Conservative MPs booted over demands for ‘cocaine Randy’ to resign

Randy Boissonnault, the embattled Employment Minister, faces renewed calls to resign after media reports questioned his supposed Indigenous heritage. 

Additionally, his former company, Global Health Imports (GHI), shared a mailbox with a woman held in a drug bust overseas.

“What kind of message is the government sending by allowing him [Boissonnault] to sit in cabinet?” said Michelle Rempel-Garner, a Conservative MP, during a heavily contested Question Period Tuesday afternoon.

“That Liberal minister falsely claimed Indigenous identity, his company received contracts using that stolen identity, apparently while consorting cocaine dealers,” she added.

A National Post exclusive revealed GHI shared a mailbox with Francheska Leblond — a woman detained in the Dominican Republic as part of a 2022 cocaine bust.

At the time, Boissonnault held half the company’s shares, of which he renounced this summer. 

Stephen Anderson, his business partner, also registered a numbered company with Leblond, reported Global News. The minister denied ever meeting the woman.

“That fraudulent minister must resign or the prime minister must fire him,” said Rempel-Garner. The House Speaker promptly booted her from the Commons after refusing to withdraw the comment.

Boissonnault, a “non-status adopted Cree,” remains in the line of fire over conflicting claims of his family's Indigenous heritage. 

GHI, meanwhile, failed to secure federal contract bids in 2020, under the guise of Indigenous ownership. Boissonnault was not serving in elected office at the time.

Conservative MP Michael Barrett, who was also booted from the Commons Tuesday, previously tabled a motion to find Anderson in contempt of Parliament. That motion remains under scrutiny by MPs, reported CBC News.

Anderson’s company is subject to several fraud suits — of which Minister Boissonnault is not named — and named “Randy” in a series of September 2022 texts involving business associates.

Anderson failed to answer questions across several ethics committee meetings prompting concerns he consulted Boissonnault at the time, an apparent conflict of interest.

Boissonnault has repeatedly denied any involvement since his re-election in 2021, going so far as to publicly ridicule and distance himself from his former business partner.

Alex Dhaliwal

Calgary Based Journalist

Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.