Today we continue with occasional profiles of leading contenders for the Liberal leadership with a look at former finance minister Paul Martin, MP for LaSalle-Emard. But be warned, the last time yours truly profiled a contender it was early December and the subject was Allan Rock … and look what happened to his leadership aspirations.

It is widely acknowledged by Liberal party insiders that Mr. Martin enjoys a considerable lead in potential leadership delegate votes and a virtual lock on over 50% of riding executives across the country. The race to succeed Jean Chretien as Liberal leader is his to lose and barring a miracle performance by Sheila Copps or John Manley combined with a major gaffe by Mr. Martin, he will be crowned Liberal leader in November.

On a personal level, I like Mr. Martin. Indeed in my capacity as CTF federal director I developed a strong relationship with Mr. Martin and his office in the leadup to each federal budget and met with him on several occasions. He is articulate and well-read on public policy trends in governance and government.

And while I always had a good sense on what his plans and priorities were as Finance Minister, like most Canadians, I am at a loss to predict how we would act or what policies he would pursue as the next Liberal Leader and as our next Prime Minister.

On the major issues of the day … the war in Iraq, the future of the gun registry, real reform of aboriginal policy, the role of the government in the 21st century, his vision of our place in the world, sustainable health care and public pension reform, and a host of other seminal questions, Mr. Martin is at best, an enigma. A scan of his website (www.paulmartin.ca) reveals only three major policy pronouncements - a generous characterization - in speeches made in the past seven months.

On October 21st he spoke in Toronto about his ideas to modernize the House of Commons and reform parliamentary institutions. On December 2nd he spoke in the House of Commons about his support for the Kyoto Protocol. And just last month, March 11th to be precise, Mr. Martin spoke to reporters from the National Press Theatre about the controversy regarding his ownership (now being transferred to his sons) of Canada Steamship Lines.

Yet Liberal delegates are poised to push him into the big chair at 24 Sussex Drive in a zeal and blind fervour akin to lemmings running off a cliff. Mr. Martin and his handlers have benefited from a free media ride for far too long. Oh sure, he was the Finance Minister that balanced the countries books from the second largest "real" deficit in Canadian history. But this was done by savaging health transfers to the provinces and keeping payroll and income taxes way too high while benefiting from economic growth generated primarily by Alberta and Ontario.

What is less often mentioned is that Mr. Martin was the number two man at the Cabinet table that spawned billions of dollars in corporate welfare and regional development handouts. The member from LaSalle-Emard was a member of the Cabinet that provided the gun registry with its first billion dollars which will beget $2 billion in spending by 2012. Mr. Martin was also the penultimate player in a government that invoked closure and stymied debate in the House of Commons more times than the Mulroney government ever did in its nine-year tenure.

Mr. Martin was also the Finance Minister when Jean Chretien bought two unnecessary - according to Defence Department Brass - challenger jets on the last day of the 2001/2002 fiscal year for a cool $101.5 million. And it was Mr. Martin that received several rounds of stinging criticism from the Auditor General for placing billions of dollars in the hands of extra-Parliamentary, non-accountable foundations and for gouging workers and employers to the tune of $40 billion in EI premium overpayments.

To be fair, Mr. Martin did author two budgets that ended bracket creep and ushered in $100 billion in paper tax cuts (some $48.7 billion in real relief over five years) and for these efforts he was given due accolades. However, if one aspires to lead this country, one must tell Canadians where they stand on a daily and weekly basis.

It's time for Paul Martin's braintrust to end his peekaboo leadership campaign. Even though he's been running for the leadership the longest - 13 years by some accounts - Canadians still know more about John Manley and Sheila Copps' positions on most issues than they do about Mr. Martin's.