Pubdate: Wed, 09 Nov 2005
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2005 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Graeme Hamilton, National Post

BOISCLAIR LOSING GOLDEN BOY STATUS

MONTREAL - A few weeks ago, it seemed that Andre Boisclair could do no
wrong in the eyes of Quebec voters. An openly gay politician flirting
with a male TV host? How refreshing! Cocaine-fuelled wild nights in
Quebec City when he was a Cabinet minister? Boys will be boys.

But with less than a week left in the contest to succeed Bernard
Landry as Parti Quebecois leader, the shine is fast disappearing from
the separatist golden boy, who has held a commanding lead in opinion
polls.

In a letter published yesterday in Montreal newspapers, former PQ
Cabinet minister Daniel Paille became the latest voice in a chorus
calling on Mr. Boisclair to abandon the race for the good of the
sovereigntist cause.

"If a few lines of coke are perhaps not a big deal in the city,
elsewhere in Quebec they will quickly become reefs on which your
elected members will be wrecked," wrote Mr. Paille, who until
yesterday supported Mr. Boisclair's campaign.

"The people will say it sooner or later, during an election campaign
or, worse, during a last chance at a referendum."

The man who served two years as Minister of Industry under Jacques
Parizeau belittled Mr. Boisclair for acting like "a spoiled child" and
questioned his grasp of complicated issues. The rebuke, which was
front-page news in the French-language papers, came as Mr. Boisclair's
efforts to fend off the ankle-biting of long-shot leadership candidate
Jean Ouimet backfired.

On Monday, Mr. Ouimet went to the media with a lawyer's letter
received from the Boisclair camp advising him to stop spreading
rumours about Mr. Boisclair. Mr. Ouimet, an environmentalist with no
hope of winning the leadership, was the first candidate to attack Mr.
Boisclair directly on his cocaine abuse.

In an interview published last Wednesday in Le Devoir, Mr. Ouimet
called Mr. Boisclair a time bomb and expressed the fear that more
damaging information about Mr. Boisclair will eventually surface. In
subsequent television interviews he talked of unspecified rumours
hounding Mr. Boisclair, prompting the lawyer's letter that ordered him
to retract his comments. The letter also warned Mr. Ouimet not to go
to the news media, something Mr. Ouimet ignored.

"Is Boisclair trying to enclose Quebec in silence with lawyer's
letters like that?" Mr. Ouimet said to Radio-Canada.

It was the second time in this campaign that the Boisclair camp
responded to negative publicity with legal threats. Earlier, La Presse
received a lawyer's letter after one of its columnists questioned the
value of a master's degree Mr. Boisclair had received from Harvard.

Mr. Boisclair has been dodging reporters recently and at the last
minute he cancelled a speech to members of Montreal's young chamber of
commerce yesterday morning. His handlers said he needed the time to
prepare for a televised debate last night.

It has been a hellish week for Mr. Boisclair. In a letter published
last Wednesday in Le Journal de Montreal, Victor Levy-Beaulieu, a
prominent separatist writer, said it would be suicidal for the PQ to
choose Mr. Boisclair as leader. "Can he assure me that once elected
leader of the Parti Quebecois, then Premier and leader of a referendum
campaign, no more skeletons will come out of his closet?" Mr.
Levy-Beaulieu wrote.

Mr. Boisclair's efforts to distance himself from his cocaine use,
which he said ended seven or eight years ago, were not helped by
heated discussion in Quebec over whether it was appropriate for
Michaelle Jean, the Governor-General, to make jokes about Mr.
Boisclair and cocaine during the annual press gallery dinner in Ottawa.

Meanwhile, Pauline Marois, the only candidate within striking range of
Mr. Boisclair, has been accused of fuelling the whisper campaign
against the frontrunner. Last week, Ms Marois said PQ members are
worried they could be taking a risk in choosing Mr. Boisclair as
leader. She has also said the leader of the sovereigntist cause must
be "unassailable," which was considered an indirect criticism of Mr.
Boisclair.

Ms. Marois got a boost yesterday when Pierre Dubuc, the candidate of
the party's left wing, announced that he will advise his supporters to
make Ms. Marois their second choice. The vote will be conducted by
telephone beginning on Sunday with the winner announced on Tuesday
night.
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MAP posted-by: Derek