text: was canada's adoption of free trade with the united states inevitable? this from a canadian perspective. keep in mind the political climate in canada and the 1988 election centering on one issue: free trade, which the conservatives supported and also won the election. no, it wasn't. had the election that produced the pc majority gone another way, we wouldn't have had it then. had we not have had it then, we might still not have it now.  the '88 election wasn't so single-minded. maybe that's what ontario focused on, but constitutional matters were important in much of the rest of the country. also the ndp's amazing success that time 'split the vote' a bit in favour of the pcs. 43.02% of the country voted pc that year - thus 56.98% (a majority) voted against them and thus against free trade.