Politics

The Federal Liberal party officially elected their new leader tonight(Friday). And since the Liberal party is the political party with the most seats in the House of Commons, Canada also has a new Prime Minister elect. Paul Martin was overwhelmingly selected by the delegates. No surprise there. The convention results were a foregone conclusion for months. Sheila Copps, was the only one gutty enough to stand up and put her name on the ballot. Without her there would have been no need for a convention, no need for a tribute to Jean Chretien, and no inauguration for Paul Martin. Not everyone likes her. In fact if you believe much of the press about her, you might conclude she is despised. I neither like nor dislike her, but I do admire that she stood up for her party when it needed someone to do so. The Liberals have been painted as aloof and detached from the electorate for the last number of years. Complacent by 3 consecutive majority governments, the Liberals needed a new leader and at least the appearance of some new direction.

The Liberals started this ball rolling way back in June of 2002 when Martin and Chretien had a falling out. Martin was fired, or quit, depending on who you ask, and thus some distance was wedged between the outgoing PM and the heir apparent.

But I must say I liked most of what I heard tonight. Paul Martin made a lot of promises, and I am not gullible enough to believe them all. But I did like that he plans to reform how parliament works by allowing MPs to vote on matters as the voice of their constituents instead of strictly following party lines. I also like that he embraces our Canadian sovereignty in world affairs but at the same time wants to push Canada to the forefront of world policy makers and world shapers so that Canada's seat at the world table is prevalent and respected.

Paul Martin's rise to power is shown here.