Who Is Paul Martin?

Paul Martin, born in August 28, 1939 is one of the best Canadian Politicians. He was the twenty-first Prime Minister of Canada from December 12, 2003 to January 24, 2006. As well as, the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada after being the Canadian Minister of Finance (Wikipedia). Martin grew up in Windsor, Ontario. When he was younger, his parents wanted to give him the chance to improve his French, so they put him in a private French-language middle school. In addition, Martin attended the University of Ottawa. However, he transferred and graduated from St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, and got his Bachelor of Arts in History and Philosophy in 1961. After graduating, he attended the University of Toronto Faculty of Law
where he got his Bachelor of Laws in 1964. Finally, the Ontario Bar, an organization where they represent lawyers, judges and law students chose him to participate in the group in 1966 (Wikipedia). In 1970, Martin was the executive assistant to the Power Corporation Chief Maurice Strong.
At that time, the Power Corporation controlled half of the Canadian shipping Company, Canada Steamship Lines (CSL). However, the company suffered when it was forced to pay for the construction of three ships. Furthermore, in 1973 Martin was chosen to be the President of CSL and made lots of highly successful decisions. Including, to build ships overseas, having deals with different countries, and hire workers that would accept a low-wage. Even though these decisions were established, Martin’s relationship with CSL was used against his political career (Canadian Encyclopedia). During the 1900s, Paul Martin was selected the Minister of Finance. In fact, he agreed that half of his shares will go to the Canada Steamship Lines under an agreement guided by lawyers and financial advisers. Until, he was removed as the Minister of Finance and wanted to go after the leadership of the Liberal Party in Canada. In addition, he told the media he would sell his interests in the company to his three sons because the company would distract him from winning the election (Canadian
Encyclopedia). When Martin ran against Jean Chrétien, one of the biggest issues of the campaign was the Meech Lake Accord. This was a package of suggested changes to the Constitution of Canada by the Prime Minster Brian Mulroney and other premiers. Martin supported this decision, but Chrétien was against it which started a rivalry between them and affected the Liberal party. As a result, Martin travelled the country to campaign against Chrétien. While Chrétien said that he would not run for Prime Minister unless half of the council agreed to support him. Most of the council did not want to take part any of the contest. This left no strong supporter on Chrétien’s side and most of them voted for Martin. In conclusion, Martin easily defeated Chrétien and became the Prime Minister of Canada. Throughout Martin’s three years of being Prime Minister, most of his decisions helped shape Canada as a country.
Such as, supporting gay marriage in 2004 and that allowed the legalization of same-sex marriages in seven provinces and one territory. He wanted the government to propose a bill, which led to the House of Commons passing the Civil Marriage Act. Moreover, he also signed agreements with all provinces to establish early learning, child care program and a ten year plan to improve health care and reduce wait times. Furthermore, Martin formed the Kelowna Accord where it improved the employment, education, health, and living conditions for Aboriginal People’s. This was planned to get rid of the division between the Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal
Canadians. On February 24, 2005 Martin did not want Canada to participate in the American National Missile Program, because he expected that if a missile launched over Canada he would be the first negotiated. Most of the people agreed with his decision, but others saw that the government was separating itself from the United States of America. However, his government remained contributing with the United States on border control and defense. As a result, he was blamed to reach foreign relations with other countries. Paul Martin supported the expansion of G8 into a larger group of 20 nations. In hope that, Canada keeps it’s title of having one of the world’s leading economies. The G8 consisted of 8 nations that meet every year to discuss economical issues around the world and how they can improve them.