Jim Prentice

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 4th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the contract between Mr. Andre, as the northern negotiator is for $50,000. He is qualified to serve as the northern negotiator.

That side of the House should terminate the slander that it is spreading in the House. Maybe it is not a surprise because we are pretty close to the philosophical intellectual underpinnings of the Liberal Party: big contracts for Liberals.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 4th, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Andre is qualified to serve as our northern negotiator. Dr. Andre was hired following a publicly advertised search process. Dr. Andre is capable, effective and able to do the job.

The best thing of all, if we could hold the braying, is that his contract is for $50,000. That is 95% less than the Liberals were paying to their negotiator. Put another way, it is 100% of the value at 5% of the cost.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to address a question of substance. This government has been working very closely with the Government of British Columbia, with FNESS and with a first nation-driven education authority. We are exceeding educational outcomes, which will be commensurate with those of other Canadians.

Education is key to eliminating the cycle of poverty that afflicts so many aboriginal Canadians. Premier Campbell has taken leadership on this.

In budget 2006, the government put forward a total of $450 million, part of which will be put forward for educational outcomes. I encourage the members opposite to work at committee to see this project through.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, despite the slander that the Liberals may wish to throw, Mr. Andre is qualified. He is a respected Canadian. He is a respected parliamentarian. He is a former privy councillor. He is a respected business leader and community leader.

The contract is defensible and it is a fraction of the cost of the contract that was awarded to the former Liberal premier of Ontario.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, if we are going to deal with the sort of malignant slander that comes from that side of the House, let us deal with the contract on the record, a $50,000 contract, not $500,000 as stated by the opposition. That compares to the $3.1 million contract, $1 million per year , for a Liberal, which is not accountable to the taxpayers of Canada. Moreover, the contract was such that we had to start from scratch with the table blank.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, false colours is what the Liberal ship sails under, as I said.

How could the member possibly stand in this House? She should be embarrassed to get on her feet and call into question a contract that the Liberals awarded to a former Liberal premier, $3.1 million over three years, compared to a prudent contract with Mr. Andre, a respected Canadian, for $50,000. Accountability is what this government and this Prime Minister is about, not what we have seen from the Liberals.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 3rd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, the Liberal ship sails under false colours on this one.

I did confirm yesterday that when I became the minister I did dismiss Mr. Peterson as the northern devolution negotiator. Following a publicly advertised search, I hired a qualified person, a respected parliamentarian, business leader, community leader and academic. Not only is Mr. Andre more qualified and more able, his contract is for a mere $50,000 per year. The contract which I terminated paid $3.1 million over three years, a very Liberal contract.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I can confirm in response to the question that I did dismiss Mr. David Peterson, the former Liberal premier of Ontario. I did so because his fees were excessive and his outcomes were non-performing.

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I am incredulous at this actually.

The important thing about Mr. Andre is that he is a respected Canadian, a former privy councillor, a university professor, a Ph.D., someone with experience in the north. The real thing that happened when I became the minister, if I might be allowed to finish--

[Aboriginal Affairs, October 2nd, 2006]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly understand the importance of negotiations involving Canada's first nations. We have many constitutional issues, devolution issues under discussion.

I would, however, counsel the hon. member opposite to approach this matter with some caution because when I became minister, one of the first things I did was to terminate the contract of a Liberal, the former premier of Ontario, Mr. Peterson, who was responsible for this file and I appointed Mr. Harvie Andre to deal with it in a responsible way at a fraction of the cost.