It resulted in the defeat of the Liberal Party of Canada after 16 years in power, 11 of them under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

Joe Clark led the Progressive Conservative Party to power but with only a minority of seats in the House of Commons.

The PC Party campaigned on the slogans, "Let's get Canada working again", and "It's time for a change – give the future a chance!"

Quebec, in particular, was unwilling to support Clark and elected only two PC Members of Parliament (MPs) in the province's 75 ridings.

The Social Credit Party of Canada, which had lost its mercurial leader, Réal Caouette, who died in 1976, struggled to remain relevant.

Social Credit attempted to rally the separatist and nationalist vote: Canadian flags were absent at its campaign kick-off rally, and the party's slogan was C'est à notre tour ("It's our turn"), which was reminiscent of the popular separatist anthem Gens du pays ("People of the Country"), which includes the chorus, "C'est votre tour, de vous laisser parler d'amour" ("It's your turn, to let you talk about love").

Clark required support from the Socreds to pass the 1979 budget but refused to work with them on ideological grounds, opting instead to "govern as though he had a majority.