[2] A New Democrat, he won an easy victory in the working-class riding of Oshawa, while the NDP became the principal legislative opposition to the long-established Progressive Conservative government.
The NDP experienced a modest recovery under Rae in the 1985 provincial election, and Breaugh was again re-elected by a significant margin in Oshawa.
Breaugh again defeated O'Flynn, now running for the Liberal Party of Canada, to win the by-election, which was held on August 13, a month before the 1990 Ontario election that brought Rae's NDP to power.
The provincial NDP had by this time lost much of its support from organized labour, through austerity legislation known as the Social Contract.
Breaugh was unseated being reduced to a fourth-place finish in Oshawa, where the local branch of the Canadian Auto Workers had previously disaffiliated from the NDP.