Editing Liberal Party of Canada (section)

====Paul Martin====
{{Main|Premiership of Paul Martin}}
[[File:Paul martin 2004 (cropped).jpg|right|165px|thumb|[[Paul Martin]], the 21st prime minister of Canada (2003–2006)]]
Martin succeeded Chrétien as party leader and prime minister in 2003. Despite the personal rivalry between the two, Martin was [[Minister of Finance (Canada)|Minister of Finance]] during the 1990s and was the architect of the Liberals' economic policies. Chrétien left office with a high approval rating and Martin was expected to make inroads into Quebec and Western Canada, two regions of Canada where the Liberals had not attracted much support since the 1980s and 1990s, respectively.

The political situation changed with the revelation of the [[sponsorship scandal]], in which advertising agencies supporting the Liberal Party received grossly inflated commissions for their services. Having faced a divided conservative opposition for the past three elections, Liberals were seriously challenged by competition from the newly united [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative Party]] led by [[Stephen Harper]]. The [[2003–2004 Liberal Party of Canada infighting|infighting between Martin and Chrétien's supporters]] also dogged the party. Nonetheless, by criticizing the Conservatives' social policies, the Liberals were able to [[strategic voting|draw progressive votes]] from the NDP, which made the difference in several close races. In the [[2004 Canadian federal election|2004 election]], the Liberals retained enough support to continue as the government, though they were reduced to a minority.

In the midst of various court rulings in 2003 and 2004 that allowed for the legalization of [[same-sex marriage]] in seven provinces and one territory, the Martin government proposed a bill to legalize [[Same-sex marriage in Canada|same-sex marriage across Canada]]. The House of Commons passed the ''[[Civil Marriage Act]]'' in late June 2005 in a late-night, last-minute vote before Parliament closed down, the [[Senate of Canada|Senate]] passed it in July 2005, and it received [[Royal Assent]] on July 20. This made Canada the fourth country in the world to allow same-sex marriages.<ref>{{cite news |author=CBC News |date=June 29, 2005 |title=The Supreme Court and same-sex marriage |publisher=CBC |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/samesexrights/ |access-date=April 26, 2014 |archive-date=April 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427000106/http://www.cbc.ca/news2/background/samesexrights/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-05-29 |title=Same-sex marriage around the world |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/same-sex-marriage-around-the-world-1.799137 |access-date=2023-06-15 |website=[[CBC News]] |archive-date=November 25, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125125134/http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/05/26/f-same-sex-timeline.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In November 2005, the Martin government brokered a deal between first ministers and aboriginal leaders known as the [[Kelowna Accord]], which sought to improve the education, skills training, housing and health care of aboriginal peoples by providing $5 billion in funding over five years.<ref>{{cite web |date=2007-03-04 |title=Charest calls on Harper to honour Kelowna aboriginal accord |url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=01b6e6af-f4dd-4baa-84b1-7cfc317d5699 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013094942/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=01b6e6af-f4dd-4baa-84b1-7cfc317d5699 |archive-date=2013-10-13 |access-date=2012-07-24 |publisher=Canada.com}}</ref>

Following the release of the first [[Gomery Report]], the Liberals dropped in polls. Nonetheless, Martin turned down the NDP's conditions for continued support, as well as rejecting an opposition proposal which would schedule a February 2006 election in return for passing several pieces of legislation. The Liberals thus lost a confidence vote on November 28, and Martin advised Governor General [[Michaëlle Jean]] to dissolve Parliament and call an election for [[2006 Canadian federal election|January 2006]].

The Liberal campaign was dogged from start to finish by the sponsorship scandal, which was brought up by a [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] (RCMP) criminal investigation into the leak of the income trust announcement. Numerous gaffes, contrasting with a smoothly run Conservative campaign, put Liberals as many as ten points behind the Conservatives in opinion polling. They managed to recover some of their momentum by election night, but not enough to retain power. They won 103 seats, a net loss of 30 from when the writs were dropped, compared to 124 for the Conservatives. Martin resigned as Liberal leader on March 18.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2006-03-16 |title=Martin to officially resign as party leader |work=[[CBC News]] |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/martin-to-officially-resign-as-party-leader-1.603650 |access-date=2023-06-15 |archive-date=June 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230615201146/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/martin-to-officially-resign-as-party-leader-1.603650 |url-status=live }}</ref>