Paul Martin's Memoirs

[capricorn]

National Archives spent $188,000. to put together an oral history of Paul Martin’s time as Prime Minister. Upon request, the transcripts of this taxpayer funded oral history were provided to Paul Martin, which he admits formed the “spine” of his recently released memoirs “Come Hell or High Water: My Life In and Out of Politics”.

Martin gets to access these transcripts now to produce a book, but you and I who paid for them, cannot access these transcripts until after Martin’s death.

Paul Martin has used a taxpayer funded project as a resource to produce a book from which will bring him profit. Why did National Archives see fit to make these transcripts available to Martin free of charge? Martin is a rich man and I’m sure paying $188K for material to be used in producing his book is an expense he can easily afford.

Library and Archives Canada paid $188,000 to conduct extensive interviews with former prime minister Paul Martin and other officials with whom he worked, as part of an "oral history" of his years in politics.

Archives signed a memorandum of understanding with Queen's University to allow Sean Conway, a former Ont., Liberal member of provincial parliament and a fellow in the school of public policy, to conduct hundreds of hours of interviews with Martin and with other political and bureaucratic figures.

Martin used the transcripts, paid for by Archives under the agreement, as the basis for his recently published memoir, Hell or High Water: My Life in and Out of Politics.

--Archives initially refused Tuesday to say how much Queen's was paid for the work, and instead suggested anyone who wanted more information could file a request under the Access to Information and Privacy Act, which allows Canadians to receive government records for a $5 fee.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/s...22-685c58ab0b00

The transcripts of these interviews commissioned by Archives will become public only after Mr. Martin's death. But copies of the transcripts were provided to Mr. Martin and a researcher hired by the publisher of Hell or High Water: My Life in and Out of Politics to help write the book.

"The transcripts of those conversations make up the spine of this book," Mr. Martin writes in the conclusion of his memoir.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/s...7c-c5e2eea0472d

I don’t have a problem that our National Archives produce works about our Prime Ministers. This is an important part of their mandate. These works serve to record our history and, provide a valuable resource for citizens and researchers. I don't question this.

It just doesn’t seem right to me that Martin should be given free access to material produced by way of a National Archives project, incorporate the material into his book and then rake in profit from the books sales. Other than forking out $188K, what's in it for taxpayer? Perhaps the taxpayer should be paid royalties from the sales of his book.

[Alta4ever]

National Archives spent $188,000. to put together an oral history of Paul Martin’s time as Prime Minister. Upon request, the transcripts of this taxpayer funded oral history were provided to Paul Martin, which he admits formed the “spine” of his recently released memoirs “Come Hell or High Water: My Life In and Out of Politics”.

Martin gets to access these transcripts now to produce a book, but you and I who paid for them, cannot access these transcripts until after Martin’s death.

Paul Martin has used a taxpayer funded project as a resource to produce a book from which will bring him profit. Why did National Archives see fit to make these transcripts available to Martin free of charge? Martin is a rich man and I’m sure paying $188K for material to be used in producing his book is an expense he can easily afford.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/s...22-685c58ab0b00

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/s...7c-c5e2eea0472d

I don’t have a problem that our National Archives produce works about our Prime Ministers. This is an important part of their mandate. These works serve to record our history and, provide a valuable resource for citizens and researchers. I don't question this.

It just doesn’t seem right to me that Martin should be given free access to material produced by way of a National Archives project, incorporate the material into his book and then rake in profit from the books sales. Other than forking out $188K, what's in it for taxpayer? Perhaps the taxpayer should be paid royalties from the sales of his book.

So are the leftists going to come to the defense of a Liberal leader, or will they see like most taxpayers.

[cybercoma]

He should pay the $188,000 back and I'll call it even.

[Mr.Canada]

He was on 1010 am today from 4-5 pm. He had some reasonable things to say for sure. I view him a little differently than I used to.

For instance I didn't know that he made his empire himself with no help from his pops. It was interesting. I called in and got to ask him a question, I doubt I'll get the chance again.

Did anyone else catch it?

[jdobbin]

I don’t have a problem that our National Archives produce works about our Prime Ministers. This is an important part of their mandate. These works serve to record our history and, provide a valuable resource for citizens and researchers. I don't question this.

It just doesn’t seem right to me that Martin should be given free access to material produced by way of a National Archives project, incorporate the material into his book and then rake in profit from the books sales. Other than forking out $188K, what's in it for taxpayer? Perhaps the taxpayer should be paid royalties from the sales of his book.

Since the Archives doesn't hold copyright over the history of a living person, I don't see how they can deny access to the person it is about. I'd expect no difference if Harper asked for access.

[August1991]

He should pay the $188,000 back and I'll call it even.

I tend to disagree.

When he was in office, how much money did taxpayers give the bureaucracy to collate, record and transcribe various records. The machinery of government is titanic.

In comparison, $188,000 is a paltry sum and it will probably have greater effect than the millions spent on preparing and printing Martin's PR packages for some summit he attended as PM.

[cybercoma]

I tend to disagree.

When he was in office, how much money did taxpayers give the bureaucracy to collate, record and transcribe various records. The machinery of government is titanic.

In comparison, $188,000 is a paltry sum and it will probably have greater effect than the millions spent on preparing and printing Martin's PR packages for some summit he attended as PM.

He stands to profit handsomely from that $188,000 the taxpayers handed him. It wasn't used to serve a function as Prime Minister, it was used to research his own personal project. I'm sure there are millions of Canadians that would love a paltry $188,000, free of charge, to help with their debts or to put into investments, but they don't have the luxury of connections that Mr. Martin has. Certainly he will stand to make much more than $188,000 from the sale of his book, accordingly, the least he could do is pay that sum back (even without interest) as a sign of good faith. I would have no problem were it treated as a loan, but there is no indication that he has any intention of paying it back.

Edited October 31, 2008 by cybercoma