# Marc-Boris St-Maurice

Marc-Boris St-Maurice (born 1969) is an activist, politician and Canadian musician, who has campaigned for many years for the legalization of cannabis, and to facilitate access to the drug for health reasons. He lives in Montreal, Quebec.

## Music career

St-Maurice first became known in the early 1990s as bassist of punk band Grimskunk. It was then that Marc Saint-Maurice received the nickname "Boris". He left the band in 1999 to focus on his activism in the marijuana legalization movement.

## Political career

In 1998, he founded the Bloc Pot, a Quebec provincial political party whose main objective was the decriminalization and eventual legalization of marijuana. In the Quebec general election of that year St-Maurice was the party's candidate in Mercier, placing fourth. In 2000, he created the federal equivalent of the Bloc Pot, the Marijuana Party, which ran candidates in federal elections. That year, St-Maurice was the party's candidate on two separate occasions, first in the byelection to replace resigning Okanagan—Coquihalla MP Jim Hart, then in Laurier—Sainte-Marie in the November general election. While ultimately unsuccessful, St-Maurice's candidacy in the November federal election was an unprecedented result for both St-Maurice and the Marijuana Party. He managed to best the candidates of three major parties (the New Democratic Party, the Progressive Conservatives, and the Canadian Alliance) a relatively rare feat for a minor party. In 2001, St-Maurice returned to Quebec politics to contest the byelection in Jonquière, prompted by the resignation of Lucien Bouchard. The next year he was a candidate in the federal byelection in Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, placing last. His final foray into federal politics came in 2004, where he stood as a candidate in LaSalle—Émard, the riding of then Prime Minister Paul Martin.
In February 2005, Saint-Maurice left the Marijuana Party to join the Liberal Party of Canada, arguing that the chances of reaching the objectives pursued by both cannabis rights parties were better in the then ruling party. The movement for marijuana had actually made some progress under Liberal rule in the early 2000s, with decriminalization bills introduced in 2003 and 2004 by the governments of Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. When Stephen Harper's Conservatives won in the 2006 election, the new government did not continue with this legislation.
In 2009, St-Maurice contested the 2009 Montreal municipal election, seeking the position of city councillor in Jeanne-Mance. He was ultimately unsuccessfully, losing to Nimâ Machouf of Projet Montreal.

## Compassion Club and activism

St-Maurice has experienced trouble with the law when he was a full-time volunteer at the Compassion Club, an organization that provides marijuana to seriously ill individuals with a medical prescription. The first Montreal Compassion Club, based on those in Toronto and British Columbia, was opened on Rachel Street, near a police station.
Following a police raid, St-Maurice and his colleague Alexander Neron were accused of possession and trafficking of narcotics. Their lawyers pleaded that the Canadian legislation left a legal loophole, allowing certain individuals to possess cannabis for medicinal purposes, but not supplying the product in question. Judge Gilles Cadieux halted the proceedings against the two men in December 2002.
St-Maurice is the founder and director of the Montreal Compassion Centre, a medical marijuana facility in downtown Montreal. Prior to the legalization of cannabis in Canada, the centre was raided and shut down in 2011.

## Electoral record
### 2009 Montreal Municipal Election: Jeanne-Mance

| Party | City Council candidate | Vote | % |
| Projet Montréal | Nimâ Machouf | 3,271 | 39.90 |
| Vision Montréal | Nathalie Rochefort | 2,404 | 29.32 |
| Union Montréal | Michel Prescott | 1,806 | 22.03 |
| Independent | Marc-Boris St-Maurice | 548 | 6.68 |
| Parti Montréal Ville-Marie | Marc-André Bahl | 170 | 2.07 |
2004 Canadian federal election: LaSalle—Émard :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures |
| | Liberal | Paul Martin | 25,806 | 56.6 | -9.2 | $58,357 |
| | Bloc Québécois | Thierry Larrivée | 14,001 | 30.7 | +6.5 | $6,381 |
| | Conservative | Nicole Roy-Arcelin | 2,271 | 5.0 | -1.0 | $5,075 |
| | New Democratic | Rebecca Blaikie | 1,995 | 4.4 | +2.7 | $2,226 |
| | Green | Douglas Jack | 1,000 | 2.2 | – | $410 |
| | Marijuana | Marc-Boris St-Maurice | 349 | 0.8 | -0.8 | |
| | Marxist–Leninist | Jean-Paul Bédard | 210 | 0.5 | – | |
| Total | Total | Total | 45,632 | 100.0 | $78,239 |
Canadian federal by-election, May 13, 2002: Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel Retirement of Alfonso Gagliano :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Massimo Pacetti | 14,076 | 83.5 | +6.9 |
| | Bloc Québécois | Umberto Di Genova | 1,495 | 8.9 | -5.6 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Antonio Cordeiro | 634 | 3.8 | +1.5 |
| | New Democratic | Normand Caplette | 447 | 2.7 | +1.5 |
| | Marijuana | Marc-Boris St-Maurice | 197 | 1.2 | -0.2 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 16,849 | 100.0 |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | Swing | |
Quebec provincial by-election, 2001: Jonquière Resignation of Lucien Bouchard :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Françoise Gauthier | 13,077 | 46.54 | +27.19 |
| | Parti Québécois | Nicole Racine | 8,830 | 31.42 | -29.06 |
| | Action démocratique | Michèle Boulianne | 5,391 | 19.18 | +14.20 |
| | RAP | Gilbert Talbot | 480 | 1.71 | -13.13 |
| | Bloc Pot | Marc-Boris St-Maurice | 323 | 1.15 | – |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 28,101 | 99.04 | -0.08 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 273 | 0.96 | +0.08 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 28,374 | 63.45 | -13.46 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 44,716 |
| | Liberal gain | Liberal gain | Swing | Swing | |
vte2000 Canadian federal election: Laurier—Sainte-Marie :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Bloc Québécois | Gilles Duceppe | 23,473 | 52.8 | −1.9 |
| | Liberal | Jean Philippe Côté | 11,451 | 25.7 | +2.8 |
| | Green | Dylan Perceval-Maxwell | 2,169 | 4.9 | +2.5 |
| | Marijuana | Marc-Boris St-Maurice | 2,156 | 4.8 | – |
| | New Democratic | Richard Chartier | 2,121 | 4.8 | +0.3 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Jean François Tessier | 1,879 | 4.2 | −7.7 |
| | Alliance | Stéphane Prud'homme | 960 | 2.2 | – |
| | Marxist–Leninist | Ginette Boutet | 269 | 0.6 | −0.1 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 44,478 | 100.0 |
| | Bloc Québécois hold | Bloc Québécois hold | Swing | Swing | |
Canadian federal by-election, September 11, 2000: Okanagan—Coquihalla Resignation of Jim Hart :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Alliance | Stockwell Day | 19,417 | 70.30 | +17.24 |
| | New Democratic | Ken Ellis | 3,470 | 12.56 | +0.81 |
| | Green | Joan Russow | 2,115 | 7.66 | +5.49 |
| | Canadian Action | Jack William Peach | 1,159 | 4.20 | – |
| | Independent | Jim Strauss | 689 | 2.49 | – |
| | Independent | Marc-Boris St-Maurice | 438 | 1.59 | – |
| | Independent | Dennis Earl Baker | 223 | 0.81 | – |
| | Independent | Rad Gajic | 108 | 0.39 | – |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 27,619 | 100.0 |
| | Alliance hold | Alliance hold | Swing | Swing | +8.22 |
vte1998 Quebec general election: Mercier :
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Parti Québécois | Robert Perreault | 17,552 | 55.38 | −1.10 |
| | Liberal | Elizabeth da Silva | 9,005 | 28.42 | −2.13 |
| | Action démocratique | Paul Benevides | 2,818 | 8.89 | +3.47 |
| | Bloc Pot | Marc-Boris St-Maurice | 985 | 3.11 | – |
| | Socialist Democracy | Guylaine Sirard | 873 | 2.75 | +0.12 |
| | Independent | Ann Farrell | 158 | 0.50 | – |
| | Natural Law | Pierre Bergeron | 154 | 0.49 | −0.34 |
| | Marxist–Leninist | Normand Chouinard | 79 | 0.25 | −0.08 |
| | Communist | Pierre Smith | 67 | 0.21 | −0.21 |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 31,691 | 98.47 | +1.03 |
| Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | Total rejected ballots | 493 | 1.53 | -1.03 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 32,184 | 75.28 | -5.05 |
| Eligible voters | Eligible voters | Eligible voters | 42,755 |
| | Parti Québécois hold | Parti Québécois hold | Swing | Swing | +0.52 |
| Source: Official Results, Le Directeur général des élections du Québec. |||||||