Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier resigned on May 26th after admitting he left classified NATO documents at the apartment of his ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard, a former model with past links to members of the Hells Angels.

The NATO documents included information from last April’s summit in Romania, including NATO’s military strategy in Afghanistan. Bernier did not realize he had forgotten the papers until they were returned by lawyers Sunday night, more than a month later, and delayed telling Prime Minister Stephen Harper until Monday afternoon. Bernier then resigned from his post.

“Mr. Bernier has learned and informed me that he left classified government documents in a non-secure location,” said Harper. “This is a serious error and the minister has accepted his responsibility.”

Stephen Harper called a news conference just hours before Julie Couillard made claims that Mr. Bernier had been careless with government papers. The government has received a lot of public criticism for Mr. Bernier’s relationship with Ms. Couillard, though Harper has been defending Bernier’s right to privacy.

“Let me be very clear: this is not to do with the minister’s life or the life of a private citizen, 99 percent of which I think is completely off bounds,” said Harper.

Maxime Bernier’s ministry position was replaced by David Emerson, and Bernier’s bio has been completely wiped from the Stephen Harper website. The police are looking into allegations raised about this and other matters, as described here, and to whether this will be considered a criminal offense in breach of national security.

hat tip: flyinghamster, via globe and mail, ctv Tags: harper, bernier, maxime bernier, data breach, security breach, canada, canadian government, government, canada government, foreign affairs, stephen harper