# Canadian Foreign Minister resigns: left classified docs at ex-girlfriend's place **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 27, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716 "2008-05-27T02:43:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/1 "2008-05-27T02:43:26Z")
[Ooops](http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23765294-401,00.html) Naughty Maxime Bernier. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/2 "2008-05-27T02:47:39Z")
The amount of garbage he’s been getting tossed at him in the press makes me think this has been a loooong time coming. I wonder which [del]Harper crony[/del] politician will be up next for the position? ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/3 "2008-05-27T02:57:35Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] The amount of garbage he’s been getting tossed at him in the press makes me think this has been a loooong time coming. [/QUOTE] So, there are no tears being shed at his demise then? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/4 "2008-05-27T03:44:11Z")
Don’t know why, but I found the last line of the article quite funny. > [@](#): > > “The Prime Minister has a lot of explaining to do.” Canada is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/5 "2008-05-27T03:52:11Z")
I wonder at what point she became an ex. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/6 "2008-05-27T06:48:19Z")
Ooh! Shades of Profumo. Still, he’s done (or appeared to have done) the decent thing. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/7 "2008-05-27T15:27:33Z")
Maxime’s been under the spotlight for a number of weeks now, over this issue and a couple of others. He resigned when it became apparent that his ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard, was about to give a public interview in Quebec and admit that files were left in her apartment. What was the motivation for her going public and admitting this? Well, her name has been dragged through the mud for a couple of weeks since it became public knowledge that she once dated 2 guys with ties to the Hell’s Angels. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. All I see is a vindictive bitch who decided to end the career of a promising politician because her name was somewhat sullied by the media. She should have kept her mouth shut. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/8 "2008-05-27T15:45:55Z")
Promising politician? The guy was a screwup who was only being promoted because he was one of the few MPs from Quebec. Columns in today’s Globe and Mail and in the National Post are bemoaning his lack of experience and recent gaffes. “But there were suspicions from the start. You could hear the empty-suit talk in the corridors, the all-hat no-cattle references.” “In April, he was embarrassed for asking for the resignation of Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid. This week, he was accused of making an empty-handed promise to an aid agency giving relief to cyclone-stricken Myanmar . In the House of Commons, he often appeared out of his depth. Foreign Affairs officials began circulating rumours that he was in over his head. “A nice guy, and bright enough,” one said this week. “But Foreign Affairs isn’t his thing. He has no feel for it.”” He left classified documents at his girlfriend’s apartment. This was a major screwup for the Minister of Foreign Affairs; this has nothing to do with girlfriend and he was rightly fired for this breach. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/9 "2008-05-27T16:02:06Z")
[QUOTE=Kid\_A] Promising politician? The guy was a screwup who was only being promoted because he was one of the few MPs from Quebec. Columns in today’s Globe and Mail and in the National Post are bemoaning his lack of experience and recent gaffes. “But there were suspicions from the start. You could hear the empty-suit talk in the corridors, the all-hat no-cattle references.” “In April, he was embarrassed for asking for the resignation of Kandahar Governor Asadullah Khalid. This week, he was accused of making an empty-handed promise to an aid agency giving relief to cyclone-stricken Myanmar . In the House of Commons, he often appeared out of his depth. Foreign Affairs officials began circulating rumours that he was in over his head. “A nice guy, and bright enough,” one said this week. “But Foreign Affairs isn’t his thing. He has no feel for it.”” He left classified documents at his girlfriend’s apartment. This was a major screwup for the Minister of Foreign Affairs; this has nothing to do with girlfriend and he was rightly fired for this breach. [/QUOTE] Give me a break. In all reports the Kandahar Governor should have been replaced anyway. Maxime did in fact screw up by publicly suggesting it though. As for the “empty-handed” promise, he offered lift support for helicopters using one of Canada’s 4 new Globemaster planes. He then found out that 3 were in for maintenance and the remaining one was already deployed. He then went to plan B and leased a Russian plane, just as Canada has done in the past, thereby fulfilling his promise. He may have been in over his head; his ex-girlfriend is still a vindictive bitch with nothing to gain except the destruction of his career. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/10 "2008-05-27T23:45:40Z")
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason US politics scares me. This is pretty much as bad as scandals in the Canadian government gets. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/11 "2008-05-28T00:00:56Z")
[QUOTE=GingerOfTheNorth] This is pretty much as bad as scandals in the Canadian government gets. [/QUOTE] Oh, come on. What about the [Dar Heatherington affair](http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/heatherington/)? Okay, I concede your point. I just can’t get enough of that face. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/12 "2008-05-28T01:01:48Z")
This just in, the mistress is hotter than [the sun](http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/05/26/5669276-sun.html). I’d sure like to leave some secret documents at her house, yowza. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/13 "2008-05-28T02:54:58Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] This just in, the mistress is hotter than [the sun](http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/05/26/5669276-sun.html). I’d sure like to leave some secret documents at her house, yowza. [/QUOTE] Well ya! She’s a hot, French-Canadian, biker chick with … huge tracts of land. What’s not to like? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/14 "2008-05-28T02:58:56Z")
[QUOTE=Cluricaun] This just in, the mistress is hotter than [the sun](http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/05/26/5669276-sun.html). I’d sure like to leave some secret documents at her house, yowza. [/QUOTE] You, sir, need to get to Montreal more often. Every time I’m there it’s like wandering onto a movie set. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/15 "2008-05-28T03:02:44Z")
You know, when my mom considered going into politics, I never thought that something like this might enter into her decision. She decided not to commit to the effort though, because us kids were still in school. But she could have ended up as leader of the NDP… and they would have been more successful, because my mom was smart _and_ sociable… and then they would have won the election, and I would have gone to electronics school in a limo. Edit: I’m going to Montréal in July. Nyaah. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/16 "2008-05-28T03:11:22Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] You know, when my mom considered going into politics, I never thought that something like this might enter into her decision. She decided not to commit to the effort though, because us kids were still in school. But she could have ended up as leader of the NDP… and they would have been more successful, because my mom was smart _and_ sociable… and then they would have won the election, and I would have gone to electronics school in a limo. Edit: I’m going to Montréal in July. Nyaah. 😃 [/QUOTE] Leader of the NDP? My condolences… ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Thalia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba8739/32.png) [@Northern\_Thalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Thalia)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/17 "2008-05-28T03:18:50Z")
The guy was incompetent. I’m sorry. He could have all the potential in the world, but if he can’t comprehend that you DO NOT a)take sensitive material out if a secure area, or b) if you must do so, you MUST keep it in a secure place, then he’s in over his head. Period. It would be a big deal if he was dating Susie Homemaker, but, his blunder is compounded by the fact that he was essentially dating a ‘reformed’ highly priced Hell’s Angels call girl. She was ‘romantically linked’ to two Hell’s Angels, and was involved enough with their dealings to, at one point, have certain members who wanted her dead. Harper gave him such a prestigious position in order to cow-tow to Quebec. As per usual. He needed a Quebecois to push certain issues with the population, as well as develop an inroad so that he can potentially have a majority government next election. Clearly, he fucked up. I have no sympathy for Bernier. Anyone who handles Canada’s secrets so flippantly deserves the onslaught of bad press. I do concur that she’s definitely a woman scorned, and out for revenge, etc., etc. However, she merely brought to light another government official’s inadequacies. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/18 "2008-05-28T03:26:23Z")
I would like to categorically state, for the record, that _all_ Canadian girls are smoking hot. It’s the truth. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/19 "2008-05-28T03:29:11Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] I would like to categorically state, for the record, that _all_ Canadian girls are smoking hot. It’s the truth. 😃 [/QUOTE] :: nods :: 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716/20 "2008-05-28T03:36:58Z")
[QUOTE=Northern Thalia] The guy was incompetent. I’m sorry. He could have all the potential in the world, but if he can’t comprehend that you DO NOT a)take sensitive material out if a secure area, or b) if you must do so, you MUST keep it in a secure place, then he’s in over his head. Period. It would be a big deal if he was dating Susie Homemaker, but, his blunder is compounded by the fact that he was essentially dating a ‘reformed’ highly priced Hell’s Angels call girl. She was ‘romantically linked’ to two Hell’s Angels, and was involved enough with their dealings to, at one point, have certain members who wanted her dead. Harper gave him such a prestigious position in order to cow-tow to Quebec. As per usual. He needed a Quebecois to push certain issues with the population, as well as develop an inroad so that he can potentially have a majority government next election. Clearly, he fucked up. I have no sympathy for Bernier. Anyone who handles Canada’s secrets so flippantly deserves the onslaught of bad press. I do concur that she’s definitely a woman scorned, and out for revenge, etc., etc. However, she merely brought to light another government official’s inadequacies. [/QUOTE] The thing is though, that no harm was done, and if she never said anything then this guy would still have a political career. She ruined his life in politics, and for what reason? She could have left well enough alone and this guy would still have a career in politics. Instead she blabbed about something that did nothing to preserve national security, but only serve to destroy a promising political career. And destroyed it is. There’s no coming back. That sucks. You think no one else has ever taken files home? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/canadian-foreign-minister-resigns-left-classified-docs-at-ex-girlfriends-place/450716.md?page=2)