123 days (854 days). Seats short of a majority 1965: 2. Term of office 2 years, 136 days (866 days). In the 1963 election, the Liberals, led by Lester B. Pearson, were also unable to win a majority. The next 548 days were productive ones, however, a close working relationship between the Liberals and the New Democratic Party (NDP) resulted in the introduction of Canada's health care system, the Canadian flag, and the Canada Pension Plan. In 1965, Pearson asked the Governor General to dissolve Parliament in an attempt to win a majority, but the makeup of parliament after the 1965 election remained almost the same, leading to almost three more years of a productive alliance between the Liberals and NDP. Canada's constitutional convention dealing with minority governments was altered in 1968 when Pearson's government was unexpectedly defeated on a matter of confidence. While this should have led to an immediate dissolution of parliament, none of the parties were ready, and Pearson was in the process of being replaced as leader of the Liberals. By mutual agreement among the party leaders, a new motion was passed that retroactively declared that the budgetary matter on which the government was defeated was not a matter of confidence, setting a new precedent. Pierre E. Trudeau Seats short of a majority 1972: 232. Term of office 1 year, 170 days (535 days). In the 1972 election, the Liberals under Pierre Trudeau won only two seats more than the Tories. It was the second election for Trudeau as party leader. However, even though the Liberals entered the election strong in the polls, the Trudeaumania buzz had all but ended, and the party was further damaged by a weak economy. With few issues to campaign on and one of the weakest campaigns in Canadian history, they were again forced to rely on the NDP to remain in power. In this instance, the NDP demanded the creation of Petro-Canada among other things to support the Liberals. The government fell on May 8, 1974, on a sub-amendment to the budget (thus a question of confidence). The Trudeau Liberals won a large majority government in the resulting 1974 federal election. 2Speaker was elected as independent Joe Clark Seats short of a majority 1979: 6. Term of office 186 days. To improve his situation slightly, Clark supported the selection of Liberal member James Jerome, House Speaker in the 30th Parliament,