OTTAWA – The arc of Greg Rickford’s career isn’t the norm but should give him an interesting perspective on his latest professional challenge.
From nurse to lawyer to MBA to member of Parliament, and now the new federal Natural Resources minister, Rickford, 46, has spent a lot of time dealing with First Nations issues in Ontario’s rugged and remote northwest.
Since last July, he’s been immersed in helping shepherd a massive northern Ontario mining development proposal through the federal-provincial funding labyrinth — a file fraught with political one-upmanship that Rickford has mostly avoided.
So when Prime Minister Stephen Harper tapped the Kenora, Ont., MP on Wednesday to replace Joe Oliver, the newly promoted finance minister, even the Conservative government’s critics were ready to cut him some slack.
Those who know Rickford say he’ll bring a collegial, level-headed approach to some of the biggest economic files on the Harper government’s plate. “He’s a practical, smart and down-to-earth guy,” said Geoff Norquay, a former senior aide to Harper who knows Rickford well.
Rickford was not available for an interview Wednesday but issued a statement saying “I will be a staunch advocate for Canada’s abundant natural resources and the thousands of jobs this sector creates for all Canadians.”
His record tells something of what he brings to the new job.
As Norquay put it: “I think he will be a champion at the cabinet table of better understanding of the aboriginal dimensions of resource development and the need for a much more proactive outreach by both government and business to ensure and build the successful involvement of First Nations communities in the resource economy.”
During a housing crisis in Attiwaspiskat in the winter of 2011-12, Rickford stepped in to handle the public diplomacy for then-minister John Duncan, managing to lower the temperature somewhat on a battle that was threatening to shatter the relationship between First Nations and the Harper government.
He has lived and worked as a nurse and later a lawyer in Pikangikum, Ont., among the poorest aboriginal communities in the country, so Rickford has first-hand knowledge of the desperate economic conditions and isolation of some First Nations.
Michael Gravelle, Ontario’s provincial minister of Northern Development and Mines, has dealt with Rickford on a number of issues — notably the proposed Ring of Fire mining development in northwestern Ontario — and calls him a friend despite their partisan party differences.
He welcomed Rickford’s promotion, calling it a “very important connection” to have the Ring of Fire directly under the federal natural resources minister.
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