Headlines, North America

POLITICS-CANADA: Few Mourn Fallen Foreign Minister

Am Johal

VICTORIA, May 30 2008 (IPS) - Canada’s gaffe-prone foreign affairs minister, Maxime Bernier, resigned suddenly this week after revelations that he left sensitive and confidential government documents at the home of his ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard.

The titillating scandal broke after Couillard, who had previous ties with biker gangs, gave an interview for a French-language television station which aired in Quebec on Monday. Bernier was temporarily replaced by Industry Minister David Emerson.

Bernier had been under fire last month after Couillard’s past relationships with gangsters were revealed in national newspapers. At the time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that the private lives of government members were to be left in private. He accused Opposition government members of being nosy and crossing the line of decorum.

Steven Staples with the Rideau Institute on International Affairs, told IPS, “What it underscores is that Canada’s real foreign affairs minister is the prime minister, particularly where he has shifted Canada’s foreign policy to mirror that of the U.S. and particularly in Afghanistan.”

According to Staples, Bernier was appointed to the post for domestic reasons, not for his expertise in international affairs. “Particularly, Bernier was to build support for the mission in Afghanistan in Quebec. Harper has been lucky that there hasn’t been a groundswell against the war.”

“Bernier is off the hook and has been ineffective as foreign affairs minister and could not be relied on to sell the government’s agenda in any event,” Staples said. “He leaves the department worse off than when he took over. Overall, the Foreign Affairs ministry has had fairly weak leadership, funding is waning and Canada’s role on the world stage is crumbling. We’re hoping to see some new talent moved into that ministry – somebody that has a much better grasp and is less ideologically motivated.”

Couillard had previously been linked with Gilles Giguer, a loan shark and biker who had been arrested for possession of machine guns and marijuana. Guiger was killed after agreeing to testify against the Hells Angels. Others included Stephane Sirois, a member of the Rockers, a Hells Angels puppet club, and Robert Pepin, a truck hijacker who later committed suicide.

Couillard came to national prominence after attending Bernier’s swearing-in ceremony in a dress with a plunging neckline, which she said Bernier picked out especially for her. Couillard was even introduced to U.S. President George W. Bush at official functions. Bush is reported to have remarked to Bernier, “Well, well, well, haven’t you been keeping good company.” She also approached the Toronto Star newspaper and asked for 50,000 dollars for an exclusive interview.

The scandal has made headlines in Canada, Britain, the United States and in Europe where Prime Minister Harper is on tour.

This scandal brought back security concerns that had surfaced earlier this month. Bernier admitted on Monday that he had left classified documents regarding an April NATO summit in Bucharest at his ex-girlfriend’s place. The documents had been missing for five weeks and were returned to government on Sunday by legal representatives of Couillard.

The briefing books would have had confidential information regarding the war in Afghanistan, the U.S.’s missile shield and NATO expansion and analyses of other countries’ positions.

The square-jawed Bernier was once named sexiest Member of Parliament by a weekly political newspaper in Ottawa and was viewed as a rising star in for the Conservative Party due to its lack of support in Quebec. Bernier was the Conservative Party’s most loyal Quebec supporter of Harper and ideologically aligned with him. Appointing Bernier to Foreign Affairs was meant to build support for Canada’s role in Afghanistan and to raise the profile of the Conservative Party. Previously, Bernier was a political aide to former Quebec Premier Bernard Landry.

Bernier was also criticised by opponents for being stylish without substance. As foreign affairs minister, Bernier had called the Haitian leader by the wrong name, made ill advised comments while visiting Afghanistan and made promises regarding Myanmar which had not been well-researched. As well, the Foreign Affairs Ministry was implicated in the leak of information related to the North American Free Trade Agreement which affected the U.S. Democratic leadership race.

Opposition defence critic Dawn Black also accused Bernier of exposing documents on a trip to Edinburgh in late 2007.

Couillard revealed that Bernier had asked her to at least stay with him for a year no matter what happened in their relationship as it would not look good for him to change girlfriends. According to her, he said, “I can’t switch girlfriends like I change shirts, so you have to be my official girlfriend for at least a year, in spite of what might happen between us.”

But many pundits felt he was in over his head in the Foreign Affairs portfolio.

In her television interview, Couillard suggested that her apartment had been bugged by government authorities. Melissa Leclerc, a spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, confirmed by e-mail to the Globe and Mail newspaper that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service was not involved in the surveillance of Couillard. The RCMP stated that it is their policy neither to confirm nor deny whether an investigation is underway.

Although the breach is unlikely to lead to criminal charges, Bernier himself has asked for a “thorough review of the situation”. Opposition parties have called for a public inquiry.

But one Canadian political science professor is arguing that the scandal is minor issue in the big picture for Canada.

“On foreign policy, the level of seriousness of these matters has been exaggerated and has been taken far too seriously,” Alan Tupper, head of the political science department at the University of British Columbia, told IPS. “It’s a tabloid level question for most people.”

“I’m not downplaying this issue, but it’s not particularly serious. Immediately, Harper needs to find a foreign minister and he does not have a large a new pool of talent to draw from. He has some work to do. He must now have a cabinet shuffle not in terms of the timing he would have wanted and a representation issue related to Quebec.”

“There’s a sense that people are making fun of the government and not taking it seriously,” Tupper said. “For a government that’s tried to be earnest, it highlights the inexperience of the Harper government, and in some people’s opinion, is viewed as amateurish.”