cabinet. However Premier Rae refused to accept their resignations. He said, "Not every mistake in these circumstances should lead to a resignation." 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. He said, "Their reputations and integrity have in no way suffered by these statements." In July 1991, Martel led an effort to save a paper mill in Kapuskasing from closure. 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. In December 1991, she was involved in another controversy when she fabricated some remarks about a Sudbury doctor who had criticized the government about billing caps. One of the participants at the meeting was Evelyn Dodds, a Thunder Bay municipal councillor and former Progressive Conservative candidate. Dodds wrote a letter about the conversation to PC leader Mike Harris who read it in the legislature. Martel said of the incident, "I made some remarks which were completely unfounded and which are without basis," and that they were made during a "heated private conversation." The opposition called for Martel's resignation but this was rejected by Rae. "The minister has apologized for what happened in a private conversation and admitted she made a mistake ... and as far as I'm concerned that's (the end of it)." In March 1992, an all-party committee investigated the incident. 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. The committee concluded that Martel did not need to resign. However, the Liberal and Conservative members of the committee who were in the minority called for Martel's resignation. 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. She finally resigned from her portfolio on October 7, 1994. 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. Cabinet positions In opposition Despite her colourful career in cabinet and