Lawrence Martin is a Canadian journalist and author of a two-volume biography of Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien.[1] Born in 1948 and raised in Hamilton, he received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from that city's McMaster University in 1969, and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University in 1983.
Martin has spent many years at the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail where he began as a sports reporter in 1974.
He served as the newspaper's Washington, DC bureau chief from 1978 to 1981. He later served as bureau chief for the Globe in Moscow from 1985 to 1988.[1] He was also a national affairs columnist for the Southam Newspapers chain until July, 2001.
Now living in Ottawa and a columnist for The Globe and Mail,[1] Martin also writes an occasional column for the Quebec daily La Presse and appears frequently on Canadian television and radio as a political commentator.
Much of Martin's efforts in recent years have focused on writing biographies about contemporary Canadian political figures. Martin has written ten books during his career, including a biography of Canadian hockey player Mario Lemieux.[2]
He wrote a controversial biography of Quebec sovereignist leader Lucien Bouchard[3] which was followed by his books on the life and career of Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien. Harperland: The Politics of Control,[4] a book about the first 4 years of PM Stephen Harper's governance was released in October 2010.[5][6]