Pat Martin

Patrick D. "Pat" Martin (born December 13, 1955, in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian politician.

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 was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1997 to 2015, representing the riding of Winnipeg Centre for the New Democratic Party.

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.

In a National Post article he argued that Riel was a hero, not a traitor and, in reference to George R. D. Goulet's 1999 book on Riel, that Riel's execution was a "case of both justice and mercy denied".

He has been a member of the executive of the Manitoba Building Trades Council, and was part of the Winnipeg 2000 Economic Development Committee.

Martin was re-elected in the 2000 federal election, defeating Liberal Kevin Lamoureux by 11,263 votes to 9,310.

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.

Martin is an outspoken critic of the Canadian monarchy, both in parliament and in the media, citing the marriage of the Prince of Wales to the Duchess of Cornwall as a reason to abolish the institution.

In his book, Speaking Out Louder: Ideas That Work For Canadians, Jack Layton, then the Leader of the NDP, thanked Martin and his wife for loaning their Saltspring Island farmhouse for secluded writing."

When Liberal leadership candidate Joe Volpe received donations totalling $108,000 from Apotex executives and their wives and children, Martin suggested that these donations had the appearance of fraud.

He filed an official complaint on May 29, asking elections commissioner Raymond Landry to investigate whether an attempt had been made to circumvent the Elections Act which banned corporate donations.

Volpe responded by promising to return any donations that contravened the letter or spirit of the law.

He increased his margin of victory in the 2004 election, defeating Liberal candidate David Northcott by about 3,000 votes.

In June 2008, Martin introduced a motion into the House of Commons calling on the government to amend the royal arms of Canada to incorporate symbols representing Canada's First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

In 2010, while Youth For Christ was in the development stages of building a youth centre at the corner of Higgins and Main that would include a multi-sport gym, dance studio, fitness centre, skate-and-BMX park, drop-in centre, theatre, classroom, counselling facilities and a job-training centre, Martin stated that the social-service organization were "evangelical fundamentalists" who were "preying on vulnerable kids" and that the organization "offering much-needed sports opportunities is just their way of luring in young prospects."

Martin also stated that the Federal government and City of Winnipeg providing funding to the inner city development equated to "taxpayer-funded proselytization."

An article by the Winnipeg Free Press Editorial Board stated that if "the MP believes [Youth For Christ] should not receive any taxpayer money because he faithfully believes the organization is trying to convert "vulnerable, impressionable kids" to fundamentalist Christian views. If the good parliamentarian has any evidence to support his allegations, he should produce it immediately, or withdraw his comments."

One week after criticising the organization and facing mounting criticism, Martin said he supported the development at Higgins and Main by stating that "Anything happening in the inner city is better than nothing."

Martin introduced a private member's bill, C-248, in parliament to exonerate Louis Riel On May 5, 2011 at the Royal Ontario Museum Martin debated Tom Flanagan on the topic "Louis Riel deserved to Hang".

Maclean's ranked him as runner up for best orator in parliament in 2011 behind John Baird.

On November 17, 2011, Martin was criticized for using profane language on his Twitter account expressing anger over the Conservative government's use of closure in limiting debate in the House of Commons tweeting: "This is a fucking disgrace" and "There’s not a democracy in the world that would tolerate this jackboot shit."

He also used profane language to criticize those on Twitter that had challenged his use of profanity tweeting "Fuck you" to one Twitter user.

Martin refused to apologize.

Upon revelations about the robocall scandal in February, Martin publicly accused Racknine of being behind the automated calls that saw voters misdirected to non-existent polling locations during the May 2011 federal election.

Racknine filed a defamation lawsuit for $5 million in damages.

Martin ended up settling the defamation lawsuit against him and publicly apologized and stated that Racknine was "merely an innocent intermediary not a participant in electoral fraud".

Due to the costs awarded to Racknine, Martin received a loan from the NDP and accepted donations from unions to help fund his defamation suit and pay for the settlement.

On December 20, 2012, Pat Martin tweeted: I'm not 'worked up' so much as 'fed up' with the rat faced whores in the [Conservative Party of Canada] who neglect to invite me to ancemnts [sic] in my riding" and "Look...Given the parliamentary session we've just endured, the term 'rat faced whores' is using a great deal of restraint..." after not receiving an invitation to an event in his riding.

After a heated exchange, Martin swore off Twitter and tweeted "I apologize for my regrettable and inappropriate language", and "It seems some people shouldn’t tweet so with this, I sign off."

An NDP spokesperson confirmed Martin's decision stating "these comments were simply inappropriate and unacceptable," and that "Mr. Martin agrees and we understand that he has decided to stop using his Twitter account."

On February 5, 2015, Martin stated that he would file a lawsuit against anyone who claimed he lived on Salt Spring Island.

"They're going to get their asses sued," said Martin adding "I know a thing or two about libel," referring to his issue with a defamation suit, which he settled for an undisclosed sum with an Edmonton telemarketer.

Martin owns a hobby farm on Salt Spring Island that he bought with his former wife and currently resides in Osborne Village in the riding of Winnipeg South Centre.

When asked about a Salt Spring community event calendar from the local NDP association inviting people to "Come by and hear an Ottawa update from Salt Spring's unoffical [sic] MP Pat Martin," by Winnipeg Free Press journalist Mia Rabson, Martin stated that the Riding Association President "was being funny by calling him that."

Within a day of the writ drop for the 2015 federal election, Martin was endorsed by the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest.

Martin lost re-election in 2015.