Paul Martin Biography

Words: 888
Pages: 4

It’s the 21st century, equality and human rights are at an all time high. Canada is finally coming close to becoming a nation where everyone is equal, right? Not for Stephen Harper, he completely ignored 1181 missing and murdered aboriginal women for nearly TEN years. What kind of a person, let alone a world leader could do such a thing? On the other hand, Mr. Harper’s predecessor Paul Martin was an accomplished, skilled, and a gifted leader who was by far more suited to his job than Harper. Paul Martin is a caring leader who understands the importance of relationships on provincial and municipal levels as well as those with the people of that nation that he leads. Martin also comes from a background in finance, who wouldn’t want a finance …show more content…
Not only did he ignore such a terrible tragedy but Mr. Harper actually cut funding to aboriginal groups and tribes across the nation, attempting to reverse Paul Martin’s work. Mr. Martin was a leader who understood the importance of federal social ties to Canada’s cities, towns, and small communities. He was not always taking the easy road, but the right road. Paul Martin realized how wrong it was that same sex marriage was illegal in our country so his government passed a bill that made it legal. He also passed the Kelowna Accord. This groundbreaking accord improved education, employment, and living qualities for aboriginal peoples nationwide. It was used to strengthen ties between the government and aboriginal peoples and to “close the gap”. Unsurprisingly, when Stephen Harper took office in 2006, funding for the Kelowna Accord was cut off, simply another way that Mr. Harper was weakening the country that Paul Martin had made so …show more content…
He is widely considered to be one of the greatest financial leaders in Canadian history. Prior to being prime minister, Paul Martin was our 34th minister of finance. Known as the “deficit cutter” Martin had practice bringing economies out of the gutter as by 1998, Martin had completely gotten rid of a $42 billion deficit that plagued Canada when he took office as finance minister in 1993. Martin also greatly improved Canada’s economy by spreading federal tax dollars amongst the provinces and territories. This lead to a budget that was more properly balanced with smaller provinces that were able to stay out of trouble due to an increase in tax dollars. Overall, Paul Martin created a $14 billion surplus and was able to set Canada’s economy up very well for his successor, Stephen Harper. So the real question is, where did all the money go? Harper ran eight straight deficit budgets and managed to turn a $14 billion surplus into a $50 billion deficit. How Canadians allowed a man with a fiscal record as terrible as Harper’s to lead for nearly 10 years, remains a