Ex PQ leader Boisclair arrested for suspected drunk driving: reports

André Boisclair (Photo by Rantes – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

QUEBEC — There are reports former Parti Quebecois leader Andre Boisclair has been arrested for allegedly driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Cogeco Nouvelles reported today that Quebec City police arrested Boisclair shortly after midnight.

Police have not confirmed Boisclair, 51, is the person they arrested but TV footage showed the ex-politician leaving a Quebec City police station just before noon today.

Earlier in the day, a clerk at the local courthouse said a name matching Boisclair’s was on a list of people expected to appear but a charge sheet was not immediately available.

Police spokesman Etienne Doyon says authorities arrested a 51-year-old man for suspected drunk driving after a car struck a lamppost.

Police allege the man also refused a breathalyzer, obstructed justice and intimidated someone associated with the judicial system. Doyon says the man was released late this morning on a promise to appear in court at a later date.

Boisclair was a longtime provincial politician who served as PQ leader between November 2005 and May 2007.

He quit after a disappointing showing in the 2007 election in which the PQ finished third.

Boisclair was first elected in 1989 at the age of 23 — at the time he was the youngest-ever member of the legislature — and went on to hold several cabinet positions in governments headed by Lucien Bouchard and Bernard Landry.

Post-politics, he was appointed to several advisory posts and served as Quebec’s delegate-general in New York City in 2012 and 2013.

He is currently president and chief executive officer of the Institut de developpement urbain du Quebec, which speaks for the real estate industry and promotes urban development in the province.

A spokesperson for the organization declined to comment and did not confirm an arrest.