The Liberals, as it turned out, won a landslide majority government, and Martin was appointed to the key post of Minister of Finance.
Others felt that it was too early to call an election, since the government had only been in power for three and a half years, and the resulting drop in Liberal support likely undermined confidence in Chrétien's leadership of the party.
After Martin's dismissal/resignation, he toured the country campaigning for the leadership while his Liberal organizers prepared to challenge Chrétien during a review vote in January 2003.
While viewed positively among the public as an electoral reform after some early revelations of the sponsorship scandal, Bill C-24 was opposed by many of his own MPs who saw it as a poison pill since it effectively cut off the main source of funding for the Liberals; they had enjoyed the majority of company donations for the last decade due to a fragmented opposition.
[1] While the opposition parties were well poised to reap the benefits of Bill C-24 due to their established grassroots fund raising, the Liberals were caught unprepared for this change.
Potential contenders Brian Tobin and Allan Rock never formally entered the race, while John Manley dropped out and Sheila Copps received at most marginal support.
Martin replaced half of Chrétien's ministers, one of the largest cabinet turnovers in Canadian history for a ruling party undergoing a leadership change.
Outgoing minister Reg Alcock did approve a payment of up to $40,000 to assist Jean Pelletier with legal fees in a court challenge against the Gomery Commission after the Liberals were defeated in the 2006 federal election.
Representatives of other parties criticized this payment, though Pelletier's lawyer argued that it followed a long-standing government policy for high-ranking functionaries in judicial proceedings.
At the 2006 leadership convention in Montreal, Martin's final speech as outgoing leader paid tribute to Chrétien, but the latter was not present for the event.
In Canadian federal politics, would-be electoral candidates will generally seek the nomination of their chosen party within the local constituency.
In previous elections, incumbent Liberal Members of Parliament (MPs) were protected from nomination challenges; this rule was not applied in 2004, especially towards Chrétien supporters.