 He was elected in a 1978 by-election in what was considered a safe Liberal seat after being defeated in the 1974 federal election by Revenue minister Joseph Guay.Hare won, in part by capitalizing on the dislike of Trudeau by anglophone voters in a riding that has a significant francophone population and claimed that French Canadians followed instructions from their parish priests on how to vote.Hare's victory was the first time the Tories won the riding since the 1958 election landslide by John Diefenbaker's Conservatives.