As many of you know, I'm not a big Paul Martin fan.
I felt that he was an excellent Finance Minister, but a very poor Canadian Prime Minister. Most of all, I didn't care for him as a person at all. I found his talk of "values", and "unCanadian", to be highly divisive, and actually quite exclusionary. I found it terribly disrespectful towards large portions of the Canadian population.
I felt that his campaign was dirty, slimey, and sleazy (to put it mildly
). Nonetheless... I'll give him some credit. He was classy, selfless, and wise last night.
By stepping aside as leader of his party, he has done much to strengthen his own party, as well as Canada. Canada needs a change in political atmosphere, if nothing else, and I think that Paul Martin finally realized that after last night. Perhaps, one can hope, he learned that all of his devisive talk of "values", and "unCanadian", were not good for Canada, and what we needed was less fight and spite, and more concensus and unity.
His party needs fresh blood at the helm. It needs someone Trudeau-esque, but also someone not from the Trudeau-Chretien-Martin line. Perhaps Michael Ignatieff can be that person. Perhaps not. In any event, the sense of entitlement should now be gone in Ottawa. The Conservatives have a slim minority, and must know that they will need to earn their keep. The Liberals are now the opposition, and now know that they will need to truly reach out to voters and all Canadians, in order to win. The NDP has grown, and can perhaps dream of being more than a third party one day. The Bloc are on the decline, and can't count on Quebec always going their way.
So, I will give Paul Martin credit for going out in a classy and responsible fashion. If only he had governed in such a fashion, perhaps I could have voted for him and his party.
I felt that he was an excellent Finance Minister, but a very poor Canadian Prime Minister. Most of all, I didn't care for him as a person at all. I found his talk of "values", and "unCanadian", to be highly divisive, and actually quite exclusionary. I found it terribly disrespectful towards large portions of the Canadian population.
I felt that his campaign was dirty, slimey, and sleazy (to put it mildly
). Nonetheless... I'll give him some credit. He was classy, selfless, and wise last night. By stepping aside as leader of his party, he has done much to strengthen his own party, as well as Canada. Canada needs a change in political atmosphere, if nothing else, and I think that Paul Martin finally realized that after last night. Perhaps, one can hope, he learned that all of his devisive talk of "values", and "unCanadian", were not good for Canada, and what we needed was less fight and spite, and more concensus and unity.
His party needs fresh blood at the helm. It needs someone Trudeau-esque, but also someone not from the Trudeau-Chretien-Martin line. Perhaps Michael Ignatieff can be that person. Perhaps not. In any event, the sense of entitlement should now be gone in Ottawa. The Conservatives have a slim minority, and must know that they will need to earn their keep. The Liberals are now the opposition, and now know that they will need to truly reach out to voters and all Canadians, in order to win. The NDP has grown, and can perhaps dream of being more than a third party one day. The Bloc are on the decline, and can't count on Quebec always going their way.
So, I will give Paul Martin credit for going out in a classy and responsible fashion. If only he had governed in such a fashion, perhaps I could have voted for him and his party.