Editing Paul Martin (section)

===Relations with Chrétien===

Chrétien and Martin frequently clashed while in office. It was reported that Chrétien privately often condemned Martin in bitter terms and had never forgiven Martin for running against him in the Liberal leadership convention of 1990. During that bitter contest, Martin had forced Chrétien to declare his opposition to the Meech Lake Accord and, as a result, Chrétien was generally unpopular in his home province for the next decade.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://policyoptions.irpp.org/fr/magazines/paul-martin/juggernaut-paul-martins-campaign-for-chretiens-crown-paul-martin-the-power-of-ambition-book-reviews/|title=Juggernaut: Paul Martin's Campaign for Chrétien's Crown / Paul Martin: The Power of Ambition (comptes rendus)|website=Policy Options|access-date=2019-12-17}}</ref>

Even before the Liberals' second electoral victory in the [[1997 Canadian federal election|1997 election]], there was much speculation in the media and in Ottawa that Martin was after Chrétien's job and wanted to force him to retire. As the Liberals emerged with a smaller majority government after the 1997 election, it seemed unlikely that any opposition party could pose a serious challenge, but Martin began to gain support from those who began to disagree with Chrétien. Chrétien, however, resolved to stay on after the Liberals were reelected in 2000, having regained much of the ground lost in 1997. By this time, Martin had gained control of much of the party machinery.