Hell or High Water

by Paul Martin

  Once I saw the potential in the program, I started contacting the premiers of the Western provinces and Nunavut, and told them I wanted to connect with their ministers of education. Each of the ministries has now sent teams to look at the program, and this pilot is about to become part of a network across the West and North. What I discovered is that the provinces really want to be involved. I expect that in the very near future we will have projects going in northern British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Nunavut, with others to follow in other parts of the country.

  Lakehead University agreed to monitor and evaluate the program, which they have now done. The evaluation was very positive. We are also going to commission a new textbook, specifically adapted to the needs of Aboriginal Canadian students.

  Unlike my entrepreneurship fund, I am doing this on my own, so I can keep the momentum going. But over time I plan to bring in partners, and I issue fair warning to all my friends — I’ll be calling you! And you thought buying this book would get you off the hook.

  As I’ve delved more deeply into the subject of Aboriginal education, one of the discoveries I have made is how isolated Aboriginal educators are. When a schoolteacher or principal in Toronto or Montreal or Vancouver has a special issue — dealing with kids with disabilities, say — he or she can call on support from the resources of their school board. That isn’t true for those educating Aboriginal kids, who are often on isolated reserves, without even a system for sharing experiences with their colleagues.

  To help fix this I have consulted more than twenty universities with large Aboriginal enrolments or interests, along with much of the country’s Aboriginal education leadership, about setting up a centre of best practices and eventually a centre of excellence focusing on Aboriginal primary and secondary school education. The idea, which is still in the conceptual stages, is to have a network across the country, with an administrative office in Montreal and a “node” located in a university in each province. I am fortunate that Carlana Lindeman has agreed to join what we now call the Martin Aboriginal Initiative as education director, and Lucie Santoro has come on board full-time as administrative director. Lucie has been with me for thirty years. She joined CSL when she was sixteen, worked her way through school, and followed me into politics serving in my office when I was minister of finance and in the PMO. Her ability to manage several complex projects at once, get along with everyone, and always produce top-notch results will go a long way toward ensuring we achieve our goals. Education is undoubtedly the key to any society’s success. It certainly is the key for the next generation of Aboriginal Canadians. I hope this initiative, with the help of Canada’s educational and Aboriginal leaders, can play a role.

  I have also been drawn into another set of issues even though they were not on my original agenda for life after politics. As you may remember from earlier chapters I spent a lot of energy in public life seeking to reform certain of the world’s multilateral institutions, and in particular the G8. It now seems that the pebble that we dropped in the water with the establishment of the G20 at the level of finance ministers has continued to produce a ripple, and the idea behind it has been seized upon by governments and thinkers in Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America, and Asia. President Sarkozy of France and Prime Minister Brown of the United Kingdom have both spoken out in favour of increasing the G8 to include the so-called “Outreach 5” (namely: China, India, Brazil, South Africa, and Mexico). On the other hand, another school of thought has suggested ejecting Russia from the G8 and including India and Brazil but not China. Some have called this the “concert of democracies.”

  I am agnostic on the notion of a “concert of democracies.” Whoever wants to get together can get together. But this cannot be the replacement for the G8. Excluding countries such as China or Russia would be a throwback to the era of strategic and antagonistic alliances. The consequences would be international gridlock at best, war at worst. What the world needs is a steering committee, a caucus made up of the great powers and the major regional powers including China and Russia. I believe that this steering committee will be created. It is needed; indeed, I believe it’s inevitable. It should be based around the G8, either as an extension of it or as a parallel organization to it, just at the G20 finance ministers group parallels the G7 finance ministers.

  At the moment, Canada is absent from this debate. This makes no sense. The debate is no longer unilateralism versus multilateralism, where our support for the latter is well known. The debate is about what kind of multilateral structure will the world’s great powers adopt, and how things play out will be a determining factor in the role Canada plays internationally in the future. As finance minister and later as prime minister, I helped create the G20 at the finance ministers level, and promoted the concept at the leaders level. I continue to believe that this structure, or something close to it, is what we need. The G8 is no longer sufficiently representative to play the role it did prior to the rise of China and India. The G8 should be augmented to at least fifteen (the current G8 members, plus China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia, and either Nigeria or Egypt), or, failing that, such an organization should be established to exist alongside a continuing G8. Either option, by the way, should assure Canada of a place at the table. But that is not inevitable. If we drag our feet, there is a risk we will be left out. That’s why we should not be afraid to take the lead.

  I thought I had left this issue behind when I stepped down from office, but it has taken on a life of its own. Thanks to governments in both the G8 and the G20, but also thanks to the efforts of a number of think-tanks in Canada and abroad — the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Kitchener, the Centre for Global Studies in Victoria, the Brookings Institution in Washington, the OECD in Europe, and others in Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and China — I have been asked to continue to participate, and I intend to do just that.

  I am very excited by where my third career has taken me, as I hope comes through in this chapter. One place, you might notice, where it has not led is back to business. Been there, done that! And besides, as my sons were quick to point out when I stepped down, things worked out well at CSL in my absence — why tempt fate? At least that’s the polite version of what they said.

  I’m busy, but I don’t want you to think it has been all work and no play, though I have to say that according to Sheila, having me around the house more is not always an unalloyed joy. My grandson Ethan, on the other hand, thinks it’s great. The farm at Brome Lake, nestled in a beautiful little valley along a dirt road, long ago displaced the cottage at Colchester as my sentimental home. It has now, for the first time, become my actual home as well. Many days when I’m there, I ignore the newspapers on the kitchen table, head out to the porch, put my feet up, and watch the sheep graze and the birds fly by. And then I get itchy feet.

  With so much of what I have started since leaving government, I am back to a place similar to the fall of 1993, after I had agreed to become finance minister and was staring at the deficit for the first time as a problem that had become mine. I knew what had to be done. I was certain that I was ready to do it. But I could not know all the obstacles I would face, how truly difficult it would be, or with certainty whether I would reach my goal. As I look at my life today, I cannot say for sure whether my aspirations for an African common market will come to fruition, whether the Congo rain forest can be saved to the extent it must, whether my ideas and plans for Aboriginal education, mentoring, and entrepreneurship will be as successful as I hope, or whether the G8 will expand in the way it should. I am going to give them all the energy I have, and I have found some very interesting and determined travelling companions for the trip. I imagine there are going to be some surprises along the way, some disappointments, and some unanticipated joys. I am looking forward to it.

  1 The ten countries touched by the rain forest are Rwanda, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guineau, Centra
l African Republic, Sao Tomé and Principé, Chad, and Angola.

  With my mother. (All photos in this section courtesy of the Martin family, except where otherwise noted.)

  My mother (right) takes tea with her husband’s boss, Mackenzie King. When he asked if she considered him a great man she replied, “I’m going to take some convincing.”

  Me (in pugnacious pose) with my cousin Mike and the Coles at our summer place in Colchester, on Lake Erie.

  In Colchester, with my cousin Michael, whom I still regard as a brother.

  Facing off in winter with Michael in Windsor.

  My parents Paul and Nell, in summer and winter.

  With my mother and sister, Mary Anne.

  Visiting my father at the United Nations in New York. “The speeches were better in Belle River.”

  Wearing 32, I took my high school football seriously, and my principal objective in life was to play in the CFL.

  Growing up, once again at Colchester with my cousin Mike.

  Back from the North at the University of Toronto.

  Windsor, September 11, 1965. “In a life blessed with luck, my greatest good fortune was to meet Sheila.”

  I enjoyed the excitement of the business world in Montreal, first as a “corporate firefighter” for Power Corporation, then as the head of Canada Steamship Lines. “I own the company, I thought. I’ve done it.” (Deborah Samuel, Vista Magazine)

  The whole family celebrates the launch of a CSL ship at Collingwood in November 1984 (from left) my father-in-law, Bill Cowan; my son Jamie; Sheila; my mother; David; my father; my mother-in-law, Sheila Cowan; me; and Paul. (Schuller Fotography)

  A typical pose at home. (Deborah Samuel, Vista Magazine)

  With my father, very late in his life. (Deborah Samuel, Vista Magazine)

  Sheila and I at home in the Eastern Townships with (from left) Jamie, David, and Paul.

  The head of Canadian Steamship Lines.

  At home on the farm. (Deborah Samuel, Vista Magazine)

  Drawn to the flame: Campaigning in LaSalle-Émard to get into parliament. (Martin family)

  Elected, to my father’s great delight. (Martin family)

  Running for the leadership of the Liberal Party in 1990. The hard-fought campaign created a lasting gulf with the eventual winner, Jean Chrétien. (Martin family)

  Participants in my leadership campaign.

  Back row left to right: Benoit Labonté, Earl Provost, Jean-François Thibault, Lloyd Posno, Jean Lapierre, Jean Marc Fournier, Georges Farrah, Terrie O’Leary, Joe McGuire, Zoe Rideout, David Herle, me, Chris Peirce, Linda Hays, Anne Marie Tingley, Lou McGuire, Carsten Jensen, James Cowan, Georges Rideout, Richard Mahoney, Michael Marzolini, Ralph Goodale

  Middle row: Kim Doran, Jim de Wilde, Alan Alexandroff, Dennis Dawson, Mike Robinson, Dove Hendren, Sheila Martin, Iona Campagnolo, Mark Resnick, Marian Maloney, Kaz Flinn

  Front row: Jamie Deacey, Robert W. Peterson, Ron Caza, Jeff Cowan, Jacques Hudon, Anne Champoux, Jonathan Herman, Ken Tilley, Norbert Thériault, Todd Burke, Jonathan Schneiderman, Doug Richardson (Photo by Jean Marc Carisse)

  All smiles in the Prime Minister’s Office between Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and his Finance Minister. (Dave Chan)

  Fewer smiles. (Dave Chan)

  Handshakes with two of the people who helped me most during our toughest deficit-fighting days at Finance: David Dodge (above) and Gordon Thiessen (below). (Dave Chan)

  An informal cottage meeting of my friends and advisers known as “The Board.”

  Left to right: Ruth Thorkelson, Richard Mahoney, Mike Robinson, David Herle, John Webster, Elly Alboim, Terrie O’Leary, Véronique de Passillé, Michele Cadario, Scott Reid, Brian Guest, Pietro Perrino, Karl Littler, Dennis Dawson, John Duffy, me, Tim Murphy. (Karen O’Leary)

  Chairing a meeting of my advisers.

  From left: Pietro Perrino, Johanna Leffler, Richard Mahoney, Tim Murphy, David Herle, Dennis Dawson, Karl Littler, Jim Pimblett, me, Michele Cadario. (Dave Chan)

  With my first Cabinet at Rideau Hall.

  Back Row left to right: Helen Scherrer, John Efford, Liza Frulla, Ethel Blondin Andrew, Andy Scott, Gar Knutson, Denis Paradis, Jean Augustine, Joe Commuzzi, Albina Guarnieri, Joe McGuire, Mauril Bélanger, Carolyn Bennet, Aileen Carroll

  Middle Row: John MacCallum, Stephen Owen, Bill Graham, Stan Keyes, Bob Speller, Joe Volpe, Reg Alcock, Geoff Regan, Tony Valeri, David Pratt, Jacques Saada, Irwin Cotler, Judy Sgro

  Front Row: Jack Austin, David Anderson, Ralph Goodale, David Anderson, Anne McLellan, Lucienne Robillard, me, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, Pierre Pettigrew, Jim Peterson, Andy Mitchell, Claudette Bradshaw, Denis Coderre, Rey Pagtakhan. (Dave Chan)

  Sheila and me with the 2006 campaign staff, RCMP, and the staff from 24 Sussex.

  Back Row left to right: Hilary Nicholson, Mirka Orankiewicz, Lucja Grabowiec, Sayla Nordin, Scott Reid, David Herle, Gord Langlois, Heather Watson, me, Robert Asselin, Michele Cadario, Scott Feschuk, Gary Stuart, Sylvain Cote, Jim Pimblett, Mario Dionne, Josh Drache, Roger Charbonneau

  Middle Row: Jay Strauss, Anita Vandenbeld, Jamie Cote, Véronique de Passillé, Terrie O’Leary, Sheila Martin, Melanie Gruer, André Fortin, Jonathan Moser, Dave Chan, Guy Legros

  Front Row crouching: Taras Zalusky (and daughter Alena), Kevin Bosch (and son Ronan), Rhiannon Andrews, Orli Namian, Alphee Moreau, Marlene Floyd. (Brigitte Bouvier)

  The moment when I was sworn in at Rideau Hall by Alex Himelfarb as Canada’s 21 st Prime Minister, on December 12, 2003. (Dave Chan)

  Grey Cup 2003 in Regina, just before I formally took office. (David Chan)

  An informal get-together with the provincial premiers that day was my way of starting off on a friendly footing. From the left are Danny Williams, Gordon Campbell, Bernard Lord, Dalton McGuinty, Pat Binns, me, Jean Charest, Lorne Calvert. (David Chan)

  In the House, with Stéphane Dion, Ralph Goodale’s hands, Ken Dryden, and Scott Brison in evidence. (David Chan)

  My second Cabinet.

  Back row left to right: Ken Dryden, David Emerson, Raymond Chan, Claudette Bradshaw, John MacCallum, Stephen Owen, Joe McGuire, Joe Commuzzi, Mauril Bélanger, Carolyn Bennet, Jacques Saada, John Godfrey, Tony Ianno

  Middle Row: Albina Guarnieri, Reg Alcock, Geoff Regan, Tony Valeri, Aileen Carroll, Irwin Cotler, Judy Sgro, John Efford, Liza Frulla, Joe Volpe, Joe Fontana, Scott Brison, Ujjal Dosanjh

  Front Row: Jack Austin, Jean Lapierre, Ralph Goodale, Anne McLellan, Lucienne Robillard, me, Adrienne Clarkson, Stéphane Dion, Pierre Pettigrew, Jim Peterson, Andy Scott, Andy Mitchell, Bill Graham. (Brigitte Bouvier)

  Four important women in my life. Terrie O’Leary (top left), Lucie Santoro, Thérèse Horvath, Sheila. (Dave Chan)

  At the G8 conference at Sea Island, Georgia, (from left) Bertie Ahern, Romano Prodi, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, me, Junchiro Koizumi, George Bush, Silvio Berlusconi (obscured: Gerhand Schroeder, Vladimir Putin). (Dave Chan)

  Sheila and me with Bono, whose description of me on CNN would have made a very memorable book title. (Dave Chan)

  With China’s President Hu Jintao. (Dave Chan)

  With George Bush. (Dave Chan)

  As prime minister in Saskatchewan at an Aboriginal school — an area where I now spend a great deal of my time. (Dave Chan)

  As the 2004 election came down to the wire, I wound up the campaign by going from coast to coast, starting early in the morning in Chester, Nova Scotia near Jim Cowan’s cottage. (Dave Chan)

  Victory! A minority, but a victory. (Brigitte Bouvier)

  Displaying my well-known musical ability on National Aboriginal Day. (Dave Chan)

  Behind the scenes, welcoming Belinda Stronach into Cabinet. Ken Dryden to her right, Ethel Blondin Andrew and Claudette Bradshaw to her left. (Dave Chan)

  Behind the scenes, conducting a meeting inside the PMO, with (from left,) Tim Murphy, Scott Reid, Alex Himelfarb, Jim Pimblett, Helene Scherrer. (Dave Chan)

  With Bill Graham, my Minister of
Defence and General Rick Hillier, discussing the Afghan mission. (Dave Chan)

  At the United Nations discussing Afghanistan with the President Hamid Karzai, with Allan Rock and Pierre Pettigrew. (Dave Chan)

  Visiting Sudan. My affection for Africa continues, and I am still working hard to help its people. (Brigitte Bouvier)

  In Sri Lanka in the wake of the tsunami. This was the visit when I met the boy on the beach, an unforgettably moving experience. (Dave Chan)

  Meeting the Japanese Emperor at the Imperial Palace. Some of the attendant Japanese officials were so thrilled to be invited inside the Palace that they shed tears. (Dave Chan)

  The last campaign, January 2006. (Dave Chan)

  A moment for reflection. (Dave Chan)

  David and Laurence watch while Sheila and I hold our grandsons, Ethan and Liam. (Martin family)

  Acknowledgements

  There are two ways to write a memoir.

  The first is to wait a while. This has the advantage of permitting you to see which of your projects matured and bloomed, and which withered on the vine. And it allows passions to cool — both your own and those of other actors in your drama.