Peter Eric James Prentice (July 20, 1956 – October 13, 2016) was a Canadian politician who served as the 16th premier of Alberta from 2014 to 2015. In the 2004 federal election he was elected to the House of Commons of Canada as a candidate of the Conservative Party of Canada. He was re-elected in the 2006 federal election and appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. Prentice was appointed Minister of Industry on August 14, 2007, and after the 2008 election became Minister of Environment on October 30, 2008. On November 4, 2010, Prentice announced his resignation from cabinet and as MP for Calgary Centre-North. After retiring from federal politics he entered the private sector as vice-chairman of CIBC.
Prentice entered provincial politics in his home province of Alberta, and ran for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta to replace Dave Hancock, who was serving as Premier and interim party leader after Alison Redford's resignation. On September 6, 2014, Prentice won the leadership election, becoming both the leader of the Progressive Conservatives and as such the Premier, as his party held a majority in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. As Premier of Alberta, Prentice formed a new cabinet consisting of some members from the previous government, but also new Ministers including two who did not hold seats in the Legislature—Stephen Mandel and Gordon Dirks. All three stood as candidates in by-elections scheduled for October 27, 2014, and all three were elected with Prentice becoming the MLA for Calgary-Foothills. After introducing his first budget in 2015, Prentice declared an early provincial election on May 5, 2015. In the election, Prentice's PCs suffered an unprecedented defeat, dropping to third place in the legislature with just 10 seats – ending 44 years of Tory rule in Alberta, the longest consecutive reign for any political party at the provincial level in Canada. Despite winning re-election in Calgary-Foothills, on election night Prentice resigned as both PC leader and MLA and retired from politics after results indicated that the Alberta NDP had won a majority government.
On October 13, 2016, Prentice and three others were killed when the aircraft in which they were travelling crashed shortly after taking off from Kelowna, British Columbia. The flight was en route from Kelowna to Springbank Airport, just outside Calgary.
Background Prentice was born to a large, blue-collar family in South Porcupine, near Timmins, Ontario. The family then moved to Alberta in 1969. He was the son of Wilma Lyle Marea (Mawhiney) and Eric Prentice, a professional hockey player who played five games in the National Hockey League (NHL) in the 1940s. His uncle Dean Prentice played in the NHL for more than 20 years. Prentice was educated at the University of Alberta (where he became a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternityWho Else is a Fiji? – www.phigam.ca – retrieved 8 December 2008) and Dalhousie University. He paid for his tuition by working as a coal miner in the summer months for seven years.Speaking Points – The Honourable Jim Prentice – Canadian Council of Chief Executives Luncheon, Toronto, Ontario, November 21, 2007 – Industry Canada – retrieved 11 June 2008
As a lawyer, he served as a Law Commissioner of the Indian Claims Commission of Canada.The Commissioners – Indian Claims Commission – retrieved 11 June 2008
In his personal life, Prentice served for seven years on the Board of Directors at the Calgary Winter Club, including stints as president and Chairman. He was an active member and volunteer leader in the Grace Presbyterian Church. Prentice and his wife Karen have three daughters and two grandchildren.
He was also a member of the Trilateral Commission, a non-partisan organization that aims to increase cooperation within the developed world. In this capacity, Prentice was one of 20 Canadian members.
Early political career Prentice joined the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 1976, and was active in Tory circles ever since. In the 1986 provincial election, Prentice ran for the Progressive Conservatives in Calgary Mountain View, being defeated by NDP candidate Bob Hawkesworth.
During the early 1990s, Prentice served as the governing federal PC party's chief financial officer and treasurer (1990–93). 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 Member of Parliament (MP). When newly elected Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper replaced nominated CA candidate Ezra Levant in the by-election, Prentice withdrew from the race, following common practice to allow a party leader to win a seat uncontested so they may lead their party within Parliament.
He ran in the 2003 Progressive Conservative leadership election to support the "United Alternative" proposal to merge the PC party with the Canadian Alliance. He was seen by many as an alternative to the "status quo" candidate and front runner Peter MacKay. A basic platform of Prentice's campaign was that "no one has ever defeated the Liberals with a divided conservative family." Prentice entered the 2003 convention day with some momentum, after delivering a passionate speech to the assembled delegates that encouraged Tories to be proud of their accomplishments, despite recent setbacks, and that recalled the sacrifices of Canadian soldiers who fought in the Battle of Passchendaele. He also unexpectedly received the support of fellow leadership challenger Craig Chandler, who withdrew early. Prentice ultimately emerged in second-place on the fourth ballot to the eventual winner MacKay. Consistent with his positions during the leadership race, Prentice was a 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 the new party was ratified by members of the PC Party. Prentice began his campaign in Calgary and toured parts of Ontario, specifically visiting Kingston, Ontario, the hometown of the first conservative leader Sir John A. Macdonald. 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. The leadership election was won by Stephen Harper, who later became Prime Minister of Canada after the 2006 Canadian federal election.
Early parliamentary career Prentice ran in the riding of Calgary Centre-North in the 2004 election for the new Conservative Party, and won the seat with 54% of the popular vote.
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 Prentice opposed the Tli Cho land claim agreement, which he said would make Canadian law secondary to Tlicho local law. Prentice was also a strong supporter of the proposed and controversial Mackenzie Valley pipeline.Notes for an Address by The Honourable Jim Prentice to the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association Annual Dinner, Calgary, Alberta, May 23, 2006 – Indian and Northern Affairs CanadaThe Mackenzie Valley pipeline, CBC, March 12, 2007 He criticized the Liberal government for its treatment of aboriginal women, and its alleged costs of administering the Residential School Claims program for aboriginal victims of abuse.
Prentice described himself as a Red Tory in the Conservative Party and surprised many observers when he was one of three Conservative MPs that voted in favour of Bill C-38 supporting same-sex marriage.
Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Prentice had been assigned the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development in the Conservative government, and was sworn into this role on February 6, 2006, until August 13, 2007. One of his main challenges as Minister was to implement "The Nunavut Project," a 2006 report authored by Thomas Berger, to show tangible, measurable results to increase Inuit representation in the Nunavut public services.
Kelowna Accord and residential schools In the fall of 2006, Phil Fontaine, National chief of the Assembly of First Nations, expressed disappointment over the Conservative government's refusal to honour the Kelowna Accord, endorsed by 14 jurisdictions (the federal government, 10 provinces, and three territories). Fontaine previously described the federal government's point person on Kelowna, Jim Prentice, as an "honourable" person sensitive to native concerns. Prior to January 2006 election, Fontaine and two vice-chiefs of the Assembly of First Nations had a meeting with Prentice. "[Prentice] acknowledged all the hard work that went into Kelowna and (said) that the Conservative party would not put this aside," says Fontaine. "We took him at his word." Prentice did not recall saying that: "I've always been very, very careful about what I've said about Kelowna," According to Fontaine, in their first meeting after the 2006 election, "(Prentice) wanted to apply a very focused approach to his responsibilities." In the federal budget of May 2006, Fontaine and other native leaders got a glimpse of what "focused" meant: just $450 million (over two years) was committed to implementing Kelowna, not the $1.64 billion for the first two years that Paul Martin had agreed to.
Prentice argued that there was actually $3.7 billion in spending on native peoples in the May 2006 budget, "more than the previous four budgets in total." That figure includes $2.2 billion in compensation for victims of abuse in residential schools (another deal that was worked out with the previous government) and $300 million for off-reserve housing.
On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper thanked Jim Prentice for his work on addressing the matter of the Indian residential schools and providing a government apology for the residential school system. Stephen Harper's thanks to Prentice came before he made the apology to former students of the schools.Harper, Stephen J., "Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential Schools" House of Commons Debates, Official Reports (Hansard) 39th Parl., 2nd Sess. (June 11, 2008) (Online)
Minister of Industry In a cabinet shuffle on August 14, 2007, Prentice became Minister of Industry, succeeding Maxime Bernier."The Honourable Jim Prentice, PC, QC, 2014–2015," Legislative Assembly of Alberta, URL accessed 14 October 2016.
Copyright legislation and controversy Bringing "Canada into WIPO treaty compliance" had been stated as one of Prentice's goals in future copyright legislation. It has been pointed out repeatedly, however, that at the time of Prentice's statement of his rationale for introducing amendments to the Copyright Act, there was no international legal obligation to implement any provision of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty (WCT) or the WIPO Performances & Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) since neither had been ratified by Canada. Prentice has promised to "put consumers first." claiming in an editorial that "(C-61) allows the recording of webcasts and TV and radio programs to be enjoyed at different times" while ignoring the fact that if the files are protected by digital rights management (DRM) it is illegal to break the DRM to make the recording. Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, has suggested that the core desire of the draft legislation is "to satisfy U.S. pressure by enacting something very close to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act".