Tories call on Boissonnault to resign amid apology over Indigenous ancestry claims
CTV
Members of Parliament returned to Ottawa on Monday after a weeklong break with no sign of a resolution to the House stalemate, tempers ramped back up, and renewed calls for a Liberal cabinet minister to resign — or be fired.
Members of Parliament returned to Ottawa on Monday after a weeklong break with no sign of a resolution to the House stalemate, tempers ramped back up, and renewed calls for a Liberal cabinet minister to resign — or be fired.
The House of Commons has been mired in a filibuster for nearly two months now, as the Conservatives demand the government hand over documents to the RCMP in a case of alleged government misspending on a green technology fund. That continued Monday but in question period Conservative attention shifted to Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault, who three days ago apologized for not being more clear about his Indigenous identity.
He previously referred to himself as a "non-status adopted Cree" and said his great-grandmother was a "full-blooded Cree woman."
He said he'd confirm his great-grandmother's status, but his mother and brother are citizens of the Métis Nation of Alberta.
"I apologize if that particular way of referring to myself — I apologize that it was inaccurate," Boissonnault said at an Edmonton event on Nov. 15.
The National Post had also reported last week a company co-owned by Boissonnault unsuccessfully bid on two federal contracts in 2020 while identifying itself as Indigenous and Aboriginal-owned.
Monday in the House of Commons, seven different Conservative MPs peppered more than a dozen questions toward Boissonnault on the issue, who in turn delivered short-sentence responses in denying the allegations.
