About Paul Martin
Paul Martin is Canada’s 21st Prime Minister.
Mr. Martin is the Member of Parliament for LaSalle-Émard
in Montreal, Quebec. He was first elected federally in 1988.
In 1990, he ran for the leadership of the Liberal Party of
Canada and finished second at the leadership convention.
From 1991 to 1993, Mr. Martin was associate finance critic
and critic for the environment for the Liberal opposition
in the House of Commons. In 1993, he played a key role in
developing the Liberal platform for the federal election and
co-authored Creating Opportunity: The Liberal Plan for Canada,
better known as the “Red Book.”
Liberals were returned to power in the 1993 vote and Mr.
Martin was sworn in as Minister of Finance. He served in that
role from November 1993 until June 2002.
In the months leading up to November’s Liberal Leadership
Convention, Mr. Martin garnered unprecedented support from
Liberals right across the country.
At September’s Delegate Election Meetings and then
at the convention, Mr. Martin received upwards of 93% of the
vote, making him the newest leader of the party and now, the
next Prime Minister of Canada.
Mr. Martin brings to the prime minister’s office an
impressive track record. During his time as finance minister,
Canada recorded five consecutive budget surpluses, erased
a $42 billion deficit, paid down more than $36 billion in
debt, invested in health care and other key priorities and
put in place the largest tax cuts in Canadian history.
As Canada’s finance minister, Mr. Martin was highly
regarded on the world stage and represented Canada at a series
of international summits. In September 1999, he was named
inaugural chair of the G-20, an international group composed
of G-7 nations and emerging market nations. He is respected
internationally in part for his leadership in forging a new
world financial order in which emerging economies would be
prevented from plunging into ruinous financial crises.
He now co-chairs, alongside former Mexican president Ernesto
Zedillo, the United Nations Commission on the Private Sector
and Development. The commission is expected later this year
to recommend ways to boost indigenous entrepreneurship in
developing nations and then implement a number of related
pilot projects.
Mr. Martin was born in Windsor, Ontario in 1938. He has a
sister, Mary Anne. His mother, Eleanor (“Nell”),
died in 1993. His father, a distinguished Parliamentarian,
died in 1992.
The Honorable Paul Martin Sr. has been an enduring influence.
He served almost a quarter century in Liberal cabinets under
four different prime ministers: William Lyon Mackenzie King,
Louis St. Laurent, Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau. He was
an influential cabinet minister and is regarded as an architect
of post-war social policy that is an enduring part of the
Liberal legacy.
Mr. Martin studied philosophy and history at St. Michael's
College at the University of Toronto and is a graduate of
the University of Toronto Law School. He was called to the
bar in Ontario in 1966.
Before entering politics, he had a distinguished career in
the private sector as a business executive Power Corporation
of Canada, in Montreal, and as Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of Canada Steamship Lines. In addition, he has been
active with a wide range of community and service organizations.
He married Sheila Ann Cowan in 1965. Their first son, Paul,
was born in 1966. Their second son, Jamie was born three years
later and their youngest son, David, was born in 1974.
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