Clarke new Aboriginal Conservative caucus chair

Conservative Manitoba MP Rod Bruinooge has been quietly replaced as chair of the Conservative Aboriginal affairs caucus, APTN National News has confirmed.

APTN National News
OTTAWA–Conservative Manitoba MP Rod Bruinooge has been quietly replaced as chair of the Conservative Aboriginal affairs caucus, APTN National News has confirmed.

Conservative Saskatchewan MP Rob Clarke officially became chair of the Aboriginal caucus in September, but discussions around the change began in the spring.

Bruinooge, Winnipeg South MP, sat down and discussed his heavy workload with Clarke and said he didn’t think he could continue on as the caucus chair.

Clarke, MP for Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River, said Bruinooge was overloaded with his work on the pro-life and post-secondary education Conservative caucuses.

“We sat down early last spring, I’m not sure of the date, and Mr. Bruinooge withdrew his name as chair because he was too busy,” said Clarke, while riding on the MP’s Parliament Hill bus to attend a Commons Aboriginal affairs committee meeting.

The two decided to officially make the change in September after the start of the new session of Parliament. After discussions over emails, other caucus members indicated they supported Clarke as the new chair.

The usually secretive workings of the caucus briefly became public earlier this year after Bruinooge penned a letter, on Conservative Aboriginal caucus letter-head, that was critical of an Indian Affairs decision. The letter was leaked to APTN National News.

The Feb. 24 letter to Chuck Strahl, the former Indian affairs minister, criticized the department’s decision to freeze out Aboriginal banks from a department program to backstop loans for on-reserve businesses and asked the minister to reverse the move.

The $15.5 million program, called the Loan Loss Guarantee Program, only sought the involvement of large non-Aboriginal controlled banks and credit unions.

Strahl later said the program would be reviewed.

Indian Affairs is currently facing legal action over the program from Manitoba-based Tribal Wi-Chi-Way Win Capital Corporation.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq sits in the Aboriginal caucus, along with Senator Patrick Brazeau, Senator Gerry St. Germain and Saint Boniface MP Shelley Glover, who is also parliamentary secretary for Indian Affairs.

An 18-year veteran of the RCMP, Clarke is a member of the Muskeg Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan and grew up in Quesnel, B.C.

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