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The opposition is demanding answers about why it took so long for the government to realize the classified documents at the centre of the Maxime Bernier scandal were missing.

"Will the government confirm that the documents that lay around Julie Couillard's room for five weeks were classified briefing notes relating to the Bucharest summit and our mission in Afghanistan?" asked Deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff during Tuesday's question period in the House of Commons.

"Will the government then explain why it took them five weeks to realize the documents were missing?"

And finally, he wondered if Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be able to explain to France's President Nicolas Sarkozy "that Canada can still be trusted with confidential information?"

Couillard is the ex-girlfriend of Bernier, the former foreign minister who resigned Monday after admitting that he left the sensitive documents at her home.

Their relationship made headlines about three weeks ago when reports revealed she had past personal connections with people involved in the biker underworld.

House Leader Peter Van Loan said the report contained a mix of classified and publicly available material.

"I will not, however, discuss classified documents in the House," he said.

Bloc Quebecois MP Serge Menard said he found it incredible the government only found out in the last few days that the documents had been missing for five weeks.

"It's impossible that the Prime Minister's Office was not informed beforehand. Will the government admit that the interview with Julie Couillard forced them to make public the serious mistake by their former minister?" he asked.

Couillard revealed her side of the missing documents story in an interview, which had been pre-taped, but aired Monday on Quebec's TVA network.

"The prime minister acted as soon as he was aware and accepted that resignation," Van Loan said.

Menard asked Van Loan to formally say Harper had no knowledge of the incident before Monday.

"The Prime Minister's Office in fact had no information about the documents before yesterday," Van Loan said.

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion painted the affair as showing an "appalling lack of judgment on Harper's part."

He called for an additional investigation to see if there have been other security breaches and suggested a public inquiry is in order. But Van Loan said the foreign affairs department has been asked to "analyze the situation and ask for assistance as required."

Harper in Europe

Harper wasn't in the House of Commons. He landed in Paris Tuesday to kick off a three-day tour of Europe.

He told reporters this issue is about Bernier's carelessness with classified documents.

"You obviously don't disclose classified materials and you certainly take adequate care to ensure that they are not disclosed and they are not left behind somewhere," he said.

"Unfortunately the minister broke those rules, and that has nothing to do with who he happens to be dating, it's irrelevant in that sense but the rules have to be respected."

The prime minister said he's had no concerns directed to him by NATO allies about the security breach.

Harper has named David Emerson to replace Bernier in the foreign affairs portfolio on an interim basis.

Tasha Kheiriddin, a conservative political commentator in Montreal and a friend of Bernier, told Â鶹ӰÊÓnet that Bernier had no choice but to step down.

The other gaffes that Bernier made as minister, such as publicly calling for the governor of Afghanistan's Kandahar province to be fired, made things worse for him, she said.

"This will certainly damage his political career," she said. "There's always ways back from the depths, but this is a long road, I fear, because this is really a sign of poor judgment."

The Bernier affair could also damage Conservative prospects in Quebec, where the party hopes to make gains," she said.

Bernier had been seen as a rising star. "Having a weaker Quebec cabinet contingent can only hurt the prime minister," Kheiriddin said.