Someone Wants Payback

Julie Couillard and Maxime Bernier are seen arriving at Rideau Hall in Ottawa for the swearing-in of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet in August 2007. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

Bernier Bashed PM, Asked Ex To Put NATO Papers In Trash:
Couillard Book

Bernier dismisses ex-girlfriend's allegations in tell-all as 'delusions'

Former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier frequently bad-mouthed Prime Minister Stephen Harper and once asked his girlfriend to dispose of confidential NATO briefing papers on trash day, Julie Couillard writes in her highly anticipated autobiography.

Couillard's book, My Story, released to the CBC and other media organizations ahead of its arrival at bookstores on Monday, portrays Bernier as a narcissistic womanizer who expressed disgust at Harper's eating habits and viewed Quebec's independence as an acceptable inevitability.

"Of course, it [independence] doesn't frighten me at all, that's where we're headed. It's obvious," the book quotes Bernier as telling Couillard during a dinner at a downtown Montreal restaurant within hearing range of other patrons. "And I have no problem with that. I'm ready. I'm expecting that."

Couillard's book has already sparked intense interest in Quebec and is bound to add fresh controversy for the Conservatives ahead of the Oct. 14 federal election on the day of the party leaders' French-language debates in Ottawa.

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