OTTAWA — He’s stepping down.
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As multiple scandals swirl around embattled Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault, the Edmonton-Centre MP has decided to resign from cabinet.
A statement issued Wednesday afternoon by the prime minister’s office confirmed both Boissonault and the PM agreed he would step aside, to “focus on clearing the allegations made against him.”
Boissonnault’s now-former porfolio will be taken over by Veterans Affairs Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor.
Malleable accounts of his Indigenous heritage continue to haunt the Edmonton Centre MP, with Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief Joanna Bernard on Tuesday telling CBC News that he should step aside.
On Tuesday, Global News reported that Boissonnault’s former company, Global Health Imports, was the subject of a fraud investigation by Edmonton Police.
Boissonnault and his former business partner, Stephen Anderson, founded GHI in 2020 to import medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic, billing themselves as an Indigenous-run company while competing for federal procurement contracts.
Boissonnault has variously described himself as “non-status adoptive Cree,” the great-grandchild of a “full-blooded Cree,” and the adopted child of “status Metis” parents.
He resigned from the company upon his 2021 reelection, but maintained a 50% stake in it until this past summer.
On Monday, the National Post revealed GHI shared a mailbox with a woman involved in major drug busts — including a 2022 incident where authorities in the Dominican Republic found 200 kg. of cocaine aboard a Toronto-bound jet she was a passenger of.
She and the plane’s 15 passengers and crew were detained for months.
Conservative MP Michael Barrett found himself ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday after referring to Boissonnault as “Cocaine Randy” during Monday’s question period.
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While Boissonnault avoided cameras Wednesday and quietly slipped into the party’s morning caucus meeting, only a handful of his fellow Liberals stopped to offer support for the embattled MP.
Sydney-Victoria MP Jaime Battiste, the chair of the Liberal Indigenous caucus, breezed by the cameras without stopping.
“It’s a decision for the prime minister, not me,” he told reporters without breaking stride.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who arrived back in Ottawa from South America overnight, smiled to reporters and entered the caucus room without comment.
Niagara Centre MP Vance Badaway, also a member of the Liberal Indigenous caucus, declined to comment on the allegations, and told reporters that Boissonnault’s nebulous and shifting claims of Indigenous heritage doesn’t take away from his work.
“Those questions are for him,” he said. “He’s a big boy, he’s got his big boy pants on, I’m sure he can answer them.”
Like his colleagues, Housing Minister Sean Fraser said questions over Boissonault’s place in cabinet remain with the prime minister.
“My experience with Randy is that he’s been professional in discharging his responsibilities as the employment minister,” he told reporters.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne likewise didn’t add much.
“He’s been a great colleague who’s made great contributions to our cabinet,” he said.
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