OTTAWA, PARIS — Questions about how secret government documents went missing for five weeks without alarms being raised dogged Stephen Harper's government the day after Maxime Bernier was forced out as foreign affairs minister over the security breach.

The Prime Minister, in Paris on a European tour he began only hours after he announced Mr. Bernier's resignation, essentially declared the affair over – insisting that a Foreign Affairs Department review of the incident is enough, and rejecting an expanded probe.

But the scandal is likely to intensify calls for security checks of ministers' spouses and companions, and for control of classified government documents to be tightened.

Mr. Bernier resigned on Monday after admitting he left classified documents about an April NATO summit at the home of his ex-girlfriend Julie Couillard.


 For weeks, after news reports surfaced about Ms. Couillard's past, the opposition had pounded the Conservatives with questions on whether her earlier relationships with members of criminal biker gangs posed a security risk – queries Mr. Harper rebuffed as intrusions into the pair's private lives.

Tuesday, the opposition charged that the government had ignored serious security issues – and expressed skepticism that classified documents could be misplaced for five weeks without raising government flags.

“Why did it take the government five weeks to discover that documents were missing, and why did it take the government five weeks to ask a question either of the member for Beauce, the former minister, or of Madame Couillard?” Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae asked in the Commons.

“Why do you sit on your duffs and do nothing for five weeks?”

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan insisted that the Prime Minister's Office was told about the missing documents only on Monday, “and after being informed of the situation with these documents, the Prime Minister acted.”

He insisted it did not matter where they were, only that they had been misplaced in an unsecured location.

He said the Foreign Affairs Department will review the affair, and can call in other agencies – presumably the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service – if needed.

Mr. Bernier, once a Quebec political star but now a liability, was said to be in Ottawa Tuesday, but did not attend Question Period in the Commons – and did not appear in public to respond to statements Ms. Couillard made in an interview broadcast on Monday night or questions about the documents.

As foreign affairs minister, Mr. Bernier would have had access to highly secret information about military assets and plans, and sensitive information about relations with foreign countries

2)The criminal element

The ex girlfriend, Julie Coulliard has links to biker gangs and other criminal elements. Which leads to another question of whether the government should have vetted senior ministers partners.

3)Glamour

Here is a picture of the minister and his then girlfriend going to an official function. The way she is dressed means she is not going to fly under the radar from political and other interest.