Don Martin (journalist)

Martin was born in Rochester, New York, the son of Mary and George Martin, an insurance company executive. His family moved to Pickering, Ontario in the early 1960s where Martin attended Pickering High School before graduating from the journalism program at Ryerson University.

In 1978, Martin was hired by the Calgary Herald newspaper where he began a 22-year career as city hall bureau chief, 1988 Winter Olympics bureau chief and civic affairs columnist. In 1993 he was transferred to Edmonton as the newspaper’s provincial affairs columnist. In 2000, he relocated to Ottawa as the Calgary Herald’s national affairs columnist, syndicated opinion writer for the Southam newspaper chain and regular on-air contributor to CBC, CTV and CPAC political shows.

In December 2020, CTV hired Martin to host the news channel’s flagship politics show Power Play.[2] In 2012 he received the Public Policy Forum’s Peter Lougheed Award for Public Service in Western Canada.[3] Don Martin retired as host in December 2020[4] and continues writing his popular Last Word editorial in a weekly blog for CTVNews.ca.

Martin has written two biographies. His first King Ralph: The Life and Political Success of Ralph Klein was published in 2002 and became a national bestseller. His second was Belinda: The Political and Private Life of Belinda Stronach was published in 2006.

Martin is married and has three daughters. An infant son Craig died from liver failure in 1986 following a transplant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

• CTV News