MPs target Bernier over ex-girlfriend's alleged biker ties PM accuses Dion and Duceppe of being 'gossipy old busybodies'
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier dismissed heated questions from opposition members on Thursday over reports alleging his ex-girlfriend had ties to Quebec biker gangs, insisting their relationship was a private matter.
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier is seen with then girlfriend Julie Couillard in 2007. (CBC)Published reports cite court documents saying Julie Couillard, 38, once married a member of the Rockers biker gang and was a potential target of Hells Angels' kingpin Maurice (Mom) Boucher while she dated another biker in the 1990s.
Couillard, who has no criminal record, accompanied Bernier to Rideau Hall last August for his swearing-in ceremony to the Foreign Affairs portfolio. The minister's office said the two recently broke up.
YOUR SAY ‘What's so ironic about all of these silly things is that while they are arguing about small things of the past, government doesn't worry itself about having to move on to big things. Keep em' coming, fools.’ —Tracy J Add your comment
Responding to opposition suggestions the relationship raises issues of national security, Bernier said it was "in the past" between him and Couillard. He added he never thought he would be subject to "such a nasty and low attack" by opposition members.
“People’s private lives are none of your business,” Bernier told the House, garnering a standing ovation and chumly pats on the back from Conservative members around him.
Ahead of the debate, Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismissed the reports as irrelevant to government business, calling Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe "gossipy old busybodies."
"I hear one of my cabinet ministers has an ex-girlfriend," Harper said. "It’s none of my business. It's none of Mr. Duceppe's business. It's none of Mr. Dion's business."
'Pattern of embarassment': Ignatieff
But Liberal Deputy Leader Michael Ignatieff told the House the latest reports are part of a “pattern of embarrassment” of Bernier’s conduct in the Foreign Affairs portfolio, citing his recent high-profile blunder on Afghanistan.
“Questions about ministerial judgment and national security are not a private matter; they are everyone’s business,” Ignatieff said. "Based on this record of embarassment, how can the government have confidence in the minister?"
During debate in the House, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe asked whether Bernier and the Prime Minister's Office were aware of Couillard's "shady past" when he was sworn in.
Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, a cabinet colleague and Harper's Quebec lieutenant, came to Bernier's defence, saying Bernier has done a "remarkable job and difficult job for our country."
"He merits and deserves our encouragement," Cannon told the Commons.
MPs 'wasting taxpayers' money': Van Loan
Government House leader Peter Van Loan went further, saying MPs who engage in such questioning were “entirely wasting the taxpayers’ money and aren’t fit for public office.”
He also cited the quip made famous decades ago by the late prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who borrowed journalist and writer Martin O'Malley's line that "the state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation."
“It’s a question that shouldn’t be asked here,” Van Loan said. “It shouldn’t be asked anywhere, ever.”
NDP Leader Jack Layton used his party's question time to grill the government over economic challenges facing middle-income Canadians and what he called the Tories' "robbing" of employment insurance at a time when it was most needed.
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion was not in the Commons during question period, but said earlier that there's "certainly a concern" about Couillard's alleged ties.
'It's my name that'll be dragged in the mud'
"Mr. Bernier needs to explain, because we want to know if there were any matters of national security involved," Dion said in French. "But I don’t have more details and you can understand that I have to be cautious in my comments."
In an interview with the Globe and Mail published Thursday, Couillard dismissed the media reports on her as politically motivated.
"Some people are after Maxime Bernier and it's my name that'll be dragged in the mud," she told the Globe.
Bernier has been in a weakened position in recent weeks since a gaffe in April during a visit to Afghanistan, where he publicly suggested the removal of the governor of Kandahar.
The minister was quickly forced to issue a "clarification" after the Afghan government expressed concern about foreign interference in its internal affairs.
With files from the Canadian Press
Embattled Canadian junior cabinet minister Helena Guergis has resigned her cabinet post and has been ejected from caucus today in Ottawa amid recent scandals involving herself and her husband, disgraced former Member of Parliament (MP) Rahim Jaffer.

Guergis, Conservative MP for Simcoe-Grey, held the position as Minister of State for the Status of Women since her re-election in the 2008 federal election, but has come under fire due to an outburst at the Charlottetown airport in February and a call from the opposition Liberal Party for a probe by the federal ethics commissioner into her purchase of an Ottawa home.  She has also come under scrutiny due to recent scandals involving her husband, who faced charges of impaired driving and cocaine possession as well as comments made to business contacts about connections to the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, those comments later being called "absurd" by the Prime Minister's Office.

In an email, Guergis is quoted as saying, "The past nine months have been a very difficult time for me. I have made mistakes for which I have apologized."  The email made specific reference to her outburst in Charlottetown, insisting she would never insult her father's birthplace and also voiced her intent to continue in her role as a Member of Parliament.

Given the circumstances, Prime Minister Harper stated today at a press conference that "a resignation is necessary," also announcing that the RCMP have been called to investigate recent allegations against Guergis.  Harper is also reported to have ejected Guergis from the Conservative caucus pending the investigation by the RCMP.  Her role as Minister of State for the status of women has been given to current Public Works minister Rona Ambrose.

The governing Conservatives previously came under fire in 2008 after former Minister for Foreign Affairs Maxime Bernier had left confidential documents at the home of his girlfriend, Julie Couillard, a relationship that in itself caused some unrest in Parliament due to Couillard's past connections to Quebec biker gangs.