Paul Joseph James Martin

The Right Honorable Paul Joseph James Martin PC, CC, QC
Senator for Windsor-Walkerville, Ontario
In office April 20, 1968 – October 30, 1974
Appointed by	Pierre Trudeau
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Essex East
In office 1935–1968
Preceded by	Raymond Morand
Succeeded by	Riding was abolished in 1966
Personal details
Born	June 23, 1903(1903-06-23) Ottawa, Ontario
Died	September 14, 1992(1992-09-14) (aged 89) Windsor, Ontario
Political party	Liberal
Children	Paul Martin
Cabinet	Secretary of State of Canada (1945-1946) Minister of National Health and Welfare (1946-1957) Minister of Labour (Acting) (1950) Secretary of State for External Affairs (1963-1968) Minister Without Portfolio (1968-1969)
Committees	Chairman, Special Committee on Prices (1947-1948)
Portfolio	Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Labour (1943-1945) Leader of the Government in the Senate (1969-1974)

Joseph James Guillaume Paul Martin, PC, CC, QC (June 23, 1903 – September 14, 1992), often referred to as Paul Martin, Sr, was a noted Canadian politician. He was the father of Paul Martin (Jr.), who served as Prime Minister of Canada from 2003 - 2006.

Early life

Martin was born in Ottawa, Ontario, the son of Lumina (née Chouinard) and Joseph Philippe Ernest Martin. His Irish Catholic paternal grandfather's family immigrated from County Mayo, while his mother and paternal grandmother were French Canadian. Martin was raised in Pembroke, Ontario, in the Ottawa River Valley, although he attended high school at Collège Saint-Alexandre in Gatineau, Quebec. He completed his university education at the University of Toronto, and earned his law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. Later, Martin studied at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, on a scholarship.

Martin later opened a law practice in Windsor, Ontario.

Politics

MP

A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, he was first elected to the House of Commons in 1935 and entered the cabinet in 1945. He went on to serve as a noted member of the cabinets of four Prime Ministers: William Lyon Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent, Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau.

Martin was viewed as one of the most left-wing members of the Liberal cabinet, and as Minister of National Health and Welfare from 1946 to 1957 he played an important role in the fight against polio and overseeing the creation of hospital insurance in Canada, and is sometimes recognized as a father of medicare. Martin served as Secretary of State for External Affairs in the Pearson government, and was instrumental in the acquisition of U.S. nuclear weapons for Canadian Forces.

Hon. Paul Martin (left) and Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King attending the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly, 23 October 1946

Liberal leadership bids

He ran for the Liberal leadership three times, in 1948, in 1958 and 1968, but was defeated at all three Liberal leadership conventions, first by Louis St. Laurent, then by Lester B. Pearson, then by Pierre Trudeau.

Senator and beyond

Trudeau appointed him to the Senate in 1968. He served as Leader of the Government in the Senate until 1974 when he was appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. He also served as Chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University from 1972–1977, as a result of which the university named the Paul Martin Centre in his honour. Until his death Paul Martin was an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Windsor.

His two volume memoirs, A Very Public Life, was published in 1983 (ISBN 0888790929) and 1986 (ISBN 0888781216).

Honours

In 1976 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. In recognition of his accomplishments, Martin was granted the right to use the honorific Right Honourable in 1992, a rare honour for one who has never been Prime Minister, Governor-General or Chief Justice of Canada.

The University of Windsor has a Paul Martin Chair in law and political science, recently held by former Manitoba Premier Howard Pawley (until his retirement from the University of Windsor), and the Paul Martin Law Library. The City of Windsor had also re-named their "Post Office Building" the Paul Martin Sr. Building in his honour on November 18, 1994.

Honorary Degrees

• Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia (LL.D) in 1950
• University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia (LL.D) on June 2, 1966

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

See also

• Vive le Québec libre speech
• Paul Martin

External links

• Paul Joseph James Martin - Parliament of Canada biography
• Order of Canada citation
• A retiring Paul Martin gives a CBC Interview

Political offices
Preceded by Norman Alexander McLarty	Secretary of State for Canada 18 April 1945 – 12 December 1946	Succeeded by Colin William George Gibson
Preceded by Brooke Claxton	Minister of National Health and Welfare 12 December 1946 – 20 June 1957	Succeeded by Alfred Johnson Brooks
Preceded by Howard Green	Secretary of State for External Affairs 22 April 1963–20 April 1968	Succeeded by Mitchell Sharp
Preceded by John Joseph Connolly	Minister Without Portfolio (Leader of the Government in the Senate) 20 April 1968 – 1 April 1969	Succeeded by ---
Preceded by ---	Leader of the Government in the Senate 1 April 1969 – 7 August 1974	Succeeded by Raymond Joseph Perrault
Academic offices
Preceded by W. Ross Macdonald	Chancellor of Waterloo Lutheran University/Wilfrid Laurier University 1972 – 1977	Succeeded by John Black Aird
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Jake Warren	Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom 1974–1979	Succeeded by Jean Casselman Wadds