[1] He first campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in the 1986 provincial election, contesting Lac du Bonnet as a Liberal.
The Liberal Party was a weak electoral force in Manitoba during this period, and Fontaine received 959 votes (11.33%).
[2] By his own admission, he destroyed his Liberal Party membership in 1994 when the Canadian government of Jean Chrétien relaxed anti-pollution standards in the area near his community.
[4] The FPP was created following a 1993 resolution of the Assembly of Manitoba chiefs that advocated a political party focused on aboriginal issues.
Fontaine ran a credible campaign in the vast northern constituency of Rupertsland, but received only 541 votes (12.22%) for a fourth-place finish against New Democrat Eric Robinson, who is also aboriginal.
A commission led by Judge Alfred Monnin ruled that these organizers had induced at least one candidate, Darryl Sutherland, to run.
[7] In the year the scandal broke, Fontaine informed the media that Sutherland had approached him late in the 1995 campaign to acknowledge that Conservative organizers provided him with funds.
His candidacy was organized by Ernie Gilroy, and won support from figures such as Terry Duguid and Graham Dixon.
[11] Wing Construction argued that the Sagkeeng council had not turned over promised funds, and asserted that the company was left to sustain a loss of three million dollars.
[12] The federal government later determined that the Wing contract had not been formally approved by the Department of Indian Affairs, and the company was forced into bankruptcy protection in 2000.
[13] Others have disputed this, and Alan Isfeld of the Waywayseecappo First Nation argued that the collapse of Wing Construction created a potentially destructive precedent for aboriginal/non-aboriginal partnerships in Canada.
[14] Separate from the Wing Construction controversy, some members of the Sagkeeng first nation accused Fontaine of inadequate on-reserve housing in 1998.