Paul Martin

Martin, who took over from Jean Chretien in December, was supposed to romp to victory, but recent polls suggest support for his Liberal Party is teetering between gaining majority or minority status.

Spending scandals and unpopular Liberal governments in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec, which contain some 70 percent of the country's 31 million people, have rocked Martin's reputation earned as the finance minister who eliminated the federal deficit in the mid-1990s.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 29, 2004
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