Paul Martin

The Right Honourable Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , MP , LL.B , BA (born August 28, 1938 in Windsor, Ontario) is the Prime Minister of Canada. He is the twenty-first prime minister, having succeeded Jean Chrétien on December 12, 2003. Martin is leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and was elected in his own right with a minority government on June 28, 2004?the first minority government in twenty-four years. The Liberals won 135 of 308 seats in the Canadian House of Commons.

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 (See: National Missile Defense in Canada). 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.

Related Topics:
U.S.-Canada relations - February 24 - Pierre Pettigrew - National Missile Defense in Canada - Frank McKenna

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Martin has been criticized for failing to reach a foreign-aid target of 0.7 per cent of GDP, despite much rhetoric that he favored an increase in foreign aid after the cut-backs of the 1990s. Martin later responded that many foreign leaders were making pledges that he viewed as too fanciful, his government had set a more modest, but clearly attainable goal.

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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 between China and Canada by announcing the strategic partnership initiative during Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to Canada in September 2005.

Related Topics:
G8 - G20 - China - Canada - Strategic partnership - Hu Jintao

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