General

Dear Ministers: watch who you date

(Another pathetic excuse to run this picture.)

Julie Couillard really left her mark on the Conservative government, it seems. Harper’s government shouldered much of the fallout of her epic tragic undoubtedly wholesome six-month dalliance with Maxime Bernier, during which it was revealed that the erstwhile CabMin had left secret documents at Julie’s abode and–whoopsie daisy!–Julie was once married to a biker gang member. Now, the subtle retort: ministers will be screened every two years to ensure no one is leaving anything anywhere, at anytime for anyone, comely or otherwise.

La Presse’s Joel-Denis Bellavance, gives us the goods, courtesy of a brilliant Access To Information and Privacy request:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper discretely demanded that all his ministers submit to security verifications every two years […] The goal: to avoid another controversy like the one that brought on the resignation of Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime in May 2008.

Bellavance goes on to note that until now  nearly everyone in government has to go through some sort of security check–everyone except Cabinet Ministers, that is. Apparently the assumption was that they were made of tougher moral fibre. Whoops!

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