Paul Martin Sr.

The Right Honourable Paul Joseph James Martin, PC , CC , MA , LL.D. , QC often known as Paul Martin, Sr. (June 23, 1903 – September 14, 1992) was a noted Canadian politician.

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, to a Franco-Ontarian family, he was raised in Pembroke, Ontario in the Ottawa Valley, although he did his high school studies at Collège St-Alexandre in Gatineau, Québec. He completed his university education at the University of Toronto. Martin opened a law practice in Windsor, Ontario. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, he was first elected to the House of Commons in 1935 and entered the cabinet in 1945. He went on to serve as a noted member of the cabinets of four Prime Ministers: William Lyon Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent, Lester B. Pearson and Pierre Trudeau.

Martin was viewed as one of the most left-wing members of the Liberal cabinet, and as Minister of National Health and Welfare from 1946 to 1957 he played an important role in the fight against polio and overseeing the creation of hospital insurance in Canada, and is sometimes recognized as a father of medicare. Martin served as Secretary of State for External Affairs in the Pearson government.

He ran for the Liberal leadership three times, in 1948, in 1958 and 1968, but was defeated at at all three Liberal leadership conventions, first by Louis St. Laurent, then by Lester B. Pearson, then by Pierre Elliot Trudeau. Trudeau appointed him to the Senate in 1968. He served as Leader of the Government in the Senate until 1974 when he was appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. In 1976 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Paul Joseph James Martin is the father of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin.

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Preceded by: Raymond Morand, Cons.	Member of Parliament from Essex East 1935–1968	Succeeded by: Riding was abolished in 1966
Preceded by: Brooke Claxton	Minister of National Health and Welfare 12 December 1946 – 20 June 1957	Succeeded by: Alfred Johnson Brooks
Preceded by: Howard Charles Green	Secretary of State for External Affairs 22 April 1963 – 20 April 1968	Succeeded by: Mitchell Sharp
Preceded by: John Joseph Connolly	Minister Without Portfolio (Leader of the Government in the Senate) 20 April 1968 – 1 April 1969	Succeeded by: ---
Preceded by: ---	Leader of the Government in the Senate 1 April 1969 – 7 August 1974	Succeeded by: Raymond Joseph Perrault