The Canadian federal election of 1994 was contested on April 8, 1994 to elect the 2nd Parliament of the Republic of Canada. At the recommendation of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, the election was called by President Joe Clark on March 9, with thirty days of campaigning allotted. In a shock, the Progressive Conservatives were decimated along with their right-wing coalition partner Social Credit as a centrist minority government headed by the Liberal Party was elected with Jean Chretien, a former Deputy Minister of Justice who was exiled from Canada in 1977, as Prime Minister. This minority government formed a loose, informal coalition with the Alberta-based Reform Party in order to tie up the support of western Canadians in what Chrétien would call the "Pan-Canadian government." Chretien w