Prime Minister Brian Mulroney privately complained his cabinet members were incompetent spokespeople and had to be instructed to “keep the message simple.” Newly-declassified records show cabinet drafted a 56-point memo on how to explain itself.

Mulroney told a June 18, 1987 cabinet meeting that “communications remained the government’s greatest failure,” according to secret minutes. “One Toronto supporter had heard 10 or 12 ministers speak and could hardly believe they were members of the same government,” said Mulroney.