Can you think of a worse insult; to be raised in the same sentence as Joe Clark, John Turner and Kim Campbell. This is how Macleans introduces their story on the embattled Prime Minister.
It must be torture for Paul Martin to look back. On Feb. 2, 2004, when his government's first Speech from the Throne was read by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, the new Prime Minister, who had for so long looked like he could do no wrong as finance minister, seemed on the brink of fulfilling a political destiny. Martin promised to inject new life into Canadian democracy, solve the problems of the health-care system, restore Canada's stature on the world stage. A week and a day later, Auditor General Sheila Fraser released her searing report on the sponsorship program. Since then, Martin's aura as a leader of destiny has been replaced by the cloud that hangs over those politicians -- the Joe Clarks, John Turners and Kim Campbells -- who seem fated for frustration.
..."This government has never had enough snap, crackle and pop," observes pollster Darrell Bricker, president of Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs, "to give people the impression that they would be losing anything if it was voted out of power."
