Far from a competition, this Liberal Leadership Convention was more of a four-day victory party for Paul Martin. His only contender, Sheila Copps, had only five per cent of the delegates, lost in a sea of Martin supporters. In fact, Copps herself seemed to be lost throughout the campaign. She was nowhere to be found until near the final day of the convention during Martin’s victory speech, when the spotlight shone down on her, as she was thanked by Martin for being healthy competition.
The “Paulopalooza” as it was called, was not only a welcoming party for the new Liberal Leader but also a farewell to a decade of Jean Chrétien. During his farewell tribute the somber Chrétien went through his lists of accomplishments and surprised Liberals as he said “Paul Martin will need all our support…and I can assure Paul that he has my support.” For the first time since his leadership bid, Chrétien finally showed his support for Martin and brought a sense of unity between his perceived left-leaning tendencies and Martin’s right-leaning ideas.
This unity brought an unusual amount of partisanship for a political convention.
In fact, the only competition during the convention was for the Liberal National Executive. Most delegates knew very little about the candidates running for the executive, and were likely to vote for the candidates that sent them the least amount of junk mail.
The highlight of the four day convention was by far Martin’s victory speech at the ACC Friday night. Here Martin was welcomed as the new Liberal Leader with tributes made by everyone from his Aunt Claire to Bono of U2. Meant to show the softer side of Martin, the lights were dimmed as home videos of Martin were aired, as well as interviews with his aunt recalling fond memories of the little Paul she knew.
Perhaps the most compelling evidence given for Martin’s balanced business and social ethic was the speech given by Bono, who entered the stage professing “I’m not a supporter of the Liberal Party.” After hissing from the thousands of Liberals, he continued his speech by praising Martin for his promise to be apart of his “Drop the Debt Campaign,” which calls for forgiveness of the developing world’s debt.
According to Bono, the campaign is fully supported by Martin. He says Martin is a man of his word and to make sure of this, he’s “going to be the biggest pain in [Martin’s] ass.” According to Bono, the “world needs more Canada” and if Martin “carries the legacy of Pearson, Trudeau and Chrétien, he will show the world how to lead.”
After Bono painted Canada as a model of social policy, Martin followed with a speech which conjured images of Canada as an economic powerhouse, stating “we have to be a leading edge of global economy…the U.S will not be the only super power…” He assured Canadians that, as Chrétien stated in his speech, “[he] did not believe in right wing dogmatism” and the “trickle down theory.” However, unlike Chrétien, Martin proved to be the ultimate Liberal by further stating “I don’t believe in leftwing dogmatism [either], I don’t believe you should borrow from your children and grandchildren…”
Martin pledged his commitment to a foreign policy to reflect Canadians and “to create a 21st century in Canada with a lower deficit and lower taxes.”
At the after party, Martin gave some final words, immersing himself in the crowd to thank all of his supporters. His last words marked the end of his successful campaign to become Liberal leader, and the round of applause and praise that followed marked the beginning of what could be Canada’s new era of Martin.
