A rchive Date
[ 14-12-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Canada ]
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[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/2291612
Canada's 21st prime minister promises change
By DAVID CRARY
Associated Press
Dec. 13, 2003, 1:23AM
OTTAWA - Paul Martin, respected as a deficit-chopping finance minister, succeeded Jean Chretien as prime minister Friday and immediately created an expansive new national security agency intended to help mend Canadian-U.S. ties that frayed under Chretien.
Martin said he would chair a new committee devoted to assessing and improving relations with the United States. He expects to confer by phone with President Bush on Monday and meet with him at a regional summit in Mexico next month.
Martin, 65, took the oath of office in fluent French and English in a nationally televised ceremony at the offices of Canada's governor-general. Beforehand, an Indian elder dusted Martin with an eagle feather in a purification rite; afterward, a children's choir sang O Canada.
Chretien, beloved by most Canadians but at odds with the Bush administration over Iraq and other issues, stepped down in a private ceremony an hour earlier after 10 years as prime minister and 40 years in politics.
Raised in a Quebec mill town, the 18th of 19th children, he was one of the longest-serving government leaders among major Western nations.
Though Martin won plaudits for eliminating a budget deficit during nine years as Chretien's finance minister, the two men were uneasy rivals within the dominant Liberal Party.
When Chretien announced his retirement plans earlier this year, Martin won an overwhelming victory as the Liberals' new leader and joined in pressuring Chretien to step down two months earlier than he intended.
Martin is expected to call national elections this spring, and will be heavily favored to defeat any opposition candidates.
"I look forward to the opportunity to rally Canadians toward a new sense of national purpose and around a new agenda of change and achievement," Martin said. "We are going to change the way things work in Ottawa in order to re-engage Canadians in the political process."
Martin named 22 ministers to the 38-member Cabinet, and only five of the 16 holdovers - including Foreign Minister Bill Graham - kept their portfolios.
The new finance minister is Ralph Goodale, who had been Chretien's public works minister, while Anne McLellan, who had been health minister, was named deputy prime minister and put in charge of the new national security department.
The department - geared to cope with terrorism and disasters - will group together the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the national intelligence service, disaster response agencies, and the agencies overseeing border control and ports.
McLellan said it will play an important role in Canada-U.S. relations, noting both countries want their long common border to be secure but also convenient for trade and travel.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the Bush administration looked forward to "establishing very quickly the kind of solid working relationships with members of the new government that we've always enjoyed with our friends in Canada."
Overall, the United States and Canada remain unusually close culturally and economically. But trade disputes flare repeatedly in specific sectors, and Canada's refusal to contribute troops to topple Saddam Hussein prompted the Pentagon to include Canada on a list of countries barred from obtaining major rebuilding contracts in Iraq.
Chretien, throughout his political career, was a dogged opponent of the separatist movement in his native Quebec.
Martin, though born in Ontario, also is well-known in the French-speaking province - he represents a Montreal district in Parliament.
Goodale is from Saskatchewan and McLellan from Alberta, suggesting Martin hopes to shore up the Liberals' standing in the West, its weakest region. But neither Goodale nor McLellan are fluent in French, which some voters may view as a slight.
At his news conference, Martin listed three overarching priorities for his government: reinforcing the universal health care system, education and other major social programs; revitalizing the economy with creation of jobs; and enhancing Canada's international role with diplomatic, trade and defense initiatives.
In an unmistakable swipe at the Chretien era, Martin said he hoped to restore the public's trust in government by toughening ethics standards for his Cabinet ministers and encouraging more free thinking by Liberal Party members of Parliament.
Chretien's government was dogged by a series of ethical tangles, and he was criticized for insisting Liberal lawmakers follow the party line on most votes.
Included on the Cabinet's agenda, Martin said, was a pending proposal to legalize same-sex marriage in accordance with recent court rulings. He said he favored eliminating discrimination against gays but also said religious faiths should be free to "interpret marriage as they see fit."
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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