Deans objected to the organization because it recruited its own members, raised its own funds, and created its own policy, called 'The Manifesto'.
[6] In 1970, Deans broke with most of his colleagues by expressing support for Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's implementation of the War Measures Act during the FLQ Crisis.
Deans' earlier support for the War Measures Act became a point of contention and he recanted his position saying he was wrong and had regretted it ever since.
[9] In the fall of 1986, he surprised colleagues by resigning from parliament to accept an appointment by Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney as head of the Public Service Staff Relations Board, a position Deans went on to hold for 10 years.
In 2010, Deans said in an interview that he might run in the Hamilton Municipal Election in 2010 if his Parkinson's hasn't progressed any farther.
He was quoted as saying, "The current city council 'a laughing stock' that has made it impossible to sell anything to do with Hamilton.