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This article focuses on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was sworn in on Feb. 6, 2006 as the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada. Harper is one of the youngest Prime Ministers Canada has had, and his forthright nature may shock the country. Although his Conservative Party has a minority 124 sears in the 308-seat House of Commons, Stephens is resolved to fulfill his campaign pledges. Those pledges include a clean-government accountability act, a cut in the GST, guarantees on health-care waiting times, and direct cash payments to families for child care. INSETS: TORY POWER CIRCLE;HOW CANADA VOTES.

Focuses on the efforts of Canadian's Conservative Party, led by Member of Parliament Stephen Harper, to force an election in the spring of 2005 to oust Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin. Description of a two-hour convention of the Conservative Party during which Harper criticised the government and energized the party to take down the Liberal government; Influence of the Gomery inquiry into a Liberal sponsorship scandal on Harper's desire to overthrow Paul Martin; Polls indicating that the Canadian people do not support a new election and see the Conservatives' antics as a political maneuver.

The article focuses on Prime Minister Paul Martin, who is presiding over Canada's first minority government in 25 years. Canadians will be watching the government carefully. Minority politicking can be a rough ride, but history suggests it can also be productive. Past minority governments created the Canada Health Act, the national pension plan, the U. S.-Canada Auto Pact, even the Maple Leaf flag. For now, there are huge pressures to make the 38th Parliament last. One of the easier issues this Parliament will have to face should be health care, the topic of a critical federal-provincial conference this summer. Martin's immediate task will be choosing a Cabinet. A minority government presents the country with a strategic problem that rises above partisan politics. Americans who have grown accustomed over the past decade to the predictable policies of their northern neighbor will be unnerved by the battles between left and right-not to mention the possible revival of Quebec separatism.

This article focuses on the political scandal involving the ad firm Groupaction Marketing and the Liberal Party of Canada. In his sensational testimony at the federal inquiry into the C$250 million sponsorship scandal, the head of the now defunct ad firm Groupaction Marketing, Jean Brault, depicted a corrupt environment in which he says he received lucrative federal contracts by funneling more than C$1 million to people within and close to the Liberal Party of Canada. To keep the money flowing in-and the kickbacks going out Brault says he submitted fake invoices on behalf of the Liberals, put party supporters on his payroll for no-show jobs and circumvented election-campaign laws by, among other things, having his employees contribute to the Liberals and then reimbursing them. Linked together, Brault's tales of misdeeds attached a chain to the neck of Prime Minister Paul Martin's government. Inquiry commissioner Justice John Gomery will be hearing from more witnesses in the coming weeks.

Discusses the plight of Canadian Prime Minister to keep his position in the upcoming election. Success of the Liberal campaign in southern Ontario and Quebec; Grievances from voters who do not trust government officials because of the sponsorship scandal; Criticism of how the Liberals allowed the private delivery of health care, for cutting taxes, and for signing the Kyoto Protocol on climate change; How the Liberal advertisements attack the Tory fiscal policies; Appeal of conservative leader Stephen Harper among Canadians.

Discusses the reaction of students at Memorial University to the political debate between Prime Minister Paul Martin and New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton. How Layton criticized the ways Martin has tried to reduce national debt; Compliments from Martin on Layton's views on cities, the environment, health care, and education; Speculation about the upcoming election for prime minister in Canada; Impact of the sponsorship scandal on the plight of Canadian liberals to stay in government; Differences of opinion among the candidates regarding health care.

Examines the struggle between Prime Minister Paul Martin and the man he replaced, Jean Chrétien over the "Adscam" scandal that shook Canada last year with allegations of fraud and corruption at senior levels of the Liberal Party; Turnabout in Martin's attitude towards Chrétien whom he blasted when the story broke; Suggestion that he is trying to heal party wounds; Background on the scandal; Results of an inquiry which have still to be released before the next chapter in the blame game.

Discusses the involvement of Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin as co-chair of a U.N. commission on using the private sector to fight poverty in the developing world. Focus of Martin on an international agenda and the importance of his relationship with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan; Consideration of the Canadian legislators taking an active role in the U.N. including Louise Frechette, Stephen Lewis, and Lloyd Axworthy; Suggestion that Martin's U.N. involvement was a needed reprieve from Canadian national politics and the sponsorship scandal; Efforts of the Canadian government to conduct a review of its global commitments.