OTTAWA -- The Harper government says Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier's recent romantic liaison is no threat to national security, despite a news report that said his ex-girlfriend's links to the criminal underworld were more recent than previously thought.
But the Conservatives refused to say whether authorities investigated the affair or took any other measures that allowed them to conclude there was no threat.
Bernier's former relationship became political fodder once again Friday after Montreal's La Presse newspaper reported that Julie Couillard lived with a man with ties to the Hells Angels three years ago.
Couillard's penchant for bikers and bad-boys was thought to have been limited to one husband and one live-in boyfriend before 1999.
But La Presse said she lived until 2005 with Robert Pepin, who the newspaper said owed money to a Hells Angels loanshark when he committed suicide last year and once pleaded guilty to trafficking stolen goods.
Sometime between the end of her relationship with Pepin and her appearance with Bernier at a cabinet swearing-in ceremony last summer, she began dating the minister.
Security experts and opposition parties say a relationship between a cabinet minister and someone with criminal ties poses potential security risks. People close to Bernier have described how his ex-girlfriend took an active enough interest in his professional life that it annoyed some of his staff.
But when asked whether it had done anything to check for a security breach, the government dismissed the risk. "This is not an issue of national security," said Conservative House Leader Peter Van Loan.
What he and other government officials have repeatedly refused to answer is whether anything has been done in recently to examine several questions.
Those questions include whether Bernier shared sensitive information with Couillard and whether he was aware of her past.
The Liberals defended their line of questioning. "Frankly, I'm stunned that the minister and government continue to take the position that this has nothing to do with the public interest," Liberal MP Bob Rae said.
A spokeswoman for the Privy Council Office said the minister would only have been screened when he was first named to cabinet -- as industry minister in 2006, which is before he was ever seen in public with Couillard.
-- The Canadian Press
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