Her mother is the daughter of another area politician, Norman Fawcett, who served as mayor of Capreol, and as Nickel Belt's federal MP from 1965 to 1968.
In 1987 at age 24, Martel was elected as the New Democratic Party candidate in the riding of Sudbury East defeating Liberal opponent Claude Mayer by 6,005 votes.
[7] On October 1, 1990, Martel was named Minister of Northern Development and Government House Leader in the cabinet of Bob Rae.
Liberal leader Robert Nixon, who expressed his view to the Ontario Legislature that, while it may not have been an appropriate action for members of Cabinet, it was not one that should lead to their discharge.
The deal was initially rejected by cabinet but was resurrected in August when Rae agreed to purchase the Smoky Falls hydroelectric dam from Kimberly-Clark and give the mill 10 years of free power.
Martel took the unusual step of taking a lie detector test to show that she was telling the truth about making up a story about seeing confidential files on the doctor.
[13] While Martel was exonerated by the committee's report, the controversy continued to dog her through the next couple of years and her influence in cabinet was limited.
[14] Martel's resignation occurred after the Ontario Privacy Commissioner found that she had passed on personal financial information about an Ottawa man who owned land for the purposes of mining speculation.
[15] Despite her colourful career in cabinet and the general decline of the NDP, Martel was re-elected in Sudbury East in the 1995 provincial election, defeating Liberal opponent Paul Menard.
[17] In 1996, Martel and fellow MPP Peter Kormos surreptitiously entered a government building for a new department for family support.
Nickel Belt's previous MPP Blain Morin, who had won the riding just eight months earlier in a by-election following the retirement of Floyd Laughren, decided not to challenge Martel for the party's nomination.
On May 18, 2007, Martel announced that she would not seek re-election and would quit politics after the 2007 election, to spend more time with her family and pursue other career opportunities.
"[24] Martel committed, however, to campaign on behalf of France Gélinas, her successor as the New Democratic Party candidate in Nickel Belt.