Former PQ leader André Boisclair on Friday asked to be temporarily relieved of his duties as Quebec delegate in New York in order to respond to attacks by the Caquist opposition which linked his cocaine use to a promise of subsidy , confirmed a government spokesperson.
Mr. Boisclair forwarded this request to the General Secretariat for Senior Jobs, said Marie Barrette, press secretary to Prime Minister Pauline Marois.
“Mr. Boisclair has asked to be relieved of his duties in order to respond to the attacks directed against him, ”she said.
In a brief press release published late Friday evening, the Minister of International Relations, La Francophonie and Foreign Trade, Jean-François Lisée, said he had taken note of Mr. Boisclair’s request to be “relieved of his duties with pay in order to allow him to devote his energies to defending his reputation against the irresponsible allegations made against him by the member for Saint-Jérôme, Mr. Jacques Duchesneau, and the leader of the Coalition Avenir Québec, Mr. François Legault ”.
In the wake of this press release, Caroline Julie Fortin, press secretary in the minister’s office, also confirmed that Mr. Boisclair had indeed been temporarily relieved of his duties.
Mr. Boisclair and his lawyers had initiated these exchanges with Senior Jobs after the announcement, Friday morning, that he will be in Montreal to meet with journalists on Monday.
The Secretariat for Senior Jobs is a unit of the Ministry of the Executive Council to which all members of the senior civil service and directors of government corporations report.
The Coalition d’avenir Québec (CAQ) had asked that Mr. Boisclair be temporarily relieved of his functions in order to explain himself on a promise of subsidy 10 years ago.
In La Malbaie on Friday, Ms. Marois said she trusts Mr. Boisclair to make the necessary decisions at the appropriate time.
On the occasion of the announcement of funding in her constituency, Ms. Marois responded to journalists.
“Mr. Boisclair is a responsible man, I am sure he will be able to take the necessary decisions when the time comes, ”she said during a press briefing.
Ms. Marois was responding to the question of a journalist who asked her if she still trusted Mr. Boisclair, whom the PQ government appointed Quebec’s delegate general in New York last fall.
According to the Premier, Mr. Boisclair himself made the decision to go to Montreal to meet the media.
“I absolutely did not ask him to do a press briefing,” she said. It was he himself who made the decision to hold a press briefing. ”
Mr. Boisclair, who led the Parti Quebecois from 2005 to 2007, announced Friday morning on his Twitter account that he will meet the Montreal press.
“I inform you that I will meet with representatives of the media next Monday morning in Montreal. Details to follow, ”he wrote.
It was impossible to obtain more details, both from the Quebec delegation in New York and from Mr. Boisclair’s lawyer.
The Liberals and Caquists this week demanded that Mr. Boisclair explain his decision to grant a subsidy just four days before the April 2003 election, when he was Minister of State for Municipal Affairs.
This week, Mr. Boisclair made no public statement, other than a press release, and he did not appear at at least one formal event where he was expected, in New York, which included Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Mr. Boisclair threatened to sue for defamation the member of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) Jacques Duchesneau, who established a link between his past cocaine use and the funding promised for a church renovation project in Montreal.
Mr. Duchesneau refused to retract on Thursday, raising the hypothesis that Mr. Boisclair could have been forced to give the grant because the company associated with the project was infiltrated by organized crime. The company, LM Sauvé, also belonged to a friend of Mr. Boisclair.
The former PQ leader sent a formal notice to Mr. Duchesneau this week to demand his apologies otherwise he would initiate legal proceedings against him.
Mr. Boisclair’s law firm did not specify, Thursday, what follow-up it will give to Mr. Duchesneau’s refusal to withdraw his allegations.
– .
