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Rod E. Bruinooge

Incumbent
Riding	Winnipeg South
In office since	2006 election
Preceded by	Reg Alcock
Born	May 06 1973 (age 33) Thompson
Residence	Winnipeg
Political party	Conservative
Profession(s)	Entrepreneur, ecutive director, film producer

Rod E. Bruinooge (born May 6, 1973) is a Canadian politician, businessman and filmmaker. He was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Winnipeg South in the 2006 federal election, and is currently the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians. Bruinooge is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, and is an Aboriginal Canadian of Metis descent.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 The Stone 3 Politician 4 Table of offices held 5 External links 6 Electoral record 7 Footnotes

Bruinooge was born in Thompson, Manitoba, and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of Manitoba.^[1] He attended the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada's 1993 leadership convention as a youth delegate, supporting Kim Campbell.^[2] Bruinooge became chief executive and president of Abject Modernity Internet Creations Ltd. in the late 1990s, and worked as a consultant.^[3]

Bruinooge has served as a director of the River View Health Centre and the Manitoba Children's Museum, and has done organizational work for the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film and Video Festival and the North American Indigenous Games. He started the Winnipeg International Film Festival in 2005, and was its executive director until February 2006.^[4]

Bruinooge developed an internet game/mystery entitled The Stone in 1995, and launched it as a consumer product in 1997. The game was strongly influenced by the Publius Enigma, a conceptual mystery involving hidden messages in the cover art of Pink Floyd's The Division Bell (1994). The Stone was profiled by Forbes Magazine in 1999, and has been featured in other international journals.

In September 2004, Bruinooge and co-director Scott Jaworski released a film entitled Stoners,^[5] covering the activities of an internet gaming community that emerged around The Stone.^[6] The film features several tracks from The Division Bell in its soundtrack, used with Pink Floyd's permission.^[7]

Bruinooge was a frequent candidate for public office before his election in 2006. He first sought the provincial Progressive Conservative nomination for Riel in 2002, but withdrew when it became clear that the nomination date would be in flux for some time.^[8]

He later campaigned as the Conservative candidate for Winnipeg South in the 2004 federal election. One of his more creative campaign advertisements was a self-directed, fifteen-second promotional film entitled "Big Tobacco", which compared Paul Martin's efforts at government renewal to misleading tobacco advertising. The spot ran as a preview for Shrek 2 in some Winnipeg theatres.^[9]

Bruinooge was one of only three aboriginal candidates to run for the Conservative Party in the 2004 election. The Conservative Party has sometimes been depicted as hostile to aboriginal interests, and at one point in the campaign Bruinooge and party leader Stephen Harper were the targets of a protest by aboriginal activists, including David Chartrand of the Manitoba Métis Federation.^[10] Bruinooge finished second in the election against Liberal incumbent Reg Alcock.

Bruinooge sought the Conservative nomination for Winnipeg South for a second time in the spring of 2005, but lost to rival candidate Hugh McFadyen by twelve votes.^[11] A few months later, he was defeated by McFadyen a second time in a contest for the provincial Progressive Conservative nomination in Fort Whyte.^[12] It has been reported that McFadyen's margin of victory on the latter occasion was only six votes.

McFadyen resigned his federal nomination when he chose to run provincially, and Bruinooge was chosen as the Conservative candidate in his place. His candidacy was endorsed on January 18, 2006 by Vote Marriage Canada, a group which opposes same-sex marriage.^[13] Although Bruinooge is a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation, that organization endorsed Reg Alcock.^[14]

Bruinooge defeated Alcock by just over 100 votes on election day, in what most political observers considered a significant upset. Bruinooge was aided by a national trend toward his party, as well as by Alcock's decision to spend most of the campaign for candidates in other ridings.^[15]

The Conservatives won a minority government in the 2006 election. In early February 2006, Bruinooge was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians, and is the only Aboriginal member of the Government benches. In January 2007, he represented his government in signing a deal with Siemens to increase aboriginal employment.^[16]

Parliament of Canada
Preceded by Reg Alcock	Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South 2006-	Succeeded by incumbent

• Synopsis of federal political experience from the Library of Parliament
• Official website
• The Stone - Official website

2006 federal election : Winnipeg South edit
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Rod Bruinooge	17,328	41.42	$68,461.08
	Liberal	(x)Reg Alcock	17,217	41.15	$57,453.38
	New Democratic Party	Robert Page	5,743	13.73	$1,973.24
	Green	Wesley Owen Whiteside	1,289	3.08
	Christian Heritage	Heidi Loewen-Steffano	259	0.62	$503.33
Total valid votes			41,836	100.00
Total rejected ballots			111
Turnout			41,947	70.39
Electors on the lists			59,594

2004 federal election : Winnipeg South edit
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Expenditures
	Liberal	(x)Reg Alcock	19,270	51.31	$63,885.73
	Conservative	Rod Bruinooge	12,770	34.00	$67,207.73
	New Democratic Party	Catherine Green	4,217	11.23	$6,919.66
	Green	Ron Cameron	1,003	2.67	$702.79
	Christian Heritage	Jane MacDiarmid	296	0.79	$4,202.05
Total valid votes			37,556	100.00
Total rejected ballots			110
Turnout			37,666	63.23
Electors on the lists			59,572

All electoral information is taken from Elections Canada. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available.

Some biographical information is taken from Bruinooge's official website.