Proof that Tony Martin is a Santanist!

Sault MP Tony Martin celebrated his 20th Christmas in public office on Wednesday.

In style.

At an open house in his Queen Street office, Martin sported a Christmalicious Santa tie that was a gift from his children.

He also took some time to share a few memories from his time in office.

"I remember thinking, 'well who the hell do I think I am'," said Martin. "I'm just the guy who used to run the Soup Kitchen and here I am at the table involved in whether we're going to save Algoma Steel or not."

Martin was referring to the difficult economic time the Sault was going through in the early 90s, when he was first elected as the city's MPP.

"All of our industries here - whether it was rail, wood, paper or steel - all of them were on the ropes," he said. "We came in as a government with support from the unions and the financial institutions and we restructured them."

Martin said he worked together with representatives of labour, corporate owners, financial institutions and the government to restructure the Sault's primary industries in a way that was unique to the NDP approach to governance.

"We gave it a particular character and personality that situated it in a way that sees us still having those pieces there today providing economic stimulus and being a major part of this community," he said.

"We didn't lose an industry," he said. "The industries struggled - there were huge challenges - there was a huge recession that we were working our way through. But we didn't lose a plant or an industry."

They also managed to protect some of the things the workers were most afraid of losing - like their pensions, benefits and seniority.

"We found unique and creative ways to turn them [the industries] around and save them and give the workers and the communities a stake in their future," Martin said.

The veteran politician also talked about more recent accomplishments that he feels will become very important in the future.

After watching initiatives to fight poverty unravel at the provincial level, Martin was able to initiate and then table a landmark federal report that could abolish poverty in Canada.

Martin also recently tabled a private member's bill, C-545, that was created from the Federal Poverty Reduction Plan: Working in Partnership Towards Reducing Poverty in Canada, report he initiated.

"If we put that bill in place and the government acts on it," he said, "...we could eradicate - not reduce but eradicate - poverty in this country."

He said this bill, the report that gave rise to it and the creative solutions that saved so many industries in Northern Ontario in the early 90s are all very positive contributions that he and his party really haven't gotten credit for.

But the thing Tony Martin wants most is to see his poverty bill pass.

"I'm hoping I'll get to work with a progressive government after the next election to actually implement some of that," he said. "That would be Nirvana."