MONTREAL - Julie Couillard, whose links with bikers and love affair with Canada's foreign affairs minister sparked a storm of controversy, isn't holding back in her new tell-all biography, her publisher says.
"I think the majority of Canadians may be interested in what she has to say," Josh Glover, a spokesman for McClelland & Stewart in Toronto, said Tuesday.
"She did not hold back," Glover said of the 320-page tome which hits store shelves in English and French on Oct. 6, eight days ahead of the federal election.
The book, titled "My Story," sells for $29.99.
"She has been completely open and honest about her life from the beginning to the present day and talks about everything that she's ever been involved in," Glover said.
"There's definitely some things that will be perceived as being very timely, especially given that the election is coming."
The French-language version will be published by Les Editions de l'Homme in Montreal.
A Conservative spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the release of Couillard's book.
Couillard shot to prominence earlier this year when her past ties with members of the Hells Angels were revealed following her relationship with then-foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier.
Bernier, elected in 2006, had been considered a star in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government and a key player in broadening the Tories' Quebec base until questions about his judgment began circulating due to his relationship with Couillard.
In a news release announcing the book in June, the publishers said the book will detail her life from her beginnings in a working-class neighbourhood in Montreal to her "spectacular emergence on the national scene last May."
"From her childhood experiences to her meeting with the president of the United States at the side of Canada's chief diplomat, and the tragic death of her companion in the infamous biker gang wars in the mid-1990s, Julie Couillard will reveal the details of a life marked by both tragedy and exhilaration," the publisher said.
Releasing the book toward the end of the election campaign "certainly won't hurt" sales but it's only a happy coincidence the book is ready for release now, Glover said.
'There will be interviews...'
Couillard, who worked with an editor, signed her book deal on July 20, before the company had any idea there would be an election, Glover said, adding it would have been brought out a month ago had it been possible.
He said in setting the publishing schedule, the company considered how long it would take to write the book, translate and edit it in English and French, and then print it.
"We were very lucky in that the initial product that we were delivered was much more polished than we were expecting so we were able to do that much more quickly and were able to move the date up two weeks from what we initially thought."
The publisher is now discussing promotion with Couillard.
"There will be interviews happening," Glover said.
Bernier resigned in May after admitting he left classified NATO documents at Couillard's Montreal-area home. Couillard's lawyer returned the documents to the government.
Couillard has said she met Bernier when she was being scouted as a possible Conservative candidate, although the Tories have denied she was ever considered.
Bernier took her to his swearing-in ceremony for the cabinet in 2007 and she grabbed attention when she wore a revealing dress that showed off her ample bosom.
She also attended a number of functions with him, including one at the United Nations where she met U.S. President George W. Bush and another where she met Harper.
Couillard has said little in the last few months after giving one interview each to a French- and English-language television network and to a magazine.
