Fontaine first ran for the provincial legislature in 1986, contesting the riding of Lac Du Bonnet for the Manitoba Liberal Party. The Liberals Party was a weak electoral force at the time, and Fontaine received only 959 votes (against 3903 for victorious candidate Clarence Baker of the New Democratic Party).
Fontaine became a Sagkeeng chief during the 1990s. He also became the leader of the First People's Party, a short-lived organization that served as the political wing of the Manitoba Assembly of First Nations. Fontaine ran in the sprawling northern riding of Rupertsland in the 1995 provincial election, and received 541 votes for a fourth-place finish (it may be noted that the winning candidate, Eric Robinson of the NDP, was aboriginal as well). Fontaine was not one of the independent "aboriginal interests" candidates subsequently implicated in a vote-splitting scheme which involved leading figures in the provincial Progressive Conservative Party.
Fontaine subsequently rejoined the Manitoba Liberal Party, and was a candidate for the party's leadership against Jon Gerrard in 1998. He was not a protest candidate focusing exclusively on "aboriginal issues", and was regarded a serious contender for the position. Despite polling which suggested the candidates were in a tight race, however, Gerrard was elected leader by 1336 votes to 832 at the party's convention. Fontaine did not run in the 1999 provincial election.
Fontaine was subsequently accused of having acting in bad faith in a deal which he arranged with Wing Construction Limited for school construction, during his tenure as Sagkeeng chief. The Sagkeeng band was accused of having defrauded the company out of two million dollars through the course of the project. The resulting controversy was documented by the Canadian aboriginal issues journal Windspeaker in 2000 and 2001, and it appears to have cost Fontaine much of his support in Manitoba's aboriginal community. As of 2004, the matter has not been resolved.
Fontaine ran in the sprawling northern riding of Rupertsland in the 1995 provincial election, and received 541 votes for a fourth-place finish (it may be noted that the winning candidate, Eric Robinson of the NDP, was aboriginal as well).
Fontaine subsequently rejoined the Manitoba Liberal Party, and was a candidate for the party's leadership against Jon Gerrard in 1998.
Fontaine was subsequently accused of having acting in bad faith in a deal which he arranged with Wing Construction Limited for school construction, during his tenure as Sagkeeng chief.
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