Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Martha is back.
No. Not Martha Stewart. Martha Hall Findlay, former Liberal candidate in Newmarket-Aurora in the 2004 Federal Election, is the first official candidate for the Liberal leadership. Ms. Findlay ran a close second to some lady named Belinda Stronach (losing by 689 votes). In fact, Martha garnered the most votes on Election Day, but not quite enough from the advance polls. Damn, early birds!!What is her background you ask?
She is fluently bilingual in English and French, with training in several other languages.
She is 45, and has 3 grown children: Katie, 24; Everett, 22 and Patrick, 20.
She is the founder and principal of The General Counsel Group, management and legal consultants since 1997. As a member of The General Counsel Group, Martha has worked primarily in the high-tech and telecommunications fields, in both Canada and Europe.
Prior to forming The General Counsel Group, Martha was:
- Vice President, Corporate Development and General Counsel of The Rider Group;
- General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Mobility Canada, Bell Mobility Corporate Counsel;
- Lawyer with the international law firm of Baker & McKenzie (in Toronto), practising international corporate and commercial law.
She also co-owned and operated two retail stores while completing law school.
Martha graduated from the University of Toronto's International Relations Programme and then from Osgoode Hall Law School.
A free tip for Ms. Findlay. When you announce your candidacy for the leader of a major Canadian political party. You may want to have a fully functioning website. It is hard to treat the bid serious if it isn't operational or in both of official languages.
She is in at time when two others are likely out: Martin Cauchon and Gerald Kennedy.
# posted by Shaky @ 7:40 p.m. 
Comments:
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Why Martha Findlay would make a good leader of the Liberal Party, and Prime Minister of Canada
I believe she should be seriously considered by Liberals, because she brings several distinct plusses to the table, including these:
• Findlay has made her own way in life, like most Canadians have to. If she is elected leader of the Liberal Party, she will understand more than most of her wealthy opponents what the average Canadian faces.
• She has proven – in both business, as a mother, and in politics – her ability in all those fields.
• She is untainted by scandal, and would present a fresh face to the voters.
• She is an Ontarian, source of a big whack of total seats in the House.
• Her bilingualism meets the “minimum needs” tests for any candidate for leadership of a major political party in Canada.
• She has served her time in politics, is well respected in her riding, has demonstrated the ability to pull voters from across the spectrum of voters, and is not a parachuted-in candidate into her riding or into the leadership campaign.
• She will be a uniter – of the party, of the country.
It will be interesting to see if she is able to come out of the starting blocks with a detailed, personalized platform of her own, so that Liberals can weigh her positions on major issues and assess whether she could be a credible Prime Minister.
Given the absence of a clear frontrunner (with the most likely ones – Tobin etc. – having dropped out), the likelihood is that the votes will be close, with more than one round being needed to select a leader. Ms Findlay will enter the selection process with her own block of support, but she deserves serious attention from those who might be called upon to cast their votes for someone other than their first choice.
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I believe she should be seriously considered by Liberals, because she brings several distinct plusses to the table, including these:
• Findlay has made her own way in life, like most Canadians have to. If she is elected leader of the Liberal Party, she will understand more than most of her wealthy opponents what the average Canadian faces.
• She has proven – in both business, as a mother, and in politics – her ability in all those fields.
• She is untainted by scandal, and would present a fresh face to the voters.
• She is an Ontarian, source of a big whack of total seats in the House.
• Her bilingualism meets the “minimum needs” tests for any candidate for leadership of a major political party in Canada.
• She has served her time in politics, is well respected in her riding, has demonstrated the ability to pull voters from across the spectrum of voters, and is not a parachuted-in candidate into her riding or into the leadership campaign.
• She will be a uniter – of the party, of the country.
It will be interesting to see if she is able to come out of the starting blocks with a detailed, personalized platform of her own, so that Liberals can weigh her positions on major issues and assess whether she could be a credible Prime Minister.
Given the absence of a clear frontrunner (with the most likely ones – Tobin etc. – having dropped out), the likelihood is that the votes will be close, with more than one round being needed to select a leader. Ms Findlay will enter the selection process with her own block of support, but she deserves serious attention from those who might be called upon to cast their votes for someone other than their first choice.
# posted by 
: 12:18 p.m.
: 12:18 p.m. << Home
