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Martin, however, is loath to broach the subject and becomes sensitive when it's suggested he might find it difficult to relate to average Canadians.

He started his business career toting the bags of the president of the influential Montreal-based Power Corp. But in less than 20 years, Paul Martin owned his own worldwide shipping empire.

By the time Martin arrived at Power Corp. in 1965, he was ready to learn the ropes from some of the country's business elite.

Maurice Strong was the president of Power and asked Martin to be his executive assistant. It was an impressive-sounding title to outsiders but Strong made it clear Martin was going to learn from the bottom up.

RAPID RISE

"I said, 'Paul if you're willing to carry my bags and put in some hard work (it's your job),' " he recalled in an interview with Sun Media.

He warned his protege: "I'm very difficult to work for."

Martin would begin a rapid rise up the corporate ladder, but not before a few hard knocks from Strong, who remembered taking Martin to a meeting of top insurance company executives in New York.

"He frankly talked a lot," Strong said. "He was a little bit more forthcoming than perhaps he should have been."

When the meeting broke up and the two were walking down Park Ave., Strong let Martin have it.

"I said, 'Paul, you're not going to make it.' I said, 'Here you are, the youngest, most inexperienced person in a room full of the top insurance people in the world, and most of those people are quite predisposed to bright young people. But not to brash young people.' "

Strong admitted he had been tough but said the young Martin learned a lesson.

Indeed, almost four decades later, businessmen who sat on corporate boards with Martin say one of his qualities is that he listens and encourages input on important matters.

Matthew Gassenbeek, the founder and chairman of Northern Crown Capital in Toronto, sat on two boards with Martin.

The self-described Red Tory said of Martin: "He doesn't lose his temper. He's interested; he's willing to look at all sides of the question.

"I think he can listen, which is a real advantage."

Before Maurice Strong left Power Corp. in 1966 to head the Canadian International Development Agency in Ottawa -- a job offered to him by Martin's politician father -- he struck a deal for Power Corp. to buy Canada Steamship Lines.

"We put Paul on that file," Strong said. "He kept in touch with the company and prepared the briefs for me. That's how he really got to know CSL."

When Strong departed, William Turner and Martin teamed up as president and vice-president respectively at Power Corp. The two later moved to run a merged Consolidated Bathurst, a major pulp and paper operation, after Paul Desmarais took over the reins of Power Corp.

Turner says the move was a financial bonanza for Martin. The company's stock soared over four years.

In 1974, Martin was appointed president of Power Corp's CSL. He liked it so much, he bought the company from Desmarais in 1981 with partner Laurence Pathy for $189 million.

Martin bought out Pathy in 1988, the same year he won a seat for the opposition Liberals in the House of Commons.

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A day before he transferred control of Canada Steamship Lines to his sons last month, Martin told Sun Media in an interview at his riding office that he had no idea what he was worth.

"No. I guess when the kids take over, not very much," he said.

The Mapleleaf Web site, which has been keeping track of Martin's international shipping empire of 37 bulk cargo vessels, claims CSL controls assets of almost $700 million and in March 2001 had annual revenues of $280 million.

Asked how a man who owns a sprawling farm in Iron Hill, Que., a home in Montreal and a condo in Ottawa connects with people who have a hard time paying the rent, Martin became testy.

"Let me tell you. You know, my father didn't have any money. The fact is my father's family, my mother's family -- they don't come from money. My mother's family were farming people."

"To put it another way, if I didn't understand that what life is all about was, in fact, exactly the people who live around the corner from here and who look at you to make life better for them -- if it wasn't for that, then I wouldn't be in public life."

Martin's holdings have been the source of controversy since 1988, even though he tried to protect himself from this through public disclosure. The scrutiny intensified when Martin became finance minister in 1993 and placed his holdings in a blind trust.

There were questions about CSL ships being flagged in offshore tax havens and the use of low-paid foreign workers. And there have been questions about how blind his blind trust really was. Allegations of conflict of interest have been dismissed by the government's ethics counsellor every single time.

The fallout from all of this hasn't put a political dent in Martin. His success since taking over CSL from Power Corp. 22 years ago is widely admired among business and union leaders.