Maxime Bernier arrives to be sworn in as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs accompanied by Julie Couillard during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on in this Aug 14, 2007 file photo. (The Canadian Press)
By Daniel Leblanc
Globe and Mail
Background investigations on cabinet ministers could be improved by expanding them to include spouses and family members, an RCMP official indicated Wednesday.
In his second appearance before the House committee on public safety, RCMP Assistant Commissioner Raf Souccar was guarded in his comments, but he told MPs the current background investigations could be beefed up.
“The process is what it is. If it is not the right process, it has to be changed, and government has to make that decision,” Assistant Commissioner Souccar said. “Can this [process] be improved? I'm sure it can.”
Assistant Commissioner Souccar and Bob Paulson, the assistant commissioner for national security, were under fire over the RCMP's handling of the case of former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier, who recently dated a woman with ties to men with criminal backgrounds.
The opposition is concerned that the RCMP never raised a red flag about Mr. Bernier's ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard, with the government's top bureaucrats at the Privy Council Office.
Assistant Commissioner Paulson said he noticed Ms. Couillard with Mr. Bernier last August at a swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall. However, the RCMP had no responsibility to conduct further background investigations on her or any other minister's spouse.
“At the time that I saw her, I had none of that knowledge [about Ms. Couillard's past] and didn't make that connection,” Assistant Commissioner Paulson said.
In 1998, according to court records, the RCMP ordered a surveillance operation on Ms. Couillard's home as part of a drug investigation.
Assistant Commissioner Souccar pointed out that the RCMP have no responsibility to look at the immediate family or the people surrounding a potential or current cabinet minister.
“We don't go around and do spot checks on ministers or anybody that is subject to a pre-appointment check to determine if they have anybody in their life … who has had a questionable past,” he said.
Assistant Commissioner Souccar said that future changes to the screening process are in the hands of the government, and will depend on the extent to which ministers “are willing to expose themselves.”
During Wednesday's hearing, opposition MPs criticized Assistant Commissioner Souccar for refusing to tell them last week whether the RCMP informed the Privy Council Office about Ms. Couillard's past. The PCO, however, later acknowledged that it had never received information on Ms. Couillard from the RCMP.
Assistant Commissioner Souccar said the PCO warned him that it was about to make public that information last week, although he did not see a reason to do it.
“I had some difficulty understanding the need to go public with the statement indicating that we had not contacted them. They nevertheless chose to do that, and it's their right to do that,” he said.
Two days ago, the Prime Minister's national security adviser, Margaret Bloodworth, said that Mr. Bernier cleared a full background investigation by the RCMP and CSIS just weeks before allegations of missing documents led to his resignation from cabinet.
Ms. Bloodworth stated that while she had read allegations surrounding Ms. Couillard in the newspapers, she has no evidence to suggest what is true or not true.
Assistant Commissioner Souccar said he has obtained new information about Ms. Couillard in the past week, but he refused to say whether the RCMP are investigating the matter.
Ms. Couillard and Mr. Bernier have refused to appear before the committee.
Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns
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