Government Backbencher
The New Democratic Party won a majority government in the 1999 general election under the leadership of Gary Doer. Martindale was easily re-elected in Burrows, defeating controversial school trustee Mike Babinsky of the Liberal Party. He served as a backbench supporter of the Doer government. In 2002, he was appointed to a four-member task force seeking public input on the future of the province's mining and petroleum sectors. There was some speculation that he would be appointed to cabinet after his re-election in 2003, but this did not occur.
In 2004, Martindale brought forward a parliamentary motion urging the provincial government to declare the last Saturday of November as Day of the Ukrainian Famine/Genocide, commemorating the victims of the Holodomor of 1932-33. He was an international observer to the Ukrainian presidential election in December 2004.
Martindale was re-elected in the 2007 provincial election.
Read more about this topic: Doug Martindale
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