From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This fellow has been referred to as the worst provincial Premier BC (where I live) ever had. Not sure about that, but he has the record for the shortest term of any BC Premier. Having been elected federally, been involved in historically significant events in Manitoba where he was elected provincially and served as Attorney General, having been elected in BC and served as AG and Premier and then gone on to be Mayor of Vancouver and a two term MP in the UK, he attracts my attention. I don't know of anyone else with as diverse an election history. I added him to MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1910 (December) to make the UK connection. I suspect there must be sources to follow up on this fellow but have not come across them. If anyone knows of sources I might chase down, or where photos for the article might be found, please let me know. KenWalker | Talk 19:23, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
- Not sure where you're located, but if you're in the Lower Mainland, the SFU and UBC Libraries, and probably the VPL, have an older book called Lives of the Premiers which contains in-depth biographies, from a certain time and era but often surprisingly very frank; it also has a portrait plate which would be public domain by now. I browsed the Martin section, as he interests me too, and it seemed the most detail I've seen so far. There's also a blow-by-blow account of the Martin Premiership in J. Morton In the Sea of Sterile Mountains, which I've been meaning to use to flesh out this article, the BC section anyway, but haven't gotten to yet; I remember seeing another account of his Premiership, which even in its brevity the article overleaf has quite wrong (that it's from the Canadian Encyclopedia explains that; their accounts of early BC history are often quite vaguely rendered and often incorrect on various details) - he didn't resign in the sense the article alludes to; what happened was he'd had a friendly L-G who recognized his government despite a lack of majority in the House, and then he just didn't call a sitting of the House so no vote of non-confidence was called; finally it was, and he was ousted in the usual parliamentary way; the L-G was censured and fired, I suppose by the PM or G-G, for abusing the office; quite an interesting story; more interesting is Martin's own personality and politics. He was considered one of the more interesting, even inspiring, politicians of his day and great things were expected of him in BC because of his previous career in Manitoba, and he was popular with the public and, for a while at least, the darling of the press until he became (as with all popular BC politicians) their bête noire. Certainly one of the more intriguing figures in BC history, with his premiership compared by Morton with opera buffa, a comic farce. When the sitting of the House was finally convened, the opposition members entered the House en masse singing God Save the Queen and Rule Brittania as they prepared to vote him from power. If I recall the other books I've seen bits about him I'll post them here for your interest/research.Skookum1 00:55, 30 October 2006 (UTC)
- Thanks again for the info you posted on Martin. I have made some reference to it in the additions to the artcle as well as to Ormsby which is a valuable reference. I wish that I had access to Lives of the Premiers but the Vancouver Island Regional Library does not seem to have it. Do you happen to have a more complete reference to it so I could see whether they can inter library it? I would like to see what they say about Martin and if possible add a photo of him. Aside from the need to flesh out his history in other jurisdictions, particularly Manitoba (I assume he wasn't really notable in the UK), I think the article as it needs more reference to his involvement in Asiatic exclusion in BC balancing it between the priority that issue seems to have had in his career and the fact that in his times, such views had popular appeal. Anyway, this is some progress. Cheers, 21:58, 26 November 2006 (UTC)
