Sex Scandal Canadian Style
Occasionally, Canadian Parliamental politics is interesting. These days the Opposition, particularly the Liberals, are trying to work up a storm over one of the Consevative goverment's cabinet minister's, femme fatale. globeandmail.com: Woman who dated Bernier had links to biker gang
Maxime Bernier, Foreign Affairs Minister in the Conservative government is a relatively young single man who is know to have an active social life. For some time, he had been escorting a rather striking statuesque woman about town and to political events.. . . his girl friend, if you will, although he put her down as a spouse when applying for permission to have the government pay for her travel when he took her on government business) Apparently, she turned head with her looks and style of dress, (too much decolletage). No doubt she warmed the cockles of many an aging politico.
So what is the problem. . . .lucky guy! It turns out she once was a motorcycle moll. Don't you just love a girl with a history.
Julie Couillard, during the early '90's Biker War in Quebec was a girl friend to a couple of bikers.
She dated Gilles Giguere, an aspiring Hell's Angel, who was murdered before a court case he was involved in. Later she married Stephane Sirois, a member of the Rocker Motorcycle Club, which was associated with the Hells Angels' Motorcycle Club. She apparently had a contract put out on her life by Maurice (Mom) Boucher, the head of the Hell's Angels as he suspected her having some involvement in Giguere's giving information to the police. In 1999, she divorced Sirois.
In fairness, Mme, Couillard has no criminal record and is currently a Real Estate agent in Montreal.
All of this has been known for some time and for reasons of their own the Opposition decided to make a public issue of it by asking the government if all the proper security checks were made by the RCMP to include Mme. Couillard. They have tried to question minister Bernier's judgement as he is a minister overseeing Candian forces in Afghanistan ("where 90% of the world's poppies for heroin is gown." ) Aha, Aha! Bikers, Drugs, Bernier, Afghanistan, Julie Couillard It would make an intesting novel.
It is all so over blown . To his credit Bernier told the House his relationship was a private matter and it is no one else's business. So far Prime Minister Harper has backed him up.
To those who know little about Canadian politics, the personal lives and behaviour of politicians are not acceptable subjects for journalistic inquiry. Recently two Bloc Quebecois married house members each divorced so they could marry. It didn't even make the press.
Canada has had one political sex scandal in the past, The Gerta Munsinger Affair during the Deifenbaker Conservative government (why is it that conservatives have so many sexual missteps?) Miss Munsinger was a prostitute who plied her trade with several politician. It became an issue when she had a triste with Pierre Sevigne, Associate minister of Defense. (Damn! the French Canadians seem to have more interesting sex lives than we Anglos.) She was also a spy. Mme Couillard is no Gerta Munsinger.
It also is not another Profumo Affair Scandal, during the cold war, where John Profumo, the British Minister of War was sharing an lover, Christine Keeler, with a Russian attache Eugene Ivanov. It was felt national security was compromised. Profuno, a married Conservative (another conservative) aristocrat resigned in shame. To his credit he spent the rest of his life doing charity work remaining married to his wife and restored his good name. Mme Couillard, is no Christine Keeler. (One of my favourite hunourous records is called "Fool Britannia"; skits about all the interesting characters in the circle of people which resulted in the Profumo scandal.)
This political dust up will amuse us for a while and the politicians and reporters will move on.
With regard to my ongoing interest in the differences between Canada and the US I can only imagine how such a Canadian (lite) scandal would be trasformed into a major sex political drama, among the press in the US.
Note: I am sorry I did not use the accents on the French words. I do know they are important but Blogger will not publish the ASCHII Characters using the numbers on the keyboard, which is how I produce the accented letters.,
posted by Tossing Pebbles in the Stream @ 3:32 p.m.
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3 Comments:
Oh yes, our American press (I use the term loosly!) would make this young woman's past fodder for weeks and weeks. Talk show, talk radio, tabloids and standard news rags would dissect it! Every week some man in politics or religion is apologizing for "hurting his family" etc. What he really means is he's sorry that he got caught!
I don't think Canada has anything to worry about concerning Mme Couillard! Very funny post and yes, doesn't it seem Conservatives are usually in some sort of sexual hotwater!
Philip,
An interesting post to say the least. I remember many of the things you have mentioned here. I was a young girl when Diefenbaker was in power and so I suppose I either didn't hear about that one.
Take care and thanks so much for commenting on my Mother's Day posts.
Blessings,
Mary
I think the point you miss with the Gerta Munsinger affair is not that she is no Gerta Munsinger but that Bernier, had this happened back then in the 60's would have been in the same stew Sevigne found himself in. His wife at the time had to sell their summer home in Point-aux-Pic Fitzpatrich House to pay his legal defense bills. How do I know? The people who bought the place from her had me and my family there every summer for years...I know all the details. The point being, Bernier is getting off light relative to Sevigne. He really should be under criminal investigation for mishandling sensitive public documents and she should be in jail now for not handing them in when she know she had to. Prove she did not sell or disclose anything in them. You can't... I think this story still has legs... sexy ones at that too....lol
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