Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he will remove embattled Minister Randy Boissonneau from his cabinet.
In a statement released just before question period, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office said the prime minister and Mr. Boissonneau “have agreed that Mr. Boissonneau will resign from the Cabinet with immediate effect.”
“Mr. Boissonneau is focused on clearing the allegations against him,” the statement said.
Boissonneau has gone from House Ethics Committee scrutiny of his former medical supplies business partner’s writings and subsequent investigation into the “real Randy” to revising his past Indigenous identity claims after his federal contract bid surfaced. It has been under the microscope for several months.
Criticism of Mr. Boissoneau and calls for his resignation boiled over this week after the National Post reported that an earlier claim that Mr. Boissoneau’s great-grandmother was Cree was false. Meanwhile, Boissonneau said he had severed ties with the company he co-founded after his re-election, a claim that has been called into question since last spring, and now claims the company is “Indigenous-owned” when making bids. He said he was facing new scrutiny over his claims. Regarding federal contracts.
The announcement of Mr. Boissonneau’s resignation from the Cabinet comes after Prime Minister Trudeau insisted yesterday that Alberta’s only minister still has a seat at the front of the federal Liberal Party.
Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Deputy Minister of Defence, will temporarily take over Boissonneau’s responsibilities as Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages.
Since the announcement, several Liberal MPs, including Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault and Health Minister Mark Holland, have said they respect Boissonneau’s decision.
“I think it’s good for him to take the time to clear his name. I’m confident he will do that,” said Filomena Tassi, minister responsible for the federal Economic Development Authority of Southern Ontario.
NDP MP Blake Desjarlais, who is Métis and is calling for Boissonneau’s resignation, said this is “welcome news for Indigenous peoples across the country,” adding that he was “extremely pleased.”
“If you pretend to be Indigenous for the purpose of accessing Indigenous benefits, money and prestige, you will be exposed,” DesJarlais told reporters on Parliament Hill on Wednesday. “We’ll find you.”
“We will ensure that we remove the honor and benefits gained by falsely pretending to be indigenous,” he added. “This is unfair to many Indigenous people who have done everything right.”
Desjarlais also said Boissonneau is “the only person here who knows the full truth” and should reflect on his actions to determine “whether he has the integrity of a member of Congress.” said.
He said when Canadians finally head to the polls, it will be up to voters to re-elect MPs facing this issue.
NDP MP Don Davis told reporters Wednesday at Parliament House following the news that Boissonneau would resign from cabinet, saying he was “really happy” and called it a “premature decision.” .
“If Mr. Boissonneau’s many ethics violations don’t get you out of the cabinet, I don’t know what will,” Davis said.
Congress of First Nations National Secretary Cindy Woodhouse-Nepinak called the controversy over Boissonneau a “teachable moment” in an emailed statement to CTV News.
“Misrepresentation undermines the integrity of Indigenous identity and is disrespectful to the experiences of Indigenous people who face systemic barriers tied to their identity,” Woodhouse wrote. Ta. “It also undermines the progress we have worked so hard to achieve.”
“Currently, there is no consistent way to test the legitimacy of Indigenous citizenship, creating a risk of false claims, tokenism, and exploitation by bad actors,” she wrote. “If the government plans to set up an Indigenous Citizenship Commission, it must include Indigenous peoples, because only Indigenous people can speak on behalf of our people and our rights.”
Earlier today, on the way to the Liberal caucus on Parliament Hill, MP after MP offered little comment or said they were the ones answering questions about whether Boissonneau should resign or be removed from cabinet. He said it was not.
Free Indigenous Caucus Chairman Jaime Batiste said this was “the prime minister’s decision, not mine.”
Batiste did not respond when asked if he wanted Boissonneau to stay.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said he thought Mr. Boissonneau had “answered all these questions in the House of Commons and made his position very clear.”
“So we’re going to work with him,” he said.
Liberal MP Vance Badaway, a member of the Indigenous Caucus that Boissonneau also previously sat on, said earlier Wednesday that he did not think the controversy would cost his group jobs, saying he would “absolutely not” allow Boissonneau to remain in the cabinet. He said he would support the project. .
Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal said Boissonneau “has always been a great ally of the Indigenous Caucus since he came here in 2015.”
“I would like to thank Mr. Lundy as a colleague. He has worked extremely hard on behalf of Canadians,” said Labor Minister Stephen McKinnon.
Meanwhile, both the Conservative Party and the New Democratic Party called for Boissonneau to resign or be fired.
Fraud investigation remains ‘active’: police
“It’s not just a fraud case that’s before the courts. There’s a criminal investigation going on right now by the Edmonton Police Service,” Conservative MP Michael Barrett said on his way to an opposition caucus meeting on Wednesday. .
In an email to CTV News, Edmonton Police said it “received a complaint regarding fraud involving a local medical supplies company” in July and that “the investigation is ongoing at this time.”
Police also said information received in July was “insufficient” to reopen a separate investigation related to a March report “relating to alleged fraud involving an Edmonton medical supply company.” It said the investigation “remains suspended pending the release of new information.” information. “
Boissonneau was not seen attending Wednesday’s Liberal Party parliamentary meeting and did not participate in question period. CTV News requested an interview with him.
With files from CTV News’ Rachel Haines
