Accused of resisting police, Bernard Valcourt pleads not guilty

Former federal politician Bernard Valcourt in Edmundston Provincial Court on January 31, 2023.

Former Minister Bernard Valcourt pleads not guilty to obstructing the work of police officers and resisting them.

He was absent from Edmundston Provincial Court on Tuesday morning. He was represented by Me Shawn Beaulieu.

Bernard Valcourt was charged on January 17 in connection with an incident dating back to October 4, 2022. The circumstances of this event are not specified at this time.

The trial is scheduled for September 13 and 14.

Due to the notoriety of the accused, an out-of-province prosecutor and judge will be assigned to this case. On Tuesday, Rivière-du-Loup prosecutor Lili-Anne Laforest was present in court.

Bernard Valcourt was elected as a federal deputy for the first time in 1984. He had a brief stint in provincial politics in the mid-1990s, before returning to the House of Commons in 2011, where he headed several ministries.

This is not not the first legal setbacks of Bernard Valcourt. He was charged with impaired driving in 1989 after an investigation into a motorcycle accident in which he was involved. This incident led him to submit his resignation to his boss, Brian Mulroney.

With information from Mathilde Pineault