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|Monday March. 17, 2003 |
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martin: All my life I have
gone one step further
by Angelo Persichilli
THE HILL TIMES (Versione
italiana)
By the end of this
month the roster for the federal Liberal leadership race will be complete.
While Paul Martin is clearing all possible hurdles between him and the
position he has been aiming at since 1990 and Deputy Prime Minister John
Manley will announce his candidacy by the end of this month. According Liberal
sources, Mr. Manley has decided to venture into the game and is expected to
appoint Justice Minister Martin Cauchon and Human Resources Minister Jane
Stewart to co-chair his campaign. Mr. Manley is expected to officially
announce his candidacy for the federal Liberal leadership at the end of his
short holiday in the south, where he¹s been with his wife Judith, and along
with former U.S. ambassador to Canada Gordon Giffin and, according to some
rumours, with former federal Liberal minister Ed Lumley. However, the most
important development last week was definitely the decision of Mr. Martin to
relinquish the control of his multinational shipping company, Canada Steamship
Lines, to his three sons in order to stop, or at least try to stop the
swirling controversy and criticism of potential conflicts of interest. Whether
the opposition is going to be satisfied or not about Mr. Martin¹s decision, it
was definitely a difficult one for the former minister of finance to get rid
of the control of a company he helped build into an economic empire. I talked
to Paul Martin a few hours after his announcement.
Mr. Martin, now
that you¹re poor like me, how do you feel?
“I can never be as rich as you”.
If this is true, we
have to define what ‘rich’ means. Was it painful [to pass on Canada Steamship
Lines to your sons]?
“For a long time I had known that I was going to do that. I feel very proud of
my company, I am very proud of my sons and I am sure they will do well."
What about their
reaction?
“Again, they understand my emotions, but at the same time they are quite
exited."
But the opposition
is not happy.
“I must say that not all the opposition [parties] but certain members. Others
have supported what I have done, as well as the vast majority of Canadians who
have written to me or called, all really understand that what I have done is
severed all the links with the company."
What about those
who don¹t agree?
“It is very clear that they are very, very much out of touch with the expert
advice, not only from the Canadian ethics commissioner, but also the wide
group of experts that he has talked to, including the Integrity Commissioner
from Ontario, the former Ethic commissioner from British Columbia and a wide
range of experts Mr. [Howard] Wilson has consulted."
If you sell the
company does this mean basically that whoever has a company cannot become
Prime Minister. Is that a concept that you don¹t accept?
“That’s right. I believe that those members of the opposition who don¹t
understand this, are essentially saying that every entrepreneur should not go
into public life. When you take a look at the nature of our economy that we
want to build, there is no doubt in my mind that the vast majority of
Canadians do not agree with those members of the opposition”.
You asked the
ethics adviser [Howard Wilson] to examine your position and give advice. Is
your decision based on that advice?
“The advice that I¹ve received from the commissioner was that what I should do
was to create a blind management agreement that would be even more tight than
the one to which ministers are subjected. I decided that I would certainly
distance myself from the company 100 per cent and he felt it was sufficient.
But I felt I had to go one step further. All my life I have gone one step
further. I did it when I was [an Opposition] Member of Parliament when I
didn¹t have to, and when I was minister. I¹ve always said that I had to go and
walk the extra final mile”.
When are you going
to announce officially your candidacy?
“The real question is, ‘When I do it officially, is anybody going to be
surprised?”
Possibly not, but
still I need to know in order to arrange my busy schedule.
“I’ll do it in a way that you are going to have plenty of time to have your
schedule ready.”
Fair enough. I hear
complaints that you are so strong that candidates, like Allan Rock and Brian
Tobin, retire before entering the race. Furthermore, there are accusations
that the party is tightly-controlled. Then one of your riding association
candidates was defeated in the riding of Parkdale-Highpark in Toronto with 36
votes against 39. I am missing something?
“Your point is very well-taken. There are 10,000 membership forms available in
Ontario to anybody who wants to be a candidate. That¹s in Ontario alone. When
you think of the results in Parkdale-Highpark, and then you think that in
Ontario, alone, there are 10,000 memberships available to any single
candidate, I think it¹s very clear that we are a very open party.”
Between Sheila
Copps and John Manley, who do you fear the most as a formidable candidate?
“They both will be
formidable. I have the greatest respect for both of them.”
How do you feel
that, as an MP, the opposition is attacking you more than the Prime Minister
and the budget?
“I believe that the opposition better start asking relevant questions. They
ignored the budget, they seem to be spending very little time on the possible
war in Iraq, they have spent little time on health care, the most important
priority for Canadians, I think that the opposition better look in the mirror
and ask why its priorities are so different from the priorities of the
Canadians.”
I understand that
if you don’t comment on issues, then the opposition accuses you of not having
a political platform, and if you do it even some Liberals are saying that you
are challenging the government. How do you cope with this apparently no-win
situation?
“I don¹t pay too much attention to the opposition. I believe that the
leadership campaign should be a policy debate, [should] be about ideas and
essentially it is not about dissenting with the existing government. My
position is that, when I put forward my policy initiative [it] is for the next
government. We have a Prime Minister, he is in place and he is governing. The
ideas I am putting forward, whether they will be in terms of Parliamentary
reform, Canada¹s role in the world, are all issues for that I will bring to be
as Prime Minister.”
What do you expect
from this campaign?
“Health care, education, how you build a stronger economy, the poverty gap,
cities, rural areas, economic development, democratic reform to make the
Parliament work, and the issues that will fall in it. Giving individual
Members of Parliament the capacity to basically initiate policies and not just
to respond. That¹s a very important part of how we solve all the issues that
I¹ve put forward.”
Some are saying
that in the last budget the government spent too much and Mr. Chrétien
mortgaged your future government.
“I believe that the issues that the last budget touched on are all important
issues. But I do believe, that it is very important for the government to
maintain its flexibility. The global economy is very uncertain and the fact
that Canada has cleaned up its balance-sheet is one of the main reasons why we
create jobs while the Americans are losing jobs. I thing that maintaining our
strong discipline is very important, at the same time I believe that the
issues they touched upon were important.”
When you were
Minister of Finance I could not ask this question. I can now: do you believe
that the bank rate should go up?
“There are a number of things. If the Bank of Canada demonstrates that there
is concern about inflation, some time you increase the short-term rate, you
are able to maintain the long-term rate under control. It depends on the
situations, but I believe that [Governor of the Bank of Canada David] Dodge is
conducting the monetary policy admirably well.”
It looks like you
are going to win but, it also looks the Liberal Party is more divided than
before. Is that a concern?
“No. Leadership races are about ideas and differences of opinions. I am sure
there is going to be a very vigorous debate. But there is no doubt in my mind
that the night that new leader is chosen, whoever he or she might be, the
party will come together.”
Are you still
comfortable with the timetable presented by Mr. Chrétien and the fact that the
new leader elected in November won¹t be Prime Minister until February, 2004?
“Sure, I
have no difficulty working with that timetable.” |
