Our New Leader

Tonight it has finally become official - Paul Martin is now the leader of the Liberal Party and will be our next Prime Minister. With a landslide 94% of the leadership vote Martin has come into his leadership position on a very, very high podium. Much is expected of him from all areas. The business community supports him and they expect a friendlier relationship with Ottawa, while active social groups also give him their support. In addition the provincial and municipal governments also expect improved relations and more help from federal sources. It will be hard for Martin to live up to all that is expected of him. Let us hope that he can do so.

The cynical political observer in me currently has warning bells going off all over the place. (It's like the beginning to Pink Floyd's Time with the volume cranked all the way.) The cynic thinks that he is just another politician producing rhetoric and lauding large empty promises to further his personal objectives. Yet, the hopefull idealist inside of me is working very hard to surpress my cynicism. Something about Martin's speech tonight made me trust him. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but the former Finance Minister seems to have an air of the ordinary guy about him. The ordinary guy who know's what he is doing and is looking out for you.

As I type these words my cynical side is vomiting in my head, but I don't think I'll listen to it until I see what Martin does. It may just be good political tact covering up just another corrupt politician, but something is making me trust that Martin is a good man. He is seemingly a very inspirational, charismatic and efficient leader. From what he has said it is clear that he also has a very active social conscience. This is evident through his work at the United Nations and his message about the state of rest of the world and the country in his speech this evening.

The speech by Bono at the convention earlier in the evening was also quite interesting. To me it seemed unusual for a foreigner to speak primarily about a specific political issue at a leadership convention. In this case the issue was AIDS in Africa and the alleged imminent collapse of the continent into flames. I found his speech to be quite good and a bit of an eye opener. He noted that 6,000 people die in Africa from AIDS each day. That is quite an astounding number. Six thousand is a hell of a lot. Although Bono's speech was fairly unconventional and began with some rather amusing humour, I was impressed by him. He is not just a rock star; he is a man who knows the issue and is working very hard simply out of the goodness of his heart to do something about it.

Overall, things do look like they are going to improve considerably on the political stage in our country. Now I just hope Martin can follow through with his words, or else the cynic inside of me might burst free!