Harrison Addresses Broken Election Promise

Harrison Addresses Broken Election Promise

Thursday, February 01, 2007 at 13:11

Northern Saskatchewan’s previous MP is answering questions regarding the Tories’ handling of the Ile-a-la-Crosse boarding school issue.

Jeremy Harrison has just recently been chosen to again represent the Conservatives in the next federal election.

In the last campaign, Harrison pledged a Tory government would compensate the former students in Ile-a-la-Crosse.

But Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice has recently said that likely won’t happen, because of jurisdictional issues.

When asked how he will be able to convince voters that future election promises won’t result in similar circumstances, Harrison responds by saying there is a process outlined in the residential school compensation agreement to try to include schools that aren’t covered by the deal right now.

Harrison also says both he and Prentice recently had positive discussions with the Ile-a-la-Crosse survivors.

He also wonders what Liberal MP Gary Merasty has done to advance this file. Harrison says Merasty has raised this issue with northern Saskatchewan media, but hasn’t said anything about it in the House of Commons.