Dion Demands the RCMP Engage in Bernier Bungling

I see Mr. Dion is in the Globe and Mail today calling for the RCMP to come in a clarify if the Bernier bungling of classified Cabinet information is serious or not.


We need this to happen and I called for the RCMP to come in on this matter in my May 26th posting.


The Globe and Mail did a strong set of stories on the implications of l'Affaire Bernier on the weekend. Good job of serious journalism that is worth the time to read. It makes the point that it is not good enough to dwell on the titillation of the scandal. We need to know just what the Coulliard connection to Hell's Angles means to the quality of the security of our government. Her past biker gang relationships and her role in securing a contract to transport criminals in Quebec is cause for concern too.


The possibility that there was a Hell's Angel's contract out on Ms. Coulliard's life means we need to worry about her well being now too. The shift in attention has to be to the larger issues of security and public safety as well as the need to worry about the safety of certain citizens as well.


So far too many people who are i the know not talking for reasons of "national Security." The information vacuum is leaving the rumour mill to take over and fill in the blanks with bluster and conspiracies. This is all very silly at one end of the story but deadly serious at the other end.


Call in the RCMP Mr. Prime Minister and stop the silliness and use your power and office to get to the bottom of this serious situation.

Bernier Resigns - Call in the RCMP Mr. Harper!

Maxime Bernier, the most troubled and troubling Minister in the Harper Cabinet is gone. Apparently he left classified Cabinet documents in a public place.

Prime Minister Harper is saying that the Bernier resignation is not related to Mr. Bernier’s recent escapades with a former biker girlfriend.

Mr. Bernier allegedly left classified Cabinet documents in his former girlfriend's apartment. I am not a conspiracy theorist but these are the reason and circumstances for the resignation, it poses more serious security questions than it answers.

I posted my concerns about Mr. Bernier’s judgment before on this Blog. Not only do I restate my concerns for the safety and security of Canada its citizens, my anger and anxiety is now heightened more than ever.

I suggested the Prime Minister needs to consider a Cabinet shuffle when Bernier was shown to lack judgement. Now with Mr. Bernier's admitted recklessness and negligence and breach of trust heads have to roll and Harper is on the bubble to explain this. Harper can't delegate or duck the issues.

Mr. Bernier resignation only opens the issues and multiplies them. It closes nothing. The RCMP have to be called in to investigate and to review the security clearance status of all your Cabinet members and Parliamentary Secretaries.

Time for a face saving Cabinet shuffle Mr. Harper. This time your Cabinet must be chosen based on competence not just your compunction command and control of the PMO .

Will Bernier to Get the Boot in a Cabinet Shuffle?

The Hill Times is running a front page story this week speculating that Maxime Bernier will be shuffled and demoted due to his poor judgment concerning his biker girlfriend. I suggested in an earlier post that it was time for a Cabinet shuffle. Looks like Harper is considering it at least.

Sources tell me Bernier actually noted in certain documents calling his former biker girlfriend his “spouse” so she could travel internationally with him on the taxpayer’s dime. A classy guy – all the way.

In Alberta Lougheed's Warnings Trump the Harper Cabinet Shuffle

The Federal Cabinet shuffle was announced yesterday and the same day Peter Lougheed stole the headlines from Harper, at least in Alberta and the Globe and Mail.

As for the Federal Cabinet, I defer to The Enlightened Savage and his analysis. Save for one point – Jim Prentice is going to have his hands full. Productivity and competitiveness will be two issues that will not be tackled in the time left before an election. However continental energy supply and Canadian-US relations will be a big issue for him to deal with.

With Maxime Bernier in Foreign Affairs and American angst over homeland security – and reliable energy supply security being a big part of that concern will give Minister Prentice plenty to chew on. I posted an Editorial on Policy Channel on this issue if you are interested.

As for Peter Lougheed, with his speech yesterday at the Canadian Bar Association annual meeting, he has now changed the political priority agenda in Alberta and has positioned our fed-prov dynamic in the most dramatic of terms.

Will the Harper government engage in an environmental battle with Alberta over oil sands development and trust the Supreme Court to decide the issue on a Reference. I do not think so. Will the trade-off between environmental concerns and growth of the oils sands cause a constitutional crisis 10 times bigger than the NEP? I don’t think so.

I will have more to say about Peter Lougheed’s speech and the implications and fall out in later postings – and after I have read the speech. One thing for sure – Lougheed’ speech, as reported, is going has made a huge difference in what Alberta will be about and how we will relate to the rest of Canada.

James Rajotte for Cabinet!

If there is a Harper Cabinet shuffle in the works, and it looks imminent, I hope the PM adds James Rajotte to his Cabinet. This is a quiet steady and very loyal guy with some real abilities whose praises are too often left unsung.

Having a Minister actually from Edmonton will bolster Harper’s support in this city in the pending election too. An Ambrose, Bernier shuffle would leave the Industry portfolio open for a man of Rajotte’s calibre.

Prentice is already ensconced deeply in the day to day details of the operations of the government and has some real passion for the work he has started in the Indian Affairs portfolio. He needs a move like a hole in the head. Bernier in Environment would make a lot of sense and Quebec would sure notice. The Cons needs to elevate their game in the environment, especially in Quebec.

The Van Loon bench warming in Intergovernmental Affairs due to the Michael Chong resignation over the Quebec Nation tactic could come to an end easily and no one would notice. The relative merits between and Rajotte and a Van Loon in the Cabinet weigh heavily in favour of the former on talent, experience and loyalty to the Leader.

I’m pulling for James!