OTTAWA — Aboriginal lending agencies, alarmed at being left out of a new federal loan-support program for larger banks, have gained the backing of the Conservatives’ own aboriginal caucus members, including a high-profile cabinet member.
Now Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl says he might revisit the program and include the native lenders in the initiative, which he says is still at the “pilot project” stage.
In a letter obtained by QMI Agency, Conservative aboriginal caucus chair Rod Bruinooge, MP for Winnipeg South, said aboriginal financial institutions, or AFIs as they’re known, are “integral to the success and survival of aboriginal businesses, and the ultimate well being of the Aboriginal community as a whole.”
The letter urged Strahl to include AFIs in the recently created Loan Loss Guarantee Program, which aims to help five large commercial banks cover potential losses if they loan to Native businesses. The smaller AFIs won’t have access to the subsidy.
Among Conservative parliamentarians whose names appear on the letter urging a rethink are: Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, senators Patrick Brazeau and Gerry St. Germain, and MPs Rob Clarke and Shelley Glover.
A spokeswoman for Aglukkaq said the health minister would not comment on the letter.
But Bruinooge said he spoke with Strahl Thursday and is now satisfied the Indian Affairs minister would consider allowing AFIs into the program in the future.
“AFIs do great work,” Bruinooge said, adding they can “continue to advocate for wanting to be included, I think that’s a valid claim.”
Strahl told a parliamentary committee the loan guarantee program, set up about a year ago, is still a pilot project and will be carefully evaluated. AFIs, he said, have been “particularly good” at small and medium-business loans, but the new program is aimed at getting bigger banks to back large aboriginal projects — such as mining, oilsands projects or wind power proposals, what he called a potential “billion-dollar windfall.”
“I have a lot of respect for (AFIs); it may well be that we need to go back and beef them up going forward, I don’t discount that at all.”
christina.spencer@sunmedia.ca
