Randy Boissonnault
Randy Paul Andrew Boissonnault is a Canadian politician who was the member of Parliament for Edmonton Centre. A member of the Liberal Party, he was initially elected to the House of Commons in the 2015 federal election and served until his defeat in 2019. He later went on to win back his seat in 2021. Boissonnault held several ministerial roles, including Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Finance from 2021 to 2023 and Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages from 2023 to 2024. He resigned from Cabinet following allegations that a business he owned sought government contracts and inconsistent claims about his Indigenous heritage. He was one of five openly gay MPs elected in 2015 and the first openly gay MP elected from Alberta. He stood down at the 2025 federal election.
Early life
Boissonnault was born in the Franco-Albertan town of Morinville, Alberta, on July 14, 1970.After graduating from the University of Alberta, Boissonault studied at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He subsequently worked as a lecturer at the University of Alberta's Campus Saint-Jean and as a journalist and political commentator for Radio-Canada and Les Affaires.
Political career
Boissonnault was elected in the 2015 election in the riding of Edmonton Centre, the first Liberal MP to win in the riding for almost a decade.Upon being sworn in as an MP, Boissonnault was named Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
On November 15, 2016, Boissonnault was named special advisor on LGBTQ2 issues to the Prime Minister. The role involves advising Trudeau "on the development and co-ordination of the Government of Canada’s LGBTQ2 agenda" including protecting LGBT rights in Canada and addressing both present and historical discrimination.
Boissonnault was defeated in the October 2019 election. A few months before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, he reconnected with an old acquaintance, Stephen Anderson. They later founded Global Health Imports Corporation as a medical imports business.
On July 14, 2021, he was acclaimed as the Edmonton Centre Liberal candidate for the 2021 federal election. He won the election on September 20, 2021, defeating James Cumming, who had previously defeated him in 2019.
In Cabinet
Boissonnault was appointed minister of tourism and associate minister of finance in a Cabinet shuffle following the 2021 federal election by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. According to court filings, Boissonnault resigned from his GHI directorship as required by parliamentary conflict of interest rules. However, Boissonnault discovered in April 2022, that Anderson had not filed paperwork to effect his full removal from federal and provincial business registries, so Boissonnault instructed his lawyers to do so.His last position in cabinet was serving as Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Official Languages following a cabinet shuffle in the summer of 2023. He is the first Franco-Albertan to be appointed to the position of Minister for Official Languages.
Boissonnault still owned 50% of GHI in January of 2021 when it won a $28,300 contract from the Government of Canada. The award of this contract was not publicly-reported for seven months, at least two months later than the requirement to disclose under Canada's access laws. He received criticism for these dealings, which he blamed on Anderson in a social media statement. Anderson fell under police investigation after clients alleged fraud by GHI by pocketing payments without delivering product.
Boissonnault received further criticism after conflicting statements about his Indigenous heritage came under scrutiny. He has claimed in the past to be a "non-status adopted Cree" person, and that his family members belong to the Métis Nation of Alberta. Anderson also described GHI as Indigenous-owned in conversations with clients. Boissonnault sat in the Liberal Indigenous caucus, which he described as “allyship”. He resigned from cabinet on November 20, 2024, days after the allegations resurfaced. In December 2024, he testified before the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs that he was not Indigenous.
Shortly after stepping away from cabinet, Boissoneault said that he had promised Trudeau to clear his name, and launched a lawsuit against Anderson, his former partner at GHI, for allegedly fabricating stories about him in relation to GHI. On March 21, 2025, Boissonnault announced that he was not going to run for re-election in the 2025 federal election, and the Liberals moved Eleanor Olszewski as a replacement candidate from nearby Edmonton Strathcona.