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Traditionally the Liberals have been the most unified of Canada's major parties. There was considerable internal fighting within the Progressive Conservative Party , especially during the leaderships of John Diefenbaker , Joe Clark , and Kim Campbell . More recently, the Canadian Alliance suffered highly public internal strife during Stockwell Day 's leadership (see Democratic Representative Caucus ), and even the newly united Conservative Party Of Canada was rocked by several defections. The Liberal Party, however, had traditionally seen heated but soon forgotten leadership contests that did not harm party unity. 1990 CONVENTION A notable exception was the period after John Turner was elected leader; when runner-up and Trudeau -loyalist Jean Chrétien campaigned to replace Turner due to the latter's Ineffectiveness against the Mulroney government. Chrétien and Martin squared off in the 1990 Leadership Convention after Turner resigned, with Martin being acknowledged as the ideological successor to Turner. The Meech Lake Accord had been a potentially divisive issue for the Liberals. Trudeau came out of retirement to campaign against the Accord, while Turner and Martin declared their support for it. While Turner had privately opposed many of Trudeau's policies while in Cabinet, Meech Lake was seen as one of the signs of open disagreement among both factions. Chrétien himself said that he never forgave Martin for some of the "wounds" that the latter inflicted; the most notable was during a leadership debate when Martin forced Chrétien to reveal his stance on Meech Lake. Although Chrétien was known as a staunch federalist, he had tried to avoid taking a stand on the controversial Accord and being forced to declare his opposition made him unpopular in his home province of Quebec. Although Chrétien won on the first ballot, Martin had a strong second-place showing which allowed him to force concessions. Martin played a major role in drafting Policy during the 1993 Federal Election and he was appointed Finance Minister after the Liberals were elected. CHRéTIEN GOVERNMENT The Liberals were re-elected with a thin majority in the 1997 Campaign , although none of the other parties were large enough to form a strong opposition. Several MPs such as Reg Alcock had opposed the timing of the vote, in wake of the devestating Red River Flood In Manitoba . Others felt that it was too early to call an election, since the government had only been in power for three and a half years, and the resulting drop in Liberal support likely undermined confidence in Chrétien's leadership of the party. Rumours of a division between Chrétien and Martin intensified around the 2000 Election , with Martin's supporters wanting to take over before the campaign. However, the party's overall success in increasing its winning margin (at the expense of all the other political parties) persuaded Chrétien to stay on. Chrétien-Martin split Martin worked hard to become the clear successor to Jean Chrétien , ensuring that most of the institutions of the Liberal Party were controlled by his allies. The split opened wider, however, in the summer of 2002 when Chrétien tried to curtail Martin's open campaigning for the leadership. What ensued is of some debate. Martin claims that he was fired from cabinet by Chrétien, which is what was widely reported in the media, while Chrétien claims that Martin had resigned. In either case, Martin's departure from cabinet aided his leadership campaign since he did not have to disclose donors, unlike Martin's rivals ( John Manley , Allan Rock , and Sheila Copps ) who were still in cabinet and were thus obliged to follow the rules. Martin's influence and the backlash from his dismissal compelled Chrétien to set a date for his retirement. Shortly before Chrétien stepped down, Parliament passed a law that banned parties from accepting campaign contributions from corporations, as well as granting parties a subsidy based on their share of popular vote from the most recent election. While viewed positively among the public as an electoral reform after some early revelations of Adscam , Bill C-24 was opposed by many of his own MPs who saw it as a Poison Pill since it effectively cut off the main source of funding for the Liberals; they had enjoyed the majority of company donations for the last decade due to a disunited opposition. While the opposition parties were well poised to reap the benefits of Bill C-24 due to their established grassroots fund raising, the Liberal machine were caught unprepared for this change and this would hamper them in the 2004 and 2006 campaigns, leaving them in heavy debt. MARTIN'S CABINET In November 2003 , Martin was elected as Liberal leader and became Prime Minister in December. While the issue of the party leadership was settled, at the lower levels unprecedented intraparty warfare began. About half of the cabinet had been replaced, the highest in Canadian history for a ruling party undergoing a leadership change. Most of Chrétien's loyal cabinet ministers were relegated to the backbenches. Ministers such as John Manley , Allan Rock , Don Boudria , David Collenette , and Sheila Copps , who had spent a decade running one of the most popular and successful governments in Canadian history, were reduced to minor roles or compelled to take patronage appointments, and many of them decided to leave politics for the private sector. Besides excluding experienced Chrétien supporters from cabinet, Martin also outraged many of them by guaranteeing his Star Candidate s powerful cabinet posts, despite many being newcomers to federal politics. Some Chrétien loyalists remained as backbenchers. In some cases, they were defeated in the riding nomination process, with widespread allegations of tampering by Martin supporters. Unlike in previous elections, incumbent Liberals were not automatically granted their local nomination. SPONSORSHIP SCANDAL Chrétien's supporters have suggested that Martin has used the Sponsorship Scandal as a pretense to remove many Chrétien supporters, such as André Ouellet , Alfonso Gagliano , and Jean Pelletier , from their positions in government, crown corporations, and the party. The Chrétien camp contends that the Gomery commission was set up to make them look bad, and that it was not a fair investigation. The scandal also cast skepticism on Martin's cabinet appointments, prompting speculation Martin was simply ridding the government of Chrétien's supporters to distance the Liberals from the scandal. The first volume of the Gomery Report, released on November 1, 2005, cleared Martin of any wrong doing while placing blame for the scandal on Chrétien. However, many have criticized the Gomery Inquiry as not having the scope to assign criminal responsibility for the Scandal or to investigate Martin's role, and indeed some have accused Martin of purposely "tying Gomery's hands." While the exonerated Martin from responsibility and liability for the misspending of public funds, Chrétien has decided to take an action in Federal Court to review the commission report on the grounds that Gomery showed a "reasonable apprehension of bias", and that some conclusions didn't have an "evidentiary" basis. {Link without Title} The controversy over responsibility for Chrétien's legal fees also proved another potentially divisive issue; many of Martin's ministers wanted to deny Chrétien further federal aid while such a position would anger many Chrétien loyalists. NOMINATION BATTLES In Canadian federal politics, would-be electoral candidates will generally seek the nomination of their chosen party within the local constituency. The nominee is chosen by members of the party within the constituency, and consequently the candidates attempt to sign up as many new members as possible to support them prior to the nomination meeting. In previous elections, incumbent Liberal Members Of Parliament (MPs) were protected from nomination challenges; this rule was not applied in 2004, especially towards Chrétien supporters. Martin claimed that he wanted to make the process more democratic, but he was heavily criticized when he overruled the new process to parachute in his handpicked Star Candidate s, often against the wishes of the local riding association. The highest profile battle was in the riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek between former Deputy Prime Minister and leadership candidate Sheila Copps and Martin loyalist and newly-appointed Minister Of Transport Tony Valeri . Copps was one of the most noted representatives of the party's left wing, and had been a leading Liberal for decades, but lost the nomination battle, which she blamed on dirty tricks. In several ridings, the nomination battles resulted in the splitting the Liberal vote, as disgruntled party members supported the Conservatives or NDP, costing the Liberals several otherwise safe seats. Other battles happened across the country:
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