The ex-girlfriend of former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier claims he asked her to toss out confidential government documents in the garbage.
Bernier resigned as foreign affairs minister May 26, hours before Julie Couillard revealed he had left government documents in her apartment in mid-April. She didn't return them to the government until May 25.
Couillard, in her soon-to-be released autobiography "My Story," said Bernier pulled the documents out of his briefcase after they'd spent the night together.
She said he then asked her to throw them out on garbage day.
"That blend of vanity and flippancy was just like the Maxime I knew," she said.
"It was as if he had said to me, 'Look at me, I'm a minister of the Crown. I'm somebody incredibly important walking around with ultra-confidential documents in his briefcase, but I'm above all that. You see what I'm doing with them?"'
Couillard said the pair had split four months earlier but still slept together on occasion.
The pair first made headlines in 2007, when Bernier brought Couillard -- in a revealing dress -- to his swearing-in ceremony for the cabinet.
In her book, Couillard also claims Bernier often criticized Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's weight and choice of clothing.
She says Bernier thought Harper had a bad sense of style, was fat and unhealthy and drank too much Pepsi.
She says Bernier didn't think Harper would survive his first term as PM and that Bernier thought he'd replace him as Tory leader.
Also, Couillard says Bernier was happy about their relationship because some of his colleagues thought he was gay.
"On the Hill, people are whispering that I'm gay," she quotes Bernier as saying. "Now they'll see that I have a girlfriend."
On Afghanistan, Couillard says Bernier was opposed to the war in Afghanistan and that he made negative remarks about his constituents in the Beauce area, south of Quebec City.
Couillard also addresses her links to men who were either members of outlaw biker gangs or who had close ties to that world.
Bernier has denied any knowledge of Couillard's past, saying he learned about it after they broke up. But Couillard says she told Bernier about her past early on in their relationship.
"There were no 'oohs' and 'ahs,' not even so much as a raised eyebrow," she said. "No questions. He seemed only barely surprised. "Say what you will but not everybody can claim to have had a spouse who was murdered."
In a statement Wednesday, Bernier, who is running for re-election, said the claims in the book were "completely ridiculous."
"During my mandate and despite my busy schedule as a member of Parliament and a minister, the most rewarding part of my job has always been to return to my riding several times per month in order to meet and exchange with the people that I so proudly represent," said Bernier.
"Everywhere I went, I've always expressed the pride that I feel for the people of Beauce. It is very disappointing that this person would insult me and the people of Beauce in the way that she has."
Before Bernier resigned, he had come under fire for other high-profile missteps as foreign affairs minister.
Last April, during a trip to Afghanistan, he suggested Afghan President Hamid Karzai should fire the governor of Kandahar, where most of Canada's troops are based.
He later backed away from his comment, saying, "Afghanistan is a sovereign state that makes its own decisions about government appointments."
A month later, he promised to make one of Canada's C-17 military cargo aircraft available to transport aid to Burma's cyclone survivors. But none of the four aircraft were available and the government had to spend $1 million to rent a Russian cargo aircraft.
Couillard's 320-page book hits store shelves in English and French on Oct. 6 and will retail for $29.99.
With files from The Canadian Press
