page_title: Ralph Goodale
section_title: In government, 1993-2006
hierarchical_section_title: Ralph Goodale / Return to federal politics / In government, 1993-2006
caption_attribution_description: Canadian Finance Minister Ralph Goodale.
context_page_description: Ralph Edward Goodale, PC is a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party, he was first elected in 1974 as the Member of Parliament for Assiniboia. Defeated in 1979, he moved into Saskatchewan provincial politics and was leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party from 1981 to 1988. He returned to federal politics in 1993, as the MP for Regina—Wascana, and served a cabinet minister under prime ministers Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin and Justin Trudeau, in several roles including minister of finance and minister of public safety.
context_section_description: Goodale contested Regina-Wascana again in the 1993 federal election and was elected as part of the Liberal landslide that year. As a member of the new Chrétien cabinet, Goodale was named Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. He has the prenominal "the Honourable" and the postnominal "PC" for life by virtue of being made a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on November 4, 1993.  He has been reelected for this riding, known as Wascana from 1997 to 2015, at every election since then.
  In 1997, he became the Minister of Natural Resources.  In May 2002, he was named Minister of Public Works and Government Services, a few weeks after the Auditor General Sheila Fraser issued a report accusing the department of inappropriate contracting practices. This began the exposure of the Sponsorship scandal.
  A close ally of Paul Martin, Goodale was appointed to the senior portfolio of Finance Minister when Martin became Prime Minister on December 12, 2003. In that capacity he tabled two consecutive balanced budgets and launched the Government's productivity agenda.
  On December 28, 2005, a letter surfaced from Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli confirming the force was launching a criminal investigation into whether details regarding government tax policies relating to income trust funds were leaked from the Finance Minister's office.  Goodale said he would co-operate completely with any investigation, but would not step aside while the RCMP continued their probe. The investigation dealt only with the Department of Finance, and not the minister himself. On February 15, 2007 the RCMP announced the conclusion of the income trust investigation and laid a charge of 'Breach of Trust' against Serge Nadeau, an official in the Department of Finance, who pleaded guilty in 2010. Goodale was cleared of any wrongdoing, and blamed the NDP's Judy Wasylycia-Leis for sabotaging the Liberals in the 2006 election.
caption: Goodale in 2004.
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