Leadership Quote by Paul Martin

Paul Martin’s line is built like a policy memo disguised as a moral ultimatum: motion is mandatory, and neutrality is a myth. The paired “If we do not...” clauses turn passivity into an action with consequences, collapsing the comfortable space where politicians (and voters) like to hide. You’re not merely failing to help; you’re choosing regression. You’re not merely overlooking a right; you’re participating in its erasure. That’s the trick here: the sentence converts omission into complicity.

The rhetoric is classic centrist liberal governance sharpened into a warning. “Step forward/step back” borrows the language of progress without getting bogged down in ideology; it’s directional, not doctrinal. Then he tightens the screw with “protect” versus “deny,” a stark shift from movement to moral culpability. “Protect” implies rights are fragile, contested, always under pressure. Rights don’t sit in a display case; they survive because institutions, courts, and political will keep them intact.

In context, Martin’s political era is defined by globalization, security anxieties, and an expanding rights vocabulary in Canadian public life - from the Charter’s aftershocks to debates over civil liberties, equality, and state power. The subtext is a rebuke to incrementalism that masquerades as prudence: delay is not a holding pattern; delay is surrender. It’s also a quiet defense of activist government, framing rights not as abstract ideals but as ongoing maintenance work - the kind that becomes visible only when it stops.