If the polls are any indication, the current media feeding frenzy over the Liberal sponsorship scandal has caused many Canadians to begin to question Paul Martin and the federal Liberal Party. Did Martin know? Was he involved? Will he take action to clean up this mess? These are the “legitimate” questions the mainstream media have encouraged Canadians to ask of Martin.

However, to question Martin’s record outside the narrow limits of the sponsorship scandal has been all but taboo. Now a new documentary by independent filmmakers Magnus Isacsson and Sophia Southam has arrived to do just that — just in time for the federal election.

The film, Waiting for Martin premiered Tuesday night to a packed auditorium at Montreal’s Concordia University. This was the first stop on a Pan-Canadian tour whose aim is to offer Canadians an alternative perspective on the truly scandalous aspects of Martin’s record — namely his gutting of Canada’s social programs in order to cut taxes for the rich.

The film follows the antics of Concordia Student Union researcher David Bernans in his obsessive drive to ask Martin a few simple questions about his record as finance minister. From camping out in front of Martin’s campaign headquarters as a candidate for the NDP in Martin’s riding of LaSalle-Ã0/00mard, to posing as a freelance journalist at a Martin press conference, to crashing Martin’s coronation at the Liberal Party convention in Toronto, Bernans pulls out all the stops in attempting to challenge Martin to defend his record.

The lengths to which the Liberal Party establishment goes in the film to silence Bernans at every turn is in itself a shocking commentary on the Liberal Party’s outright contempt for those who dare to stray from “legitimate” lines of questioning. This is really a contempt for democracy itself.

Judging from the roars of laughter which erupted in the auditorium throughout the evening it is clear that humour and irony are the film’s main weapons in its attack on Martin’s credibility as a defender of the interests of ordinary Canadians. In the face of outright hostility from the Liberal party establishment, Bernans is repeatedly seen making a series of straight-faced yet wonderfully witty come-backs. The film is also peppered with a series of hilarious animated clips by co-producer Sophia Southam whose moving cut-out images are reminiscent of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Overtop of all this is a soundtrack of politically-charged songs written and performed by Bernans whose satirical lyrics had folks rolling in the aisles. (A tip: stay until the end of the credits just to hear my personal favourite: We’re Americans Now!).

Like all good political satire, this film is also dead serious. Throughout the film, a number of factoids are presented which graphically illustrate the extent to which Martin’s policies have hurt ordinary Canadians. Martin’s words are also juxtaposed with his actual record revealing an extremely sinister picture of Martin as someone who knew all too well what the social costs of his actions would be, yet went ahead with them anyway in order to please his buddies in the corporate world. Even for those of us already familiar with Martin’s dark side, this is powerful stuff.

For rabble.ca readers, Waiting for Martin should be seen not just as an entertaining and informative evening out. Rather it should be seen as an opportunity for activism. With its potent mix of humour, creativity and information Waiting for Martin is an extremely effective tool for popular education. Given that this film is destined to be marginalized by the mainstream media we should all do whatever we can to have this film seen by as large and politically diverse an audience as possible.

So when the Waiting for Martin tour comes to your town, don’t just invite your progressive comrades to the show. Find two or three friends who think Martin is an all-right guy and invite them along, because chances are they won’t exit the theatre with the same opinion of Martin they had when they entered.To find out when the Waiting for Martin tour will be coming to your town, check out Waiting for Martin.