Lafontaine walked away as next great prime minister

The political future for Aboriginal people at the House of Commons is looking brighter. That certainly seems to be the case with the win of 25-year old Alika Lafontaine, on Canada's Next Great Prime Minister. Lafontaine, a Métis physician in Saskatoon, not only took away a prize of $50,000 and a six-month paid internship, but he also found out being a part of a contest like this demonstrates a growing participation of youth in politics that is pivotal to finding solutions to Aboriginal issues.
"There's a lot of youth in the country who are very interested in making Canada a better place and if I wanted to take anything away from my participation it's that you have to be involved in the dialogue, in order to become a part of the solution," he said.
"A lot of times we, not only Aboriginal people, but just youth in general, kind of get caught up in the idea that we don't agree with what's going on, so we won't participate. And I think you have to take the approach that if you don't agree with what's going on then you have to participate; that way you can change the way things are going."
The annual CBC/Magna International reality-TV competition urges young people from ages 18 to 25 years old to consider Canada's political future by bringing forth their new ideas for a better Canadian political system. The program aired across Canada in March and named Lafontaine the winner after he was questioned by a panel of three former prime ministers Paul Martin, Kim Campbell and John Turner, and premier, Danny Williams.
"Me and my brother were actually watching the program last year," Lafontaine said about his decision to enter. "And as I'm sure happened with some people watching the show this year, some answers to questions we weren't one hundred per cent satisfied about. For myself, it was the answers to how to deal with the issues facing Aboriginal people and a lot of the issues facing health. And so after that me and my brother kind of decided that we should maybe enter the competition in the next year and that's what ended up happening," he said.
Lafontaine is not new to the spotlight, he performs with the musical group Fifth Generation and it was just last March that they appeared on the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards. Among other awards, he was the recipient of the Youth National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1999 for his combination of success in university academics and volunteer work, despite a huge obstacle he faced as a child when he was diagnosed with a learning disability.
As a medical student he has also mentored youth interested in the health field. He said some challenges he has faced in his own education to become a doctor are dealing with stereotypes about Aboriginal people and questioning his own capabilities.
"A lot of the challenges have come from kind of inside, me thinking that I've never had anyone in my family whose ever accomplished this, ... it makes you kind of think of your capability to accomplish it, especially when you're going against other people who may have a lot more of that history," he said.
Regardless, he has overcome these struggles and not only has achieved his goal of being a doctor, but has used his knowledge of Aboriginal issues to win the political competition.
His entry was a video-taped speech submitted to Youtube outlining his idea: to introduce a third arm of parliament focused on dealing with Aboriginal issues and led by elected Aboriginal people. He said the idea is not new, it has floated among others such as former Liberal MP, Rick Laliberte, who brought the idea forward a few years ago when the Liberal party was in the minority government.
"The great thing about the idea is that the structure is already in place," Lafontaine noted. "I mean we already have two systems for everything right? We have two systems for health - Canadians and Aboriginal peoples - we have two systems for a bunch of other social systems. So it's not a completely new idea, it's just it hasn't been presented as being a third arm of government, it's always been looked at as kind of a separate entity to itself."
Lafontaine was chosen as one of the ten finalists to compete in a political boot camp and afterward, made the round to compete against three other contestants: an Ottawa university student politician, a Calgary lawyer, and a business grad from Waterloo, Ontario.
"For people who are here in the province of Saskatchewan, hearing that there's a winner who is not from Ontario or Quebec definitely gives people more interest in the competition in that you really can win regardless of where you're from," he said.
In the final question, Lafontaine was asked what he would do as a leader if a Quebec referendum won by a 900-vote margin.
He said he would recognize the decision of the majority and gained the support of the audience when they chose him as the final winner. Although he entered the competition to win he admits an interest in politics also surfaced.
"I've never really been interested in politics and I think that's probably from the way that politics is in a lot of ways and the way the media portrays it," he said.
"There's a lot of fighting that goes on in the House of Commons, especially since this most recent government has gotten in and things have kind of spiraled down to where you kind of look at things and you wonder whether anything actually gets done or do people just stand there yelling at each other."
He said after the competition he sat down with a few of the judges and realized that those involved in the competition really believe that the idea they're putting forth can really change Canada for the better.
"Regardless of the reality of how parliament actually works, these people are really trying to do things the best way they know how in order to improve things for all of us," he expressed. "And I never really changed my opinion as far as politics. I think I definitely want to get involved in some way in the future."