OTTAWA — A federal government report on the missing classified documents that cost former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier his job concludes that his ex-girlfriend may have broken Canada’s secrets laws.
The report, drafted by the Foreign Affairs Department, which Mr. Bernier headed until May, concludes that there is no reason to disbelieve Mr. Bernier’s statement that he never took the classified documents out of his unlocked briefcase during a visit April 4 and 5 to the apartment of girlfriend Julie Couillard.
“Ms. Couillard may have put herself in jeopardy of having contravened a provision of the Security of Information Act,” the report adds.
The report doesn’t say whether officials believe Ms. Couillard removed the classified documents from the briefcase – only that Mr. Bernier had them when he arrived, didn’t take them out at any time during the visit, and left without them. Ms. Couillard did not agree to be interviewed by investigators.
Oh.
Published 5 months, 1 week agoOne Response to “Bernier says it isn’t his mistake”
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Whether it was Bernier who removed the documents from his briefcase or not is actually quite irrelevant. He is still responsible for those documents while they were in his custody. The fact that he lost track of them at all is very serious. That he didn’t “discover” their absence until some weeks later when Couillard brought them forward suggests that Bernier was grossly negligent in his handling of those documents.
If Couillard had lifted them (which wouldn’t entirely surprise me), about all that tells us is that a woman with a checkered past remains somewhat less than fully honest, but it does not absolve Bernier of responsibility for those documents - nor for that matter - the fact that he clearly doesn’t actually pay attention to what he is carrying about in his briefcase.