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| Affiliation | Parti Québécois |
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| Name | André Boisclair |
| Address |
Montréal, Québec , Canada |
| Email | info@andre-boisclair.org |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
April 14, 1966 |
| Died |
Still Living
(58 years) |
| Contributor | Monsieur |
| Last Modifed | BrentinCO
Mar 13, 2023 08:39pm |
| Tags |
Quebecois - Convicted - Imprisoned - Gay -
|
| Info | André Boisclair is a politician in Quebec, Canada. He is the leader of the Parti Québécois, the main Quebec social democratic and separatist party in Quebec.
Between January 1996 and March 2003, Boisclair served as Citizenship and Immigration Minister and Social Solidarity Minister under former Premier of Quebec Lucien Bouchard and as Environment Minister under former Premier Bernard Landry. He won the Parti Québécois leadership election on November 15, 2005.
Boisclair grew up in the affluent francophone Montreal neighbourhood of Outremont. While attending Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, a private secondary school, he became the president of the Federation of Quebec College Students (university preparatory and technical trade schools known as CEGEP in Quebec.) After graduation he attended the University of Montreal, but dropped out after two years. As a result, Boisclair does not possess an undergraduate degree.
He joined the Parti Québécois in 1984, and in the 1989 Quebec general election he was elected to represent the Gouin riding as a PQ candidate. At 23 years old, he became the youngest member ever elected to the Quebec National Assembly. He also quickly garnered a reputation as a party animal in Quebec City's night-life scene.
He served as a cabinet minister from 1998 to 2003, under PQ Premiers Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry, holding the following portfolios: government services, environm,ent and municipal affairs. During his time in office, Boisclair and his chief of staff, Luc Doray, became the center of a drug and embezzlement scandal. After a routine audit, officials discovered that Doray submitted over $30,000 in false expense reports and authorities later discovered that Doray had used the money to feed his cocaine habit. Doray pled guilty to defrauding the government and during court testimony it was learned that Boisclair authorized some of the expenses. The ensuing investigation cleared Boisclair of any wrongdoing - he was never accused nor charged with any crime. However, in September of 2005, Boisclair admitted to personally using cocaine between 1996 and 2003 while serving as a member of the Quebec legislature.
In 2002, he was named parlimentary leader, a position that he kept in the opposition after the 2003 general election.
Boisclair continued to served as a member of the National Assembly until he resigned in August 2004 to attend the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. At the time of his resignation, Boisclair held the position of opposition parliamentary house leader. Boisclair completed the Master's in Public Administration Mid_Career program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. While at Harvard, Boisclair kept a blog recording his experience.
Boisclair had no intention of returning to politics after his Harvard degree. His options were to accept a position at McKinsey's consulting groupp in Toronto or to pursue a business degree at INSEAD.
After Bernard Landry resigned in June 2005, Boisclair entered the race to succeed Landry as the PQ's leader. He was elected as the sixth leader of the Parti Québécois on November 15, 2005. For the first time, the PQ allowed telephone voting, resulting in the participation of over 76% of the party membership. Polls taken at the time of his leadership victory in November 2005 suggested that Boisclair's Parti Québécois would win a landslide victory over the incumbent Liberal Party of Jean Charest.
After his election as party leader, Boisclair delivered a speech promising a sovereignty referendum within 2 years of a PQ victory in the next Quebec general election. He went on to say that, under his leadership, the PQ would seek to unilaterally separate Quebec from Canada in the event of a majority vote in the next referendum, if the party felt it necessary. During a joint press conference with Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe in Montreal on November 20, 2005, Boisclair decried Canada's Clarity Act as unacceptable. He stated that if elected Premier, he would ignore the ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada on referendum question clarity. As party leader, Boisclair will focus the PQ's efforts on the next Quebec provincial election, expected in 2007.
If Boisclair became Premier of Quebec, he would become the first openly gay person elected as a North American head of government. Boisclair's victory also makes him the first openly gay politician in Canada to win the leadership of a party with legislative representation.
On August 14, 2006, Boisclair was elected to the National Assembly in a by-election for the Montreal-area riding of Pointe-aux-Trembles.
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