Editing Paul Martin (section)

===Majority government and sponsorship controversy===

On December 12, 2003, Martin was appointed by then-Governor General [[Adrienne Clarkson]] as the 21st Prime Minister of Canada. When sworn in as prime minister, Martin held the flag that flew on Parliament Hill when the elder Martin died. Both father and son had served as Cabinet ministers and contested the Liberal leadership on multiple occasions; their attempts from 1948 to 1990 were unsuccessful. Martin's election as leader and becoming prime minister was described as fulfilling a family dream. Both also earned the honorific prefix ''[[The Right Honourable]]''. One difference between them was that Paul Sr. was one of the most left-wing members of the party, while Paul Jr. is considered on the right-wing.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/paul-martin-sworn-in-as-prime-minister |title=Paul Martin sworn in as prime minister|publisher=Archives.cbc.ca |date=December 12, 2003 |access-date=June 5, 2015}}</ref>

When he was sworn in, Martin's new cabinet retained only half the ministers from Chrétien's government, a noteworthy break in tradition from previous instances where a retiring prime minister handed over power to his successor as party leader. Martin and his supporters exercised control over the riding nomination process, breaking with the precedent to automatically sign the nomination papers of backbenchers and former ministers who wanted to run for reelection. While these were signs of open party infighting, this had little impact on Martin's record popularity, with several pundits suggesting that the cabinet change was meant to present a new government different from Chrétien's ten-year tenure. Martin declined to appoint leadership contestants [[John Manley]] and [[Sheila Copps]] to cabinet.

Martin and the Liberals were adversely affected by a report from [[Auditor General of Canada|Auditor General]] [[Sheila Fraser]] on February 9, 2004, indicating that sponsorship contracts designed to increase the federal government's status in Quebec resulted in little to no work done. Many of the agencies had Liberal ties, and roughly $100 million of the $250 million in program spending went missing. The scandal hurt Martin's popularity, especially in Quebec, where [[Bloc Québécois]] leader [[Gilles Duceppe]] even accused Martin of planning to widen the St. Lawrence seaway to benefit his own [[Canada Steamship Lines]]. The scandal also cast skepticism on Martin's recommendations for Cabinet appointments, prompting speculation Martin was simply ridding the government of Chrétien's supporters to distance the Liberals from the scandal. Martin acknowledged that there was political direction but denied involvement in, or knowledge of, the sponsorship contracts. He had a judicial inquiry called to investigate what came to be known as the [[sponsorship scandal|Sponsorship Scandal]], and nominated [[John Gomery]] to head it.

During his term, Martin appeared as himself in a fictional, comedic context in several programs, including an episode of the [[CTV Television Network|CTV]] sitcom ''[[Corner Gas]]'' in 2006, and also in the CBC [[mockumentary]] series ''[[Jimmy MacDonald's Canada]]'' in 2005.

====2004 federal election====
{{Main|2004 Canadian federal election}}

The Liberals were facing a new united [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative Party]] led by [[Stephen Harper]], while the [[Bloc Québécois]] and NDP were also buoyed by the Sponsorship Scandal. Martin advised Governor General [[Adrienne Clarkson]] to call an [[2004 Canadian federal election|election]] for June 28, 2004.

The Liberals were also hampered by their inability to raise campaign money competitively after Chrétien passed a bill in 2003 that banned corporate donations, even though the Liberals had enjoyed by far the lion's share of this funding due to the then-divided opposition parties. It has been suggested that Chrétien, who had done nothing about election financing for his 10 years in office, could be seen as the idealist as he retired, while his rival and successor Martin would have the burden of having to fight an election under the strict new rules.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/realitycheck/gray/20060613.html |work=CBC News |title=Reality Check|first=John|last=Grey|date=June 13, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114092059/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/realitycheck/gray/20060613.html|archive-date=November 14, 2006|access-date=February 11, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://nationalpost.com/features/the-liberal-resurrection|title=The liberal resurrection|first=Richard|last=Warnica|newspaper=[[National Post]]|date=April 17, 2013|access-date= February 11, 2020}}</ref>

An unpopular provincial budget by Liberal Premier [[Dalton McGuinty]], who broke a pledge not to raise taxes, hurt the federal party's numbers in Ontario,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://usa.mediamonitors.net/headlines/why_stephen_harper_lost |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040805200120/http://usa.mediamonitors.net/headlines/why_stephen_harper_lost |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 5, 2004 |title=Why Stephen Harper Lost (by John Chuckman)&nbsp;– Media Monitors Network (MMN) |publisher=Usa.mediamonitors.net |author=(Friday, July 2, 2004) |access-date=October 24, 2008 }}</ref> as did a weak performance from Martin in the leaders' debates. The Conservatives soon took the lead, prompting some predictions of an imminent Harper government. The Liberals managed to narrow the gap and eventually regain momentum.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tories-fail-to-make-breakthrough-in-ontario-1.508424 |title=Tories fail to make breakthrough in Ontario |publisher=CBC |author=CBC News |date= June 29, 2004|access-date=April 26, 2014}}</ref> Martin was successful in winning a plurality of seats to continue as the government, though they were now in a minority situation, the first since [[Joe Clark]]'s tenure in 1979–80.