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PM dumps 'Mad Max'

Joanna Smith
May 27, 2008 04:30 AM
Joanna Smith
Les Whittington
Bruce Campion-Smith
Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA—Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier has resigned his high-
profile post after he left secret cabinet documents at the home of his
girlfriend, a woman with past links to organized crime.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who for weeks denied that Bernier's
love life was a security risk, last night announced that he had
accepted Bernier's resignation.

Still, Harper told a hastily called Parliament Hill news conference
that Bernier's relationship with Julie Couillard — and her ties to
biker gangs — were not a factor in his exit from cabinet. "This is not
to do with the minister's private life or the life of a private
citizen."

But Bernier's departure came just a few hours before Couillard was
about to go on air at the French-language television station TVA to
say that her former lover was careless with classified documents.

Couillard famously turned heads last August when she accompanied
Bernier to Rideau Hall when he was sworn in as foreign affairs
minister.

The gaffe-prone Bernier, who attracted the moniker "Mad Max" in
government circles, said he "became aware" Sunday night that he had
left classified government documents at a private residence.

"Prime Minister, the security breach that occurred was my fault and my
fault alone and I take full responsibility for my actions," Bernier,
45, said in his resignation letter.

"I have asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade to conduct a thorough review of the situation," Bernier said.

Couillard's lawyer notified the Foreign Affairs department about the
documents on the weekend, and the material was returned. One source
told The Canadian Press the documents were preparation material for
Bernier’s trip to the NATO summit in April in Bucharest — where Canada
announced its intention to remain in Afghanistan until 2011.

But opposition MPs last night were demanding an investigation into the
extent of security breaches committed by Bernier, calls that will
continue in question period today.

"What are the details of this security breach?" Liberal House Leader
Ralph Goodale said. "What was involved? Was Canada put at risk? I
think we need to know the details of exactly what transpired here."

Bernier is the first of Harper's ministers to step down in disgrace
since the Conservatives took office in February 2006.

And Harper, whose government was sent reeling earlier this year over
"NAFTA-gate" — the leak of sensitive diplomatic information that upset
the U.S. Democratic nomination race — last night made clear his
unhappiness at this latest security breach.

"This is about one thing, and that is a failure to uphold expected
standards on government documents," Harper said in the Commons foyer.

"It is a very serious mistake — regardless of who the minister is,
regardless of personal life — to leave classified documents in an
unsecured location.

"The minister has recognized this error himself and offered to
resign," said Harper, as he prepared to leave on his European tour
that will take him to France, Germany, Italy and Britain. The Prime
Minister said Bernier would be replaced as foreign affairs minister on
a temporary basis by Trade Minister David Emerson, who heads cabinet’s
Afghanistan committee.

Just hours before announcing Bernier's departure, Harper had dismissed
fresh questions about the minister’s ties with Couillard, who was once
married to an outlaw biker and lived with another gangster murdered
during a bloody turf war in the 1990s.

"I have no intention of commenting on a minister's former girlfriend,"
Harper said during a news conference with visiting Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko. "I don't take this subject seriously."

But the Prime Minister was anything but dismissive last night as he
revealed that Bernier had stepped down.

"Whether it was a mistake, it doesn't matter . . . there are
precedents and this obviously is a warning to all ministers," he said.

Bernier has been under fire for weeks because of his gaffes on foreign
affairs issues.

That criticism was fuelled after Bernier openly mused during an
Afghanistan visit that the governor of Kandahar province should be
fired from the job, undoing months of quiet Canadian diplomacy to have
Asadullah Khalid removed from his post. That error alone prompted
speculation Bernier would be shuffled out of the post sometime over
the summer.

More recently, it was revealed he took a $22,573 airline flight to
attend a two-day conference in Laos last November, with a stopover in
Paris.

But Harper said last night that Bernier’s ouster wasn't the result of
an accumulation of errors. However, Conservative insiders said Bernier
got a warning from the Prime Minister’s Office after the governor
blunder that he’d be out if there was one more mistake.

Goodale accused Harper of being too quick to dismiss the possible
security breaches raised by the opposition since Couillard’s
background became public several weeks ago.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said Bernier has been guilty of "a string of
incompetencies" including bungles in getting aid to cyclone-ravaged
Burma, missteps on the Afghan file and the leak on NAFTA that put U.S.
presidential hopeful Barack Obama on the defensive.

With files from Susan Delacourt, Tonda MacCharles and The Canadian
Press

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/431437

Loaf of Bread · Guest

On May 27, 5:32 pm, OldBobPeff...@gmail.com wrote:

snowman · Guest

Loaf of Bread wrote:

Loaf of Bread · Guest

On May 28, 9:52 pm, snowman <x...@x.x> wrote:

snowman · Guest

Loaf of Bread wrote: