- Tony Martin (politician)
Infobox CanadianMP | name=Anthony A. "Tony" Martin
term_start=2004
term_end=
predecessor=Carmen Provenzano
birth_date= birth date and age |1948|8|31
birth_place=Drogheda ,County Louth ,Ireland
successor=
death_date=
death_place=
profession= businessman, community-development worker
party=New Democratic Party
party colour=NDP
residence=Sault Ste. Marie
riding=Sault Ste. Marie
footnotes=
term_start2=
term_end2=
predecessor2=
successor2=
spouse=Anna (Celetti) Martin
religion=Roman Catholic|Anthony A. "Tony" Martin (born
August 31 ,1948 inDrogheda ,County Louth ,Ireland ) is a Canadianpolitician . He was a member of theLegislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 2003, representing the riding of Sault Ste. Marie for theOntario New Democratic Party (NDP). He was elected to theCanadian House of Commons for the federal NDP in 2004, again representing the Sault Ste. Marie riding.Martin was raised in Wawa,
Ontario , and received aBachelor of Arts degree fromLaurentian University in 1974. Later in the same year, he received a Diploma in Recreational Leadership fromConfederation College .Martin entered politics through social work, helping the homeless, drug addicts and the mentally disabled through a variety of programs in Wawa, Elliot Lake and Sault Ste. Marie. He was the founder of the Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen, and was for some time the owner and General Manager of Transcend Homes, a local workers' cooperative. A devout
Roman Catholic , Martin also served as a trustee on the Northern District Catholic School Board, and was a pastoral assistant at the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Sault Ste. Marie from 1981 to 1990.Martin first ran for the Ontario legislature in the provincial election of 1990 after
Karl Morin-Strom , the sittingMember of Provincial Parliament (MPP) for Sault Ste. Marie, announced his retirement. He faced a difficult challenge in retaining the seat for his party. TheOntario Liberal Party ran a strong candidate inDon MacGregor while the upstart anti-bilingualism Confederation of Regions Party made strong inroads into the riding's anglophone/working-class base, which traditionally votes NDP. Martin ultimately won the seat by only 697 votes over MacGregor, after a late drive from the city's unions. Elsewhere in the province, the NDP won several historical breakthroughs and formed government for the first time in its history.Martin was not appointed to the
cabinet ofBob Rae , and served as a government backbencher for the next five years. The Rae government provided significant financial support toAlgoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie during the early 1990s, which contributed to Martin retaining the riding in the 1995 election with an increased majority, even as the NDP suffered major losses in most parts of the province. Martin defeatedCarmen Provenzano of the Liberal Party by almost 4,000 votes, and so became one of only seventeen New Democrats to return to the legislature.Martin again retained his seat in the 1999 election, and was appointed as one of the legislature's Deputy Speakers on
October 25 ,1999 . He dramatically resigned from this position onDecember 19 ,2000 , to protest theMike Harris government's inactivity on poverty issues. Following this, he chaired a series of "People's Parliament on Poverty" meetings. In 2002-03, Martin supportedBill Blaikie 's campaign to lead the federal NDP.Martin was initially expected to be re-elected in the 2003 provincial election, but a late surge in Liberal support saw
David Orazietti win the seat by a significant margin. Shortly after the loss, Martin was nominated as the federal NDP's candidate for the general election of 2004.Sault Ste. Marie's vulnerable industrial economy and strong union base and the NDP's
populist strength inNorthern Ontario made the riding a prime target for the party. Martin won by almost 1,000 votes, once again defeating incumbent Liberal Carmen Provenzano, who had taken the seat in the 1997 election. Martin was re-elected in the 2006 campaign, as the NDP increased its representation from 19 seats to 29.In the NDP's
shadow cabinet , Martin is critic for Social Policy, Childcare, Human Resources and Skills Development and the FedNor agency.Tony Martin is married to Anna Celetti. They have 4 children.
External links
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* [http://www.tonymartin.ca/ Campaign Site]
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