VANCOUVER - Former prime minister Paul Martin says he won't run in the next federal election because he wants to spend a "good portion" of the rest of his life improving life for aboriginal Canadians.
"Life's actually pretty busy," Martin said following a speech to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "I've got a couple of major projects." He said he's been spending a lot of time in Africa after being asked to advise the African Development Bank.
But his pet project has been a pilot program in Thunder Bay, Ont., aimed at getting more aboriginal youth to finish high school.
The project has been successful in 14 other countries, he said, and is aimed at teaching aboriginal youth about business in school and what it takes to succeed.
"They get very excited. It's one of the things that keep them in school," Martin said.
The project, which he said is having some good results, has the support of the local Chamber of Commerce in Thunder Bay and Martin said he's hoping it will get the national chamber's support.
"Something like 41 per cent of aboriginals between the ages of 25 to 34 have not completed high school, compared to 18 per cent in the rest of Canadian society," Martin said.
Martin didn't want to talk about the split among Liberals over whether to renew invasive anti-terrorism clauses that are set to expire Thursday.
The clauses were enacted by the then-Liberal government in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but they included measures that require Parliament to review and extend them every three years.
Martin was a member of that government.
The Liberals, NDP and Bloc have opposed the extension.
But some former Liberal ministers have said the clauses should not be allowed to lapse.
And members of the current Liberal caucus are uncomfortable with letting them lapse as current Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has said they should.
The Criminal Code clauses provide for the preventative arrest of someone suspected of planning a terrorist act and closed investigative hearings where judges can demand evidence on suspected plots.
Last week, a furore erupted in the House of Commons when Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested why the Liberals were voting against an extension for the clauses.
He said it was in an effort to protect the father-in-law of a Liberal MP from appearing as a potential witness at an RCMP investigative hearing into the 1985 Air India bombing.
Martin said Harper should apologize.
"Nav Bains is entitled to an apology and I think that's the view of most parliamentarians and most Canadians."
