Wondertrash®

Poor old Maxime Bernier seems to have got what was coming to him. Bernier was a rising star in the government. As a popular Quebec rep and minister, he seemed to have an unlimited future. The Conservative Party is keen to appease Que, realizing as so many before them have, that Que and Ont are the keys to power. Since Bernier had talent, his masters would be eager to promote him, and cash in on the resulting good will at the poles, come election day.

Besides having talent and French Canada on his side, Bernier had something else, a sizzling young mistress by the name of Julie Couillard. This chick looked like she was gonna be trouble a few months back, when her name first hit the news. It turns out that la belle Julie had a shady past. Some of her past boyfriends were involved in organized crime, of the motorcycle gang variety. The Opposition wanted to know what the hell was going on. They pointed out that this was a major security risk, and demanded that Prime Minister Steven Harper was going to do about it. Looking to project some integrity by not bowing to public pressure, Harper stood by his man.

Despite Harper's astute handling (sarcasm alert!), this issues wasn't dying down. In fact it was only heating up. Soon after it was revealed that Bernier had left classified cabinet documents - of the kind that is treasonous for mere mortals to gaze upon, lying around Couillard's apartment. Even worse he never bothered to come back and pick them up. We know this because Couillard herself revealed this to both the press and the government. Her loyalty to Canada has to be admired, even if her loyalty to her lover is a bit questionable.

So now Couillard has moved up on the shit disturber scale past Ashley Dupree and Monica Lewinsky, and is right in the caliber of Christine Keeler level problem. Naturally with the trouble building up to a force 10 on the political Richter scale, something had to be seen to be done. Harper could no longer stand by the promising young Quebec cabinet minister, and so threw him on the sword - or under the wheels of the bus. However you put it, Harper sacrificed Bernier to save himself.

Saving your own skin by appearing to do the right thing is a nice thought, but perhaps too little too late. The shit had already hit the fan PR wise. People were glad that Bernier was out. Public consensus was that the man's sheer stupidity should bar him from politics; and politics is a career that allows for a lot of stupidity! Still they wanted to know how Harper could let a serious situation like that develop.

They needed have worried too much, since Harper appears to have had a handle on the situation. It wasn't in a way that anyone was going to like though. Seems that the government had Mme Couillard's apartment bugged. How do we know?? Because once again Mme Couillard has come forward and said so. Her loyalty to the public is admirable, even if her loyalty to the country is questionable.

For someone who was supposedly only a bystander in all this, Mme Couillard seems to be awfully involved. She also seems to be getting her face on the news alot too, with press conference after press conference. Some people are beginning to suspect that she likes the attention. Some others are even beginning to seem worse.

Julie Couillard is already looking like bad news with bells on. Anyone can believe that a minister might take briefs to his girlfriend's apartment. It's harder to believe that he would forget about sensitive documents. According to Couillard, they were lying around her flat for 2 weeks, before she finally contacted the authorities to see what should be done. I wonder why she just didn't remind her boyfriend?? That would seem to be the straight forward response. Leaving them there for 2 weeks, but not telling him about them looks a little strange. If she was too concerned for the good of the country to cover for him, why leave them hanging around, when she could contact the authorities immediately?

Now I might suffer from a suspicious nature, by I have to wonder whether she is playing some game. Did she leave them around while debating with herself whether or not to lower the boom?? Might she have even lifted them from among his papers? That would explain why he didn't know they were gone, or at least where he'd left them. Now her most recent revelations of government sponsored wiretapping have given the entire government a black eye. Harper denies that he had any knowledge that Couillard was under surveillance, but even CSIS has seen fit to embarrass the leader, by publicly contradicting him and saying that she probably was being spied on. It's beginning to seems that far from being a bit player in this scenario, she just might be the ice berg that sinks the ship of state! I suppose the question that suspicious types are asking is "was she really an innocent bystander, and if not, how culpable is she in all this?"

Now a video dedication for poor old Maxime Bernier:

Sorry to move the goal post, sucker

Post Script: The first thing that sticks in your mind, upon hearing the story, is that the government paperwork was lying around the apartment for 2 weeks. People will say that she shouldn't have told her boyfriend about it, because he should be held responsible for such breaches. OK, but then how do you explain her leaving them around for 2 weeks. If her intentions were strictly honourable, then she should have contacted the authorities pronto (If she knowingly left these docs in her flat for 2 weeks, then shouldn't she be charged with something?)! As I say, she's beginning to come off as less than innocent in this. She sure seems like bad news though - especially for Bernier and Harper!

By the way, Couillard says that even though the documents were in her apartment for 2 weeks, she never read them. I believe her when she says that, too!