Editing Paul Martin (section)

==Becoming prime minister==

The conflict between the two men reached a peak in 2002. Martin left Cabinet, being replaced by [[John P. Manley|John Manley]] as finance minister. There is some question about whether Martin resigned or Chrétien had him dismissed. Being out of Cabinet was likely a boost to Martin's campaign as he was no longer obligated to disclose his donors. Soon after, Martin declared his intention to run as leader of the Liberal Party at the next party convention. Over the summer of 2002, Martin toured the country campaigning to succeed Chrétien while his Liberal organizers prepared to challenge Chrétien's leadership during a review vote in January 2003. During the fall, Chrétien announced that he would step down in the spring of 2004 after less than half of caucus agreed to sign a commitment supporting him. The Liberal party called a [[2003 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|leadership convention]] for the fall of 2003, to be held in Toronto.

Several other potential leadership contenders, such as [[Brian Tobin]] and [[Allan Rock]], declined to enter the contest. John Manley's attacks on Martin's refusal to disclose his campaign contributors did little to dent the latter's commanding lead and Manley eventually conceded the race. This left no strong candidate for Chrétien supporters to rally around, and some of them grudgingly voted for Martin.

On September 21, 2003, Martin easily defeated his sole remaining opponent, former Deputy Prime Minister [[Sheila Copps]], securing 93 percent of the party delegates. On November 14, 2003, he was declared the winner at the Liberal leadership convention, capturing 3,242 of 3,455 votes. He had won the leadership almost unopposed, due to his hold on the party machinery, and because Chrétien supporters did not rally around either of the leadership opponents.

[[Simon Fraser University]] professor Doug McArthur has noted that Martin's leadership campaign used aggressive tactics for the 2003 leadership convention, in attempting to end the contest before it could start by giving the impression that his bid was too strong. McArthur blamed Martin's tactics for the ongoing sag in Liberal fortunes, as it discouraged activists who were not on side.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/topps-ndp-campaign-tactics-border-on-bullying-professor-warns/article2179865/ |work=Globe and Mail |location=Toronto | first=Rod | last=Mickleburgh | title=Topp's NDP campaign tactics border on bullying, professor warns | date=September 25, 2011}}</ref>