to Laurier Brantford. Martin sat on the Finance Committee for most of his time on Brantford City Council and as Chair, ushered in a service review program for city departments. He was successful in getting council to agree to a set time hiring freeze of municipal employees to help minimize property tax increases. He was also a proponent of intensive line-by-line study of operational and capital budgets during annual budget deliberations by council. Martin served a one-year term as president of Brant's Reform Party of Canada association in the 1990s. He opposed the party's United Alternative initiative in 1999, but nonetheless joined the resultant Canadian Alliance party in 2000. The Alliance merged with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to form the Conservative Party in 2003, and Martin joined the new party. He was neutral in its 2004 leadership election. Martin also served on the executive of the local Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario association and chaired the group Taxpayers Coalition Brant. He frequently wrote letters to the Brantford Expositor before his election to council, advocating conservative policies. Martin called for referendums on abortion and the death penaltyas part of his platform for the 2004 Federal election. He received 17,792 votes (33.10%), finishing second against Liberal candidate Lloyd St. Amand. He sought the Conservative nomination again for the 2006 federal election, but lost to Phil McColeman. Eglinton—Lawrence: Bernie Tanz Tanz is a graduate of York Mills Collegiate, attended the University of California, and is a real estate developer in private life. He joined the Progressive Conservative Party in 1994, and joined the Conservative Party after its merger with the Canadian Alliance. Tanz campaigned for a seat on the East York municipal council in 1994 at age 37, calling for greater cooperation between the public and private sectors. He was narrowly defeated for the second position by Tim Cholvat. In 1999, the Ontario government of Mike Harris sold a prime downtown Toronto property unit at half of its market value to All-City Storage, a California-based firm on which Tanz served as a director. The sale was subsequently the subject of an investigation by The Globe and Mail newspaper. Tanz described himself as an inactive director, and said that he knew nothing about the situation. Tanz finished second against Joe Volpe in 2004. He unsuccessfully campaigned to succeed Jane Pitfield as the representative for Toronto's 26th ward in the 2006 municipal election.