Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier can expect some tough questions from opposition critics when he appears before the House of Commons' foreign affairs committee.
After a major political gaffe in Afghanistan last month and stories of his ex-girlfriend's links to biker gangs surfaced this week, opposition members have been hammering the foreign minister.
NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar said on CTV's Question Period Sunday that Bernier's job performance hasn't been up to snuff.
"We have a minister of Foreign Affairs . . . who doesn't know who the president of Haiti is and we've seen his performance in Afghanistan," Dewar said, referring to two recent mishaps involving Bernier.
Last month, Bernier caused an uproar when he suggested to reporters in Afghanistan that Asadullah Khalid -- governor of Kandahar province, where Canada's 2,500 troops operate -- should be replaced.
Dewar said that even before the stories about the links of Bernier's ex-girlfriend, Julie Couillard, to bikers surfaced this week, he brought forward a motion in the committee to question Bernier on his job performance.
"Unfortunately, I never got the support (needed)," Dewar said. "I'm more concerned about (Bernier's) ability to do the job because of his credentials as Foreign Affairs minister than I am in his pillow talk."
Liberal foreign affairs critic Bob Rae said that Bernier's recent controversies show that the Conservatives are weak on foreign policy.
"This Government is not very good in the foreign affairs field," he said. "It simply doesn't have the depth and weight. (The Tories) see foreign policy . . . as simply an extension of electoral politics at home.
"Canada is not playing a leadership role where it should be and Canada does not have the respect it needs to have," he said.
A spokesperson for Government House Leader Peter Van Loan's office said the date of Bernier's appearance before the committee has not yet been finalized. However, he told CTV.ca it will happen before the end of May.
Foreign Affairs parliamentary secretary Deepak Obhrai said on Question Period that committee members do not want Bernier to have to answer questions that are "personal issues."
A 'personal' issue
Conservatives are sticking close to the party line of ignoring the "biker" controversy over Bernier's ex-girlfriend.
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said on Question Period that he did not think that security background checks are needed for MPs' spouses. Bernier had listed Couillard as a spouse.
"We don't see that as a major cause for concern," Day said. "To go into the private lives of the spouses, the partners of all the members of Parliament, I think that's a little bit excessive."
Rae said that all he wanted was for the Government to say that they have looked into the matter and that there was not a security breach.
"That's all that has to happen but what the government has done instead . . . they will not answer a question, they will not respond to a question, they simply will come back and say, 'You're fat, you're bald,'" he said.
Couillard -- who declined an invitation to appear on Question Period -- has not been charged with any wrongdoing, but had serious relationships with two prominent Quebec bikers in the 1990s. Opposition critics and independent security analysts have said the matter raises legitimate questions about public policy.
But both Day and Obhrai dismissed questions about security concerns over the issue.
They both deflected questions about Bernier by saying that his private life was a non-issue, and tried to focus on their party's record.
"Unfortunately, sometimes in politics if you can't make headway on substantive debate and you can't find good cause to come against the solid policies that our government has putting in place, then you look for other kind of cheap-shot approaches," Day said of the opposition.
"We presented one of the best budgets, the Liberals voted to put us in office," Obhrai said, when asked point blank about the security concerns.
When pressed on why he wasn't answering questions about Bernier, Obhrai said, "I'll tell you why, because (the opposition) are looking for scandals that don't exist."
Rae said that MPs don't have the same rights to privacy as do regular citizens.
"Nobody has an interest into prying into people private relationships but the fact of matter is that this is a little unusual."
Also over the weekend, a photo came out showing Bernier shaking hands with a man facing criminal weapons charges. Bernier's staff said that he only met the man once.
