WORLD AFFAIRS

A baton change in Canada

EUGENE CORREIA
in Toronto

The extended leadership battle in the ruling Liberal Party comes to an end with Paul Martin's victory in the Toronto convention.

PAUL MARTIN is now the captain of the ship called Canada. He owns Canada Steamships Limited, and this - precisely, the issue of conflicting business and political interests - was the subject of a heated debate in political circles. But his election as leader of the governing Liberal Party at a convention held recently in Toronto has pushed the issue into the background. It may come back to the front if Martin's ship runs into rough weather in the choppy political seas. The weather seems good for now for this former Finance Minister, who has an enviable record of keeping the Canadian economy in sound health.

TOM HANSON/AP

Prime Minister Jean Chretien with newly elected Liberal Party leader Paul Martin at the party convention in Toronto on November 14.

Now 65 years of age, Martin has proved to be lucky the second time. His first bid, in June 1993, failed, with the current Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, winning on the first ballot with 57 per cent of the votes. There is a feeling that Chretien would step down from office in mid-December, after attending the Commonwealth Heads of State Conference in Nigeria. Parliament has been prorogued, and when the transition is worked out the Governor-General will call a new Parliament where Martin will have to prove his majority support from the Liberal Party Members of Parliament. It will be just a constitutional formality.

Martin achieved what his father Paul Martin Sr. failed to do in the latter's two bids to secure the Liberal leadership. The senior Martin was a Cabinet Minister. His son was part of his campaign for the Prime Minister's job. The experience that Paul Martin gained from these campaigns and his own loss to Chretien turned him into an aggressive campaigner for the top job.

The quest to do an honour to himself and to his dead father made Paul Martin a rebel in the Liberal caucus. His behind-the-scenes scheming to get Chretien to retire and pave the way for himself turned into a national drama.

The rivalry between Chretien and Martin, the Finance Minister, was grist to the political mill. It was also the theme of a long-running media show. Barbs came from both sides intermittently but potently. The Chretien-Martin roadshow was watched closely by leaders across the globe.

Now that the greatest political show of the decade is over and Martin has been crowned, Canada can look forward, in Martin's words, to a "new journey". He has sounded Canadians that the "world is not waiting for us", it is evolving, changing. So they must be ready to meet the new challenges "with new solutions, new ideas".

Rallying his countrymen with an inspiring post-victory speech, Martin called it a "moment that comes rarely in the life of the country. It is time when destiny is ours to hold". He wanted to "summon a new national will" that would bring about "transformative change" and said that the "challenge now is to show the way and to shape the course". Martin said he believed that: "Canada is ready to achieve its promise, and that in the next few years we can make history." On his "new journey", Martin reiterated that his becoming the Prime Minister was not about fulfilling his father's dream. He said his father taught him that the "role of those in public life is to make a difference in the lives of people. It's about a national purpose. It's about great national accomplishments".

Martin's accomplishment of having a surplus budget is probably a factor that enabled him to get Liberal grassroots support, besides his ability to raise funds to run campaigns. His critics have accused him of using his corporate profile and connections to amass $9 million for his leadership bid, much more than his rivals could ever dream of. With such financial muscle and a well-oiled campaign team, Martin began his quest in earnest when he resigned from the Cabinet in June 2002. He built up support in the party, which exerted pressure on the adamant Chretien to cave in by announcing that he would retire in 18 months. The bickering between them was hurting the party, and Liberal bigwigs wanted the hostility to end before it could affect the party's prospects in the next elections.

Luckily for the federal Liberals and for Martin in particular, the Liberals won the Ontario election with an overwhelming majority. Since Ontario is the backbone of Canadian politics, Martin revved up his caucus immediately, saying that "we are going to do it again in the next elections. That's what this is all about. Thank you very much."

The Martin victory comes as a reason for some cheer in the Liberal ranks and in the Liberal government, which has suffered some damage to its image from scandals recently. He promised to change the way the government worked and assured Canadians of transparency and better accountability. He also promised to retain Canada's "social foundations", one of them being the "universal and high-quality health-care", and improve federal-provincial relations, which were acrimonious under Chretien. It would be a test to his leadership if he can accomplish what he has set out to do.

How the world will welcome Martin is to be seen, but the soon-to-be Prime Minister has said that his foreign policy would go beyond the United States and that there would be "new thinking" on how to keep alive Canada's concerns for the "poor and underprivileged of the world, the frightened and helpless victims of battle-torn society; the sick and vulnerable with adequate health-care and education".

Will there be an increase in international aid, Third World countries may want to know. Another aspect that underdeveloped or emerging economies would be looking forward to is the constant re-shaping of Canada's immigration and refugee policies.

CRITICS have said that Martin's ties to big business and the corporate donations his campaign received could mean that social policy, which his father helped shape, would come under pressure. If Martin listens to the Bay Street suits, in whose company he is most comfortable, it would rock the "social foundations" that he has insisted will be safeguarded.

It was a gruelling race for the leadership, with at least four ministers in the ring - Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, Heritage Minister Sheila Copps and Industry Minister Allan Rock, being serious contenders and the Minister of Natural Resources Herb Dhaliwal, who is of Indian origin, just stepping in. Only Copps carried the fight till the three-day convention, before conceding victory to Martin before voting. Whether Dhaliwal will remain in the Cabinet is unsure, particularly because of his open support for Chretien in the crucial battle for the minds and hearts of Liberal MPs.

There is a strong rumour that former British Columbia Premier Ujjal Dossanjh will be inducted into the Cabinet. Dossanjh may jump ship from the New Democratic Party (NDP) to the Liberals, given the opportunity. He was wooed by the Chretien camp with a Senator's job as the Prime Minister wanted to have a South Asian in the Red Chamber. But the job went to Mobina Jaffer, a lawyer from British Columbia.

The demand for a South Asian voice, specifically to keep the Sikh members of the party, who account for a large number from British Columbia happy would make it imperative for Martin to consider Dossanjh.

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