MONTREAL – Former Parti Quebecois leader Andre Boisclair is seeking $200,000 in damages after a member of the legislature said there could be a link between a government subsidy and Boisclair’s past cocaine use.
Boisclair has named the Coalition Avenir party, its leader Francois Legault and the member who made the comments, Jacques Duchesneau.
READ MORE: Former PQ leader André Boisclair in hot water, again
A former construction boss alleged at Quebec’s corruption inquiry in September that Boisclair authorized a 2.5-million-dollar subsidy in 2003 for a project involving a company that had ties to the Hells Angels.
That led Duchesneau to wonder aloud whether there was a possible connection between Boisclair’s past drug use and the granting of the subsidy just before a provincial election won by the Liberals.
Boisclair was PQ municipal affairs minister at the time.
He became PQ leader in 2005 and admitted that year to having used cocaine while he was in cabinet.
Boisclair left politics after losing the 2007 election and was named Quebec’s official representative in New York City last year.
He asked to be temporarily relieved of his diplomatic duties in order to fight the allegations.
MORE: André Boisclair to respond to allegations
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