editorial comment Bush will be happy: a gay guy who did cocaine could be heading a Canadian province. One more "blow" for those who say that it is impossible to use drugs and have a career......

Andre Boisclair, the Parti Quebecois leadership front-runner, faced new questions Monday about whether he had used cocaine as a provincial cabinet minister and replied he had "consumed.''

But Boisclair, 39, never used the word "cocaine'' in a lengthy exchange with media after a speech to college students near Quebec City.

"As a (cabinet) minister, did you take cocaine?'' one reporter asked Boisclair.

After initially saying he had previously answered the question, Boisclair replied: "What I want to tell you is I made mistakes, things I regret. Yes, I consumed. I can't be clearer than that.''

But Boisclair, one of nine candidates vying to replace Bernard Landry as PQ leader, did not specify precisely what he's consumed.

He said he no longer consumes but did not say when he stopped.

Last week, Boisclair abruptly ended a news conference when he was asked point-blank whether he had ever used cocaine.

Before walking away from reporters, Boisclair denied a published report that then-premier Lucien Bouchard gave him a dressing-down in 1997 for allegedly using cocaine.

On Monday, Boisclair defended his political track record.

"I've never had problems of consumption,'' he said in this town across the St. Lawrence River from Quebec City. "I have never been in a situation where I was under the influence of anything when I carried out my responsibilities as a member of the legislature or as a cabinet minister.''

The cocaine allegations first emerged in a story in Ottawa Le Droit last June when Boisclair announced his leadership intentions.

They resurfaced in Montreal Le Devoir about 10 days ago when a columnist writing about the PQ leadership campaign referred to Le Droit's earlier story.

Boisclair was first elected to the Quebec legislature in 1989 when he was 23, and held a handful of cabinet posts, most of them at the junior level.

At the time of Bouchard's alleged dressing-down, Boisclair was the minister responsible for citizenship and immigration.

Boisclair left the political scene, temporarily, last year in order to study at a prestigious leadership school at Harvard University. He then planned to embark on a two-year stint at a global consulting firm in Toronto.

But he cut his plans short after Landry resigned as PQ leader in June.

PQ members will vote for Landry's successor by telephone Nov. 13-15.

back | to top | full article >>