I do appreciate opening up discussion around witnesses.
I talked about this sordid tale. In my estimation, this is a made-for-TV movie, or I guess now a Netflix series, perhaps, given the twists and turns.
I remember the revelations of Mr. Anderson. Much to the chagrin of the Conservatives, who filibustered as though we're part of some cover-up, they will recall, as will the Hansard, that it was in fact my line of questioning that finally got him to admit that indeed there was no other Randy. I recall at that meeting being dumbfounded that there were so many sordid twists and turns out of his testimony, and the one thing that never came to light was this other connection to a massive cocaine smuggling operation.
I reference a Global News article so that people watching don't get confused about my earlier references to this. This is so twisted that we never actually got to this part, which is wild. Back in July 16, 2024, the headline reads “Boissonnault's former business partner linked to woman detained in Dominican Republic cocaine bust”:
Liberal Cabinet Minister Randy Boissonnault's former partner in a medical supply company has ties to an Edmonton woman who was detained in a massive cocaine bust in the Dominican Republic in April 2022.
Federal incorporation documents show that Stephen Anderson, chief operating officer of Global Health Imports (GHI), created a numbered company with Francheska Leblond in December 2021—
If you're looking at timelines, this would also align with the time in which Mr. Boissonnault had business dealings with Mr. Anderson, so we're at least at one degree of separation, or maybe less as the story evolves. This was four months before she was actually detained in a Caribbean country.
Boissonnault and Anderson co-owned GHI until mid-June, and he did claim that he had dropped the shares. What happened in that case was international in headlines. This was, for a moment, an international story, but what was never connected to this particular study was this person's possible connection:
Dominican authorities detained 12 Canadians, including Leblond, after a crew from the Canadian charter company Pivot Airlines said they discovered 210 kilograms of cocaine hidden in their plane.
I'm not talking small amounts here. That would make Escobar blush.