure the government on the issue of Senate reform, but the Liberals argued that this could only be accomplished by a constitutional amendment and that the country was weary of constitutional matters. On April 20, 1998, Manning gave the longest and most comprehensive speech on Senate reform given in the House of Commons in the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/03/23/in-praise-of-the-occasional-parliamentary-filibuster.html|title=In praise of the (occasional) parliamentary filibuster {{!}} Toronto Star|work=Toronto Star|access-date=April 9, 2018}}</ref> In it he described in graphic detail the major defects of the Senate and the inappropriate, patronage infected behaviour of many of its members. He then reviewed all the previous major attempt at Senate reform and the reasons for their failure, concluding with the case for Reform's Triple E Senate. The government was unmoved, and Senate reform was not pursued in earnest again until the Harper government introduced Senate reform legislation embodying two-thirds of the Triple E Senate concept in 2007. When referred to the Supreme Court, however, the court ruled that the federal government could not unilaterally make the changes contained in the bill and once again Senate reform was stalled indefinitely.

During Reform's first term, several of its members and spokespersons made offensive and politically incorrect remarks which enabled its opponents to label it as extreme and undisciplined.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Collins nomination defies Reform Party leader|last=Bellett|first=G|date=October 19, 1988|work=The Vancouver Sun}}</ref> On some occasions Manning was obliged to apologize on behalf of the party; on other occasions he dismissed criticisms by saying "A bright light sometimes attracts a few bugs." Manning allowed his members considerable liberty in voting in the House of Commons, especially on matters not central to the Reform platform. While "freer voting for members of parliament" was a plank in the Reform platform, its exercise in practice frequently led to headlines such as "Reform Divided" and damaged rather than enhanced Manning's efforts to push democratic reforms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poltext.org/sites/poltext.org/files/plateformes/can1996r_plt_en_12072011_124840.pdf|title=Reform Party Blue Book|access-date=April 9, 2018|archive-date=April 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415022416/http://www.poltext.org/sites/poltext.org/files/plateformes/can1996r_plt_en_12072011_124840.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== 1997 federal election ===
On June 2, 1997, the next [[1997 Canadian federal election|federal general election]] was held. Support for the [[Bloc Québécois|Bloc]] declined in Quebec, the party winning 44 seats, down 10 from the previous election. This time Reform won 19.1 percent of the popular vote (2,513,070 votes) and 60 seats, including one in Ontario, compared with 18.8 percent of the popular vote for the Progressive Conservatives (2,446,705 votes) and 20 seats. The gains by Reform in seats were sufficient to make Reform the [[Official Opposition (Canada)|Official Opposition]] and hense Manning [[Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada)|Leader of the Official Opposition]] in the [[36th Canadian Parliament|36th Parliament]]. But vote splitting between Reform and the Progressive Conservative Party continued to hand scores of federal seats, especially in Ontario, to the federal Liberals, who again formed a majority government, a very slim one this time.