Warrant issued for arrest of former PQ leader Boisclair on sex assault charges

MONTREAL — Former Parti Quebecois leader Andre Boisclair is facing charges that he used a weapon to commit a sexual assault six years ago.

An arrest warrant signed by a Quebec court judge and dated May 27 says the alleged assault took place in Montreal on Jan. 8, 2014, and that a second person participated.

Under the terms of the warrant Boisclair needs to present himself at a police station before appearing in court to be formally charged.

The 54-year-old is facing two charges related to a single, unidentified victim. If convicted, the charges carry a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

Boisclair served as the leader of the PQ from November 2005 until his resignation in May 2007.

He served as Quebec’s delegate general in New York from 2012 to 2013, and since June 2016 he has been president of the Urban Development Institute of Quebec. The institute confirmed Thursday that he has submitted his resignation.

Boisclair was elected for the first time in the Montreal riding of Gouin in 1989, when we was just 23.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2020.

The Canadian Press