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 Stephen Anderson, chief operating officer of Global Health Imports (GHI), created a numbered company with Francheska Leblond in December 2021, about four months before her detention in the Caribbean country.

Boissonnault and Anderson co-owned GHI until about two weeks ago, when Boissonnault sold his 50 per cent stake in the controversial medical supply company, effectively cutting ties with Anderson.

His former partner is scheduled to appear before a parliamentary ethics committee Wednesday to answer questions about the company’s questionable business practices and what, if anything, the minister knew about them.

Last month, in a unanimous vote, the commons ethics committee passed a motion inviting Anderson to testify before the committee.

Global News found no direct tie between Boissonnault and Leblond.

In a case that generated international headlines, Dominican authorities detained 12 Canadians, including Leblond, after the crew from the Canadian charter company Pivot Airlines said they discovered 210 kilograms of cocaine hidden in their plane. Dominican prosecutors launched an investigation, but no charges were laid.

Global News has confirmed that Leblond was one of several people on the flight who was under RCMP investigation and that she has a history of drug charges under a previous name: Francheska Quach. Leblond was never charged by the RCMP in the Dominican incident.

Nine years earlier, Edmonton police arrested her and two others in a drug bust. Police said they seized loaded handguns