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Jim Prentice (born July 20, 1956) is a lawyer from Calgary, Alberta, canada, who was elected in 2004 as a Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party of Canada.
Background
Prentice was raised in a large, blue-collar family in northern Ontario and Alberta. His father was a professional hockey player in the NHL the 1940s. Prentice put himself through university (University of Alberta and Dalhousie University) working as a coal miner.
Prentice has been married to Karen Prentice, an executive Vice-President at a Calgary energy company, for 20 years. They have three daughters, Christina, Cassia, and Kate.
Professional Experience and Activities
Prentice served for seven years on the Board of Directors at the Calgary Winter Club, including stints as President and Chairman during the Club's multi-million dollar expansion. He is an active member and volunteer leader in the Grace Presbyterian Church. In his free time he has volunteered as an advocate for learning-disabled kids. He also coached kids hockey.
As a lawyer, he has specialized in property rights and has handled a number of relocations, environmental protection suits, and cases arising from restricted development areas. He also served as a Law Commissioner of the Indian Claims Commission of Canada for 10 years and is recognized as an expert in land claims negotiations. He travelled to South Africa twice as an expert advisor on how to protect property rights in that country's new constitution. Prentice also has owned and operated weekly newspapers and is currently a part-owner of a retail business in Calgary.
Political Background
Prentice joined the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 1976, and has been active in Tory circles ever since. During the early 1990s Prentice served as the PC Party's chief treasurer. Prentice first ran for Parliament as the nominated Progressive Conservative candidate in a spring 2002 by-election in the riding of Calgary Southwest that followed the retirement of Preston Manning as the riding's MP. When newly elected Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper became a candidate in the by-election, Prentice withdrew from the race as a symbolic gesture of compromise.
He ran in the 2003 Progressive Conservative leadership race to support the "United Alternative" proposal to merge the PC arty with the Canadian Alliance. He was seen by many as an alternative to the "status quo" candidate and frontrunner Peter MacKay. A basic platform of Prentice's campaign was that "no one has ever defeated the Liberals with a divided conservative family." Prentice ultimately emerged in second-place on the fifth ballot to the eventual winner MacKay. Consistent with his cooperative positions during the leadership race, Prentice was an ardent supporter of the merger endorsed by both the CA and PC parties in December 2003 that formed the new Conservative Party of Canada.
Prentice was the first declared candidate for the leadership of the new Conservative Party, announcing his run on December 7, 2003, the day after ratification of the new party. Prentice began his campaign in Calgary and toured parts of Ontario, specifically visiting Kingston, Ontario, the birthplace of the first Canadian Conservative Leader Sir John A. Macdonald and also the city where one of his daughters attends Queen's University. However, he withdrew from the race on January 12, 2004, citing difficulty in raising new funds less than a year after his unsuccessful first leadership bid.
Member of Parliament
Prentice ran in the riding of Calgary Centre North in the 2004 election for the new Conservative Party, and easily won the seat when the election was held on June 28.
After being sworn in as the MP for Calgary Centre North on July 16, Conservative Party Leader Stephen Harper named Prentice to the Shadow Cabinet as the Official Opposition Critic for Indian and Northern Affairs. In that role so far, Prentice has opposed the Tlicho land claim agreement, which he says will make Canada ungovernable in 50 years. Prentice is also a strong supporter of the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline, and has taken the government to task on its treatment of aboriginal women, and its wasted money administering the Residential School Claims program for aboriginal victims of abuse.
In a surprising decision, Prentice has decided that he would vote in favour of Bill C-38 supporting same-sex marriage. While the Conservative Party has advocated a free vote, this puts him at odds with many of his constituents, as well as conservative groups such as Concerned Christians Canada, who have even advocated his removal. According to an interview by Craig Chandler on CBC Newsworld on February 3, 2005, Prentice will face a strong battle for the Conservative nomination in the next election.
Possible Future Leader?
Prentice has been seen as a possible future contender for the Leadership of the Conservative Party if Stephen Harper falters in the next federal election that could occur as soon as Autumn 2005. His loyalty to the PC Party during some of its most difficult years, western and eastern roots, Blue Tory fiscal credentials, impressive second-place finish in the PC Leadership Convention of 2003 plus his friendly relations with former Reformers have been cited as key advantages held by Prentice in any future race. Some have suspected that Prentice, along with MPs Monte Solberg, Peter MacKay, Belinda Stronach and Chuck Strahl, was one of the five "unnamed" Conservative Party MPs that Harper rebuked in November 2004 for attempting to covertly start raising funds and support for a future CPC leadership race. However, his recent statements in favour of same-sex marriage have considerably dampered his hopes, as it puts him at odds with social conservatives who dominate the new party.
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