Paul Martin
 | This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses, and initial news reports may be unreliable. The latest updates to this article may not reflect the most current information. |
Rt. Hon. Paul Edgar Philippe Martin | |
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| In office December 12, 2003– January 23 2006 | |
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| Political party | Liberal |
The Right Honourable Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC, MP, BA, LLB (born August 28, 1938, in Windsor, Ontario) took office on December 12, 2003 as the twenty-first Prime Minister of Canada.
On January 23, 2006, the Canadian federal election concluded in a victory for the Conservative Party of Canada, led by Stephen Harper. Martin conceded defeat, and announced that he will resign as leader of the Liberal party. However, he will continue to sit as a member of Parliament. On January 24, 2006 he contacted the Governor General of Canada to inform her he would be resigning as Prime Minister.
Early Life
A businessman and politician, Paul Martin is from a well-connected Roman Catholic Canadian political family. His father, Paul Joseph James Martin, a francophone of half Irish and half French descent, served thirty-three years as a member of the Canadian House of Commons and was a cabinet minister in four Liberal governments. His mother, Eleanor "Nell" Adams, was of Scottish, Métis and Irish descent. Martin was raised in an English-speaking environment in Windsor and Ottawa. To give him the opportunity to improve his French, his parents enrolled him in a private French-language middle school, École Garneau in Ottawa, Ontario. He then briefly attended the University of Ottawa.
Martin graduated with a BA in history and philosophy from St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, in 1961. He followed his father's path to the University of Toronto Law School where he received his LL.B in 1965. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1966.
In 1965, Martin married Sheila Ann Cowan, and now they have three sons, Paul, Jamie and David.
Before entering politics, Martin had a long career in the private sector. He served as:
Executive Assistant to Maurice Strong, President of Power Corporation of Canada Vice-President, Power Corporation Vice-President, Consolidated Bathurst Ltd. (A Power Co. subsidiary) Vice-President, Planning and Development for Power Corporation President and later Chief Executive Officer, CSL Group Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Steamship Lines Corporate Director for C.B. Pak Inc, Redpath Industries Ltd., Fednav Ltd., Manufacturers Life Insurance Co., Canadian Shipbuilding & Engineering Ltd. and Imasco Corp. In July 1981, he was offered the opportunity to buy Canada Steamship Lines, then a Power Corporation subsidiary, in a risky leveraged buy out in partnership with acquaintance Lawrence Pathy. He calculated that they could afford the buy-out as long as interest rates, which were at an all-time high in Canada, did not continue to rise. The partners went for it, the largest leveraged buy-out in Canadian history, and the gamble paid off: within a few months rates began to fall - Martin was a confirmed millionaire. His declaration of assets upon entering Parliament included ownership of dozens of companies around the world, thirty-three ships, office buildings, apartment blocks and movie theatres. In 2004, Forbes.com estimated Martin's personal wealth at $225,000,000 (USD). Canada Steamship Lines, the company he was obliged to dispose of upon assuming the office of Prime Minister, came under fire in the 2006 election for its practice of employing flags of convenience, to avoid taxes.
Finance Minister
In 1988, Martin was elected as the Member of Parliament for the electoral district of LaSalle-Émard in Montreal. He was a candidate at the 1990 Liberal leadership convention, losing to Jean Chrétien in a bitter race that resulted in lasting animosity between the two men and their supporters. Nonetheless, the Liberal Party won the 1993 election and Martin was appointed minister of finance by the new prime minister, Jean Chrétien. At the time, Canada had one of the highest annual deficits of the G7 countries. As finance minister, Martin erased a $42 billion deficit, recorded five consecutive budget surpluses, paid down $36 billion, and cut taxes cumulatively by $100 billion over 5 years, making it the largest tax cut in Canadian history.
During his tenure as finance minister, Martin was responsible for lowering Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio from a peak of seventy per cent to about fifty per cent in the mid-1990s. In December 2001, he was named as a member of the World Economic Forum's "dream cabinet." The global business and financial body listed Martin along with United States Secretary of State Colin Powell and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as top world leaders.
Also during his tenure as finance minister, Martin coordinated a series of meetings between the finance ministers of all provinces to discuss how to address the pending crisis in the Canada Pension Plan (CPP). Consequently, Martin oversaw the creation of a general public consultation process in February 1996 that eventually led to major structural reform of the CPP. The results of this public consultation process were collected and analyzed by the Finance ministry. Eventually, it led to a proposal for overhauling the CPP, which was presented to Parliament and was approved soon after, thereby averting a pension crisis if left unaddressed.
While Martin's record as finance minister was lauded in business and financial circles, there were undeniable costs. Some of these costs took the form of reduced government services. This was most noticeable in the Health Care sector, as major reductions in federal funding to the provinces meant significant cuts in service delivery. Moreover, there were cuts in government services across the board, affecting the operations and achievement of the mandate of most federal departments. Critics point out that Martin's actions as finance minister were consistent with a neoliberal agenda. Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that while Martin held an influential position within the government and the Liberal Party of Canada, his actions as finance minister were very much part of his party's program.
Rise to Prime Minister
Prime Minister Chrétien and Martin frequently clashed while in office. It was often reported that Chrétien had never forgiven Martin for running against him in the Liberal leadership convention of 1990, and privately often condemned Martin in bitter terms to his aides. Some suggested that if Martin was not promised the Finance portfolio in the event of the Liberals 1993 election victory, Martin would have resigned, splitting the Liberal Party. In fact, Jean Lapierre, who was a staunch supporter of Martin, wore black armbands at the 1990 Liberal Party convention to protest Chrétien's victory. Lapierre then crossed the floor to the newly formed Bloc Québécois party in the House of Commons. After Chrétien's third electoral victory in the 2000 election, there was much speculation in the media and in Ottawa that Martin was after Chrétien's job and wanted to force the prime minister into early retirement.
The conflicts between the two men reached a peak in 2002. Martin was removed from Cabinet, and was replaced by John Manley as Finance Minister. Soon after, Martin formally declared his intention to run as leader of the Liberal Party at the next party convention. Over the summer of 2002, Martin toured the country campaigning to succeed Chrétien while his Liberal organizers prepared to challenge Chrétien's leadership during a review vote in January 2003. During the fall, Chrétien announced that he would resign in the spring of 2004 after less than half of caucus agreed to sign a commitment to support him. The Liberal party called a leadership convention for the fall of 2003.
After that, Martin's opponents for leadership quickly dropped out of the race. On September 21, 2003, he easily defeated his sole remaining opponent, former Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps by securing ninety-two per cent of the party delegates from across the country. On November 14, 2003, he was formally declared the winner at the Liberal leadership convention, capturing 3,242 of 3,455 votes. On December 12, 2003, he was appointed by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson as the twenty-first Prime Minister of Canada.
When taking office as Prime Minister, Martin provoked controversy as his new cabinet retained only half the ministers from Chretien's administration, and Martin would not even sign the nomination papers for former ministers who wanted to run for the Liberal Party in the upcoming Parliamentary elections. At the time, however, this had little impact on Martin's record popularity, since pundits noted that a new cabinet was a refreshing change from Chretien's ten-year tenure. However, once the sponsorship scandal broke out, this tactic backfired spectacularly, as a skeptical electorate saw Martin's cabinet shuffle as a cynical attempt to try to blame the scandal on the past government. Many long-time Liberals were also put off by Martin's control of the riding nomination process, and former Liberal strongholds were weakened due to disgruntled members leaving the party.
On February 9, 2004, Martin and the Liberals were rocked by a report from Auditor General Sheila Fraser that sponsorship contracts designed to increase the federal government's status in Quebec resulted in little to no work done. Many of the agencies had Liberal ties, and roughly $100 million of the $250 million in program spending went missing. Martin has stated that there has to have been political direction but denies involvement in, or knowledge of, the sponsorship contracts, and has called a public inquiry into what has come to be known as the Sponsorship Scandal. Opponents, however, state that as finance minister he must have known about these activities. They also noted that the role of the Finance portfolio is uniquely powerful, since that minister budgets for all of the other departments. Some have even compared Paul Martin's time as Finance Minister to Andrew Fastow, former CFO of the Enron Corporation. Those charges were very effective in Quebec, where Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe even accused Martin of planning to widen the St. Lawrence seaway to benefit his own Canada Steamship Lines.
Immediately after becoming Prime Minister, Paul Martin enjoyed record approval ratings and it looked as if he might win a record number of seats in an election. Support slumped, however, as a result of the scandal and a desire for change. Nonetheless, Martin decided to call an election for June 28, 2004, such that the public inquiry would not be ready to release a report in a short time and thus damage Liberal public support, and in order to catch the newly formed Conservative Party of Canada off guard as they had not yet had the opportunity to hold policy convention.
Polls placed the Liberals in a dead heat with the Conservatives. Eventually during the campaign, it was predicted that the Liberals would lose by only a few seats, possibly producing a Conservative minority government. It was even seen by some commentators in the media as possible that a Conservative majority government could be formed. The Liberals managed to narrow the gap and divert attention from the Sponsorship Scandal that was dogging the party via campaign tactics and attack ads that portrayed opposition leader Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party as harbouring a "Hidden Agenda" on social issues such as abortion. Martin was successful in obtaining another term in office, albeit in a Liberal minority government, the length of which would depend on his ability to push his agenda through a "wheeling and dealing" House of Commons.
Minority government
Martin's government faced combined challenges from Quebec separatism, Newfoundland provincialism and general hostility arising from allegations of scandal. Relations with the United States grew worse and Martin had trouble commanding the support of the Commons. The first real test of the Liberal minority came following the Speech from the throne on October 5, 2004. The Conservative Party announced plans to move an amendment to the speech. In this they were supported by the separatist Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party. The fall of the government was averted only when Martin agreed to accept a watered-down version of the amendment. This compromise, the first of several, established a pattern that prompted Clyde Sanger, Ottawa correspondent for The Economist, to report that Martin was being called Mr. Dithers in Ottawa. [1]
At the First Ministers' Meeting of September 13-15, 2004, Martin and the provincial premiers reached an agreement on increased funding for healthcare. It was not a "deal for a generation" as promised in the election, but it was a decade-long financial commitment that was expected to lower the heat in federal-provincial relations, which had worsened during the government of Jean Chrétien.
Martin also introduced changes to the equalization program, under which the federal government transfers money to provinces that have less ability to raise revenues through taxation than wealthier provinces. This was hailed in the "have not" provinces as a great accomplishment, but it was not enough for Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. In the 2004 federal election campaign, opposition leader Stephen Harper promised both the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia that under a Conservative government they would receive 100% of the revenue generated from their natural resources without an equalization clawback, which was viewed by the governments of those provinces as a more favourable arrangement than the previous situation. NDP leader Jack Layton followed suit soon after with a similar guarantee, and later Paul Martin promised that under a Liberal government both provinces would receive the same deal, except only for oil resources. All three deals were seen as an improvement on the previous situation, and later Martin was returned to power in a minority government. However, Danny Williams, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, ordered that all Canadian flags be removed from provincial government buildings in December 2004, citing his concerns that Martin was not honouring the initial promise made during the height of the 2004 federal election campaign: that Newfoundland and Nova Scotia would receive 100% of offshore oil revenues without an equalization clawback. Instead, the government offered the provinces a different revenue regime that was not seen to be as palatable by the two Atlantic provinces. The dispute was finally resolved 8 months after the original promise was made when the federal government finally agreed to honour its original promise in full. It has been suggested by some that Martin had caved to Williams out of concern for the fragility of the Liberal minority government.
Same-sex marriage proved to be a defining issue of Martin's mandate. Martin, a Roman Catholic, opposed same-sex marriage in a 1999 vote on the issue along with a majority of MPs, but changed his stance in 2004. In the midst of various court rulings in 2003 and 2004 that allowed for the legalization of same-sex marriages in seven provinces and one territory, his government proposed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage across Canada. The House of Commons passed the Civil Marriage Act in late June 2005 in a late night last-minute vote before parliament closed down, and the Senate passed it in July 2005. This made Canada the fourth country in the world to allow same-sex marriages. Some critics continue to claim that there are more serious problems with Canada's justice system to deal with.
The 2005 federal budget was presented in the House of Commons on February 23, 2005. It was criticized as an "election budget" in that it allocated funds for a wide variety of programs which was seen by some as an attempt to attract support to the Liberal Party. The budget included an array of new spending for the armed forces, the environment and for a national child care program. It also included tax cuts, over the next five years. Much of the budget, and particularly the tax cuts, has been described by some critics as "back-loaded" — that is, Canadians will have to wait many years to see the promised cuts, if they see them at all.
Public hearings of the Gomery Commission inquiry into the sponsorship scandal involving alleged kickbacks and "donations" from Quebec advertising agencies and corporations to Liberal Party operatives led to a drop in the Liberal Party's popularity. The first volume of the Gomery Report, released on November 1, 2005, cleared Martin of any wrong doing while placing blame for the scandal on former Prime Minister Jean Chretien. However, many have criticized the Gomery Inquiry as not having the scope to assign criminal responsibility for the Scandal or to investigate Martin's role, and indeed some have accused Martin of purposely "tying Gomery's hands."
Criticism
The security of the minority government came under fire as the Opposition, the Conservative Party threatened to force an election by use of their "opposition day," when they get to set the Parliament's agenda. The Conservatives would use this time to hold a vote of no confidence in order to topple Martin's minority government. To avoid this, Martin removed all opposition days from the schedule and made a public appearance on April 21, 2005, to attempt to gain support from the Canadian people to let the inquiry run its course before an election is called. In the rebuttal speeches by the opposition party leaders, Jack Layton of the New Democratic Party offered his party's support provided that they were given major concessions in the budget such as cancelling the proposed corporate tax cuts. Days later, the Liberals took the NDP up on their offer and negotiated tax cut deferments and new spending initiatives.
The situation worsened in May, when Parliament passed a motion asking one of its committees to express a lack of confidence in the government. The Liberals dismissed this as a procedural matter, causing some to accuse them of governing unlawfully by ignoring parliamentary tradition. The Conservatives and Bloc interpreted it as a vote of no confidence, and they combined their votes to shut down the House of Commons early for two days in a row. Martin drew fire when he decided to wait for several days before a confidence vote (on the budget) could be held. In the midst of the ensuing Parliamentary crisis, Martin's government was criticized for altering the budget radically to win the support of the NDP.
Debate raged over increasing government expenditures, although these are unlikely to produce a deficit this year. Among the new commitments was aid for Sudan, which Sudan's officials refused as Martin didn't ask them about it. This aid was attacked as a perceived attempt to win the vote of a single independent MP, former Liberal David Kilgour. Kilgour nevertheless voted against the government.
Government surviving
On May 17, 2005, Member of Parliament Belinda Stronach crossed the floor from the Conservative Party and joined the Liberal Party to become Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development. Martin claimed Stronach's move was due to concerns over the direction the Conservative Party was taking, while others accused Stronach of political opportunism and Martin of outright bribery. This event changed the balance of power in the House of Commons in favour of Martin's government. This caused a tie during a May 2005 confidence vote and meant that the Speaker of the House needed to cast the deciding vote. He voted with the government, following the tradition that the Speaker votes to continue debate, and that allowed the budget to pass on May 19, 2005. The Liberals were also saved by independent MP the late Chuck Cadman, who voted with the government.
On August 4, 2005, the government announced that Martin had advised Queen Elizabeth II to appoint Michaëlle Jean to the post of Governor General of Canada. The reception to the appointment was mixed. Some applauded the move, including the leader of the opposition. Some critics were upset by revelations that her husband had both dined with members of the former terrorist organization, FLQ, and had been warmly supportive of them in the past. Subsequent to her appointment she has reaffirmed her commitment to federalism and the issue died down - even though, in a recent press release defending herself and her past, she chose not to use the word "loyal" in describing her relationship to Canada, fuelling further speculation in some quarters. The appointment of Jean was criticized by some commentators in the Canadian media as an attempt to pander to various interest groups in Quebec. Others applauded it as an attempt to undercut the Quebec sovereignty movement by appealing to the growing group of francophone immigrants in the province.
On October 31, 2005, Martin appeared as himself in the opening sequence of an episode of the popular CTV sitcom, Corner Gas entitled "Fun Run", becoming the first sitting Prime Minister to appear on such a program. The episode starts with Martin about to give an address to the nation. Series star Brent Butt, out of character, walks up to Martin and asks why the Prime Minister is interrupting his show, suggesting Martin send out a mass e-mail to Canadians instead. Martin tells Butt he likes the way the comic thinks; Butt in reply asks for a ministerial appointment, a lampoon of recent events that had occurred in parliament. Martin then says, "I gotta go" and quickly exits as the opening credits begin. The episode aired the night before the Gomery report was issued.
Fall of government
In November 2005, Opposition Leader Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party, supported by the other two opposition parties (the NDP and Bloc Quebecois), introduced a motion of non confidence against Martin's government. The motion passed on November 28 by a count of 171-133, defeating the Martin government and forcing an election, which Martin subsequently lost on January 23, 2006. The motion was notable in that it was the first time a ruling government had been defeated on a straight non-confidence motion; previous defeats of minority governments had occurred in connection with the failure of important legislation, such as budget bills. Having already been unable to achieve a majority government, as had been expected of him in his first campaign, it had been widely speculated that a failure by Paul Martin to secure a majority government in this election would ultimately lead to his replacement as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
On election night, following news of the Conservative plurality, Martin announced that he would step down as leader of the Liberal Party, but remain as a Member of Parliament. His decision was credited as an honourable one, and it is believed that it will head off internal feuding within the party.
At 9:30 a.m. on January 24 2006, the morning after losing the election, Mr. Martin telephoned Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, and informed her that he is going to resign as Prime Minister of Canada. [2] She can now designate Stephen Harper to form the next government. However, Martin remains prime minister until such a time as Harper is sworn in. This is expected to happen sometime in February 2006.
Foreign policy
Martin assumed office with the intention of improving U.S.-Canada relations which had noticeably cooled in the later years of Jean Chrétien. After much delay, on February 24, 2005, Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew told the House of Commons that Canada would not participate in the American National Missile Defense Program. Martin also announced that he expected to be consulted in the case of a missile being launched over Canadian air space. Polls taken at the time suggested that Canadians did not wish to be involved with the US Missile Defense Program. Martin's decision came with much praise from the left, but on the right was seen as another way the government was distancing itself from the U.S. His government has continued to cooperate with the United States on border control, refugee claimants, and defence, and he appointed seasoned Liberal politician Frank McKenna as Canada's ambassador to Washington.
Recently Martin has become involved in a spat with the current US administration after accusing the US of not caring about the global environment. Martin has also said that he is standing up for Canada's interests over softwood and other issues, while both NDP leader Jack Layton and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper have accused Martin of orchestrating a spat with the US in order to garner public support during an election campaign. Both have noted that Canada's record in cutting carbon dioxide emissions is worse than that of the United States.
Martin has been criticized for failing to reach a foreign-aid target of 0.7 per cent of GDP, most notably by Bono of Irish rock group U2 (who has claimed that he is going to "kick [Martin's] butt," over the issue), despite much rhetoric that he favoured an increase in foreign aid after the cut-backs of the 1990s. Martin later responded that, in his view, many foreign leaders had made pledges that were too fanciful.
Martin has been promoting, without much success, the expansion of the G8 into a larger group of twenty nations G20. He has also tried to forge a closer relationship with the People's Republic of China by announcing the strategic partnership initiative during PRC President Hu Jintao's state visit to Canada in September 2005.
References
- Wilson-Smith, Anthony; Greenspon, Edward (1996). Double Vision: The Inside Story of the Liberals in Power. Doubleday Canada. ISBN 0385256132.
- Conservative Party of Canada. Various documents.
See also
External links
- Political biography from the Library of Parliament
- Prime Minister of Canada - Premier ministre du Canada, official website
- Official Liberal Party bio
- CBC News Indepth: Paul Martin A series of articles by CBC News about Paul Martin.
- PaulMartinTime - Critical commentary on Paul Martin
- CBC documentary on Martin's business practices
- How'd They Vote?: Paul Martin's voting history and quotes
- "Prime Minister Paul Martin says he would use the Constitution's notwithstanding clause".
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