Pat Martin
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Patrick "Pat" Martin (born December 13, 1955 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian politician. He has been a member of the Canadian House of Commons since 1997, representing the riding of Winnipeg Centre for the New Democratic Party.
Martin graduated from Argyle High School in 1974. He worked as a journeyman carpenter for several years, and was employed in forest service, mines and construction. Martin also served as business manager of the Manitoba Carpenters Union from 1989 to 1997, and was vice-president of the Manitoba Federation of Labour for a time. He has been an executive member of the Manitoba Building Trades Council, and was part of the Winnipeg 2000 Economic Development Committee.
Martin was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1997 federal election, defeating Liberal incumbent David Walker by a margin of 10,979 votes to 9,895. His riding of Winnipeg Centre, formerly known as Winnipeg North Centre, was successively represented from 1921 to 1984 by J.S. Woodsworth and Stanley Knowles, two of the most prominent social democratic politicians in Canadian history. Martin's victory over Walker returned the riding to the NDP for the first time since 1988.
Martin was re-elected in the 2000 federal election, defeating popular Liberal maverick Kevin Lamoureux by 11,263 votes to 9,310. He increased his margin of victory in the 2004 election, defeating star Liberal candidate David Northcott by about 3,000 votes.
Martin is a clear, articulate speaker in the House of Commons, and is known as a solid constituency worker. He has championed the rights of labour and aboriginal Canadians, and has spoken out against tax loopholes for private corporations. He supported Bill Blaikie for the NDP leadership in 2002-03.
He called for Svend Robinson to be removed from the NDP's foreign affairs portfolio in 2002, after Robinson's controversial visit to the Palestinian Authority.
In 2004, Martin accused Judy Sgro's top aides of making threats to deny ministerial permits to his constituents if he criticized the Immigration Minister on the "Strippergate" controversy[link].
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| Canadian Parliamentary Caucuses from Manitoba>Manitoba Caucus serving in the 39th Canadian Parliament. |
| Senators | Sharon Carstairs (Lib), Maria Chaput (Lib), Janis Gudrun Johnson (Con), Mira Spivak (Ind), Terrance Richard Stratton (Con), Rod Zimmer (Lib) |
| Members of Parliament | Rod Bruinooge (Con), James Bezan (Con), Bill Blaikie (NDP), Tina Keeper (Lib), Steven Fletcher (Con), Inky Mark (Con), Pat Martin (NDP), Anita Neville (Lib), Brian Pallister (Con), Raymond Simard (Lib), Joy Smith (Con), Vic Toews (Con), Merv Tweed (Con), Judy Wasylycia-Leis (NDP) |
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