Synopses & Reviews
National bestsellerPaul Martin was the Prime Minister we never really knew — in this memoir he emerges as a fascinating flesh and blood man, still working hard to make a better world.
“The next thing you know, I was in a jail cell.” (Chapter 2)
“From the moment I flipped his truck on the road home to Morinville…” (Chapter 3)
“When I came back into Aquins headquarters I had a broken nose.” (Chapter 4)
These are not lines that you expect in a prime ministerial memoir. But Paul Martin — who led the country from 2003 to 2006 — is full of surprises, and his book will reveal a very different man from the prime minister who had such a rough ride in the wake of the sponsorship scandal.
Although he grew up in Windsor and Ottawa as the son of the legendary Cabinet Minister Paul Martin, politics was not in his blood. As a kid he loved sports, and had summer jobs as a deckhand or a roustabout. As a young man he plunged into family life, and into the business world. After his years as a “corporate firefighter” for Power Corporation came the excitement of acquiring Canada Steamship Lines in Canadas largest ever leveraged buy-out, “the most audacious gamble of my life.”
In 1988, however, he became a Liberal M.P., ran for the leadership in 1990 and in 1993 became Jean Chrétiens minister of finance, with the country in a deep hole. The story of his years as perhaps our best finance minister ever leads to his account of the revolt against Chrétien, and his time in office.
Great events and world figures stud this book, which is firm but polite as it sets the record straight, and is full of wry humour and self-deprecating stories. Far from ending with his defeat in 2006, the book deals with his continuing passions, such as Canadas aboriginals and the problems of Africa.
This is an idealistic, interesting book that reveals the Paul Martin we never knew. Its a pleasure to meet him.
From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
CA
About the Author
Paul Martin was born in Windsor in 1938 and educated at the University of Ottawa and the University of Toronto. In 1965, he earned his LL.B and married Sheila, with whom he had three sons. After a successful business career as Chairman and CEO of Canada Steamship Lines he entered politics as a Liberal M.P. in 1988. After running for the leadership of the party he became minister of finance from 1993 till 2001, becoming prime minister in 2003. He resigned as party leader after the 2006 election, but continues to work in the public sphere.
From the Hardcover edition.
Table of Contents
One An Ordinary Childhood
Two Young Man and the Sea
Three Down to Work
Four My Own Boss
Five Drawn to the Flame
Six Run for the Top
Seven Opposition
Eight “Good Morning, Minister”
Nine Three and a Half Months
Ten The Big Budget I
Eleven The Big Budget II
Twelve Time . . . and Generations
Thirteen Tipping the Balance
Fourteen Into the Virtuous Circle
Fifteen Taking on the World
Sixteen Getting Quit
Seventeen The Next Level
Eighteen Taking the Reins
Nineteen Sponsorship
Twenty Taking the Lead
Twenty-one Sharing the Wealth
Twenty-two Green and White
Twenty-three Into Africa
Twenty-four Acts of God and Humankind
Twenty-five From Gleneagles to Hong Kong
Twenty-six Friends and Traders
Twenty-seven Tough Calls
Twenty-eight To Govern Is to Choose
Twenty-nine Keeping Faith
Thirty Flying in Turbulence
Thirty-one Last Election
Thirty-two Fast Forward
Acknowledgements
Index
From the Hardcover edition.