High profile cabinet minister's ex-girlfriend had ties to prominent Hells Angels
- Thread starter Doc Holliday
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Photo sparked RCMP questions
MONTREAL–RCMP officers recently visited Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier to discuss photos of him shaking hands with a globe-trotting Montreal businessman who was later arrested in a police sweep targeting Mohawk organized crime groups.
Montreal's La Presse has found that Bernier attended a Conservative party fundraising event in January that was also attended by Michael Chamas, 44, who is accused of a raft of weapons-related offences and is involved in a protracted fight with the Canadian Revenue Agency over unpaid taxes. The photos that caught the eye of RCMP investigators show a grinning Bernier sharing a stage and shaking hands with Chamas, who is listed as president of a Delaware-based company called Global Village International Solutions.
Sources confirmed police contacted the minister concerning Chamas, but a spokesperson emphasized that Bernier has had no dealings with Chamas other than standing with him for a "courtesy photo." "Minister Bernier doesn't know Mr. Chamas beyond taking a picture with him. The first and only contact occurred while the minister posed with guests at the event," Neil Hrab said in an emailed statement. Hrab also pointed out that Chamas' company website features an undated photo of himself with former prime minister Jean Chrétien.
It also has two photos of Chamas standing with former Progressive Conservative finance minister John Crosbie, who was recently appointed lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and who is listed as "legal counsel to Mr. Chamas." Bernier has spent the last two days weathering opposition attacks over his former girlfriend's ties to outlaw biker gangs and organized crime figures.
Conservative sources acknowledge those attacks are likely to intensify with news of Bernier's encounter with Chamas. According to a Conservative party candidate, Chamas was invited to deliver a short speech to a Jan. 15 Conservative fundraiser in the north-end Montreal riding of Papineau, an event attended by 200 supporters and several prominent Tories, including Bernier.
Mustaque Sarker, the Conservative candidate in question, said he couldn't remember who had invited Chamas, nor did he recollect what he said to the assembly. He said Chamas, one of a trio of speakers at the event, had likely been asked to attend by riding association president Luc Provost.
Chamas was arrested along with 27 other people on March 26 as part of Project Cancun, a joint investigation by the RCMP, Sûreté du Québec and aboriginal police on the Kahnawake and Kanesetake reserves near Montreal, and the Akwesasne reserve near Cornwall. The bulk of those arrested are accused of drug trafficking, however Chamas faces 10 counts relating to the possession of illegal weapons.
In the fall of 2007, the Lebanese-born Chamas was arrested in Switzerland after a routine customs inspection turned up 2 million euros in cash. The money was seized pending an investigation by Swiss authorities. He is also facing other legal difficulties closer to home. The Canada Revenue Agency accuses Chamas of owing $952,355 in unpaid taxes. Documents show that federal officials sought to freeze his assets, including his suburban Montreal house and four other properties, until the matter is settled.
Photo of Bernier & Chamas:
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/424061
MONTREAL–RCMP officers recently visited Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier to discuss photos of him shaking hands with a globe-trotting Montreal businessman who was later arrested in a police sweep targeting Mohawk organized crime groups.
Montreal's La Presse has found that Bernier attended a Conservative party fundraising event in January that was also attended by Michael Chamas, 44, who is accused of a raft of weapons-related offences and is involved in a protracted fight with the Canadian Revenue Agency over unpaid taxes. The photos that caught the eye of RCMP investigators show a grinning Bernier sharing a stage and shaking hands with Chamas, who is listed as president of a Delaware-based company called Global Village International Solutions.
Sources confirmed police contacted the minister concerning Chamas, but a spokesperson emphasized that Bernier has had no dealings with Chamas other than standing with him for a "courtesy photo." "Minister Bernier doesn't know Mr. Chamas beyond taking a picture with him. The first and only contact occurred while the minister posed with guests at the event," Neil Hrab said in an emailed statement. Hrab also pointed out that Chamas' company website features an undated photo of himself with former prime minister Jean Chrétien.
It also has two photos of Chamas standing with former Progressive Conservative finance minister John Crosbie, who was recently appointed lieutenant-governor of Newfoundland by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and who is listed as "legal counsel to Mr. Chamas." Bernier has spent the last two days weathering opposition attacks over his former girlfriend's ties to outlaw biker gangs and organized crime figures.
Conservative sources acknowledge those attacks are likely to intensify with news of Bernier's encounter with Chamas. According to a Conservative party candidate, Chamas was invited to deliver a short speech to a Jan. 15 Conservative fundraiser in the north-end Montreal riding of Papineau, an event attended by 200 supporters and several prominent Tories, including Bernier.
Mustaque Sarker, the Conservative candidate in question, said he couldn't remember who had invited Chamas, nor did he recollect what he said to the assembly. He said Chamas, one of a trio of speakers at the event, had likely been asked to attend by riding association president Luc Provost.
Chamas was arrested along with 27 other people on March 26 as part of Project Cancun, a joint investigation by the RCMP, Sûreté du Québec and aboriginal police on the Kahnawake and Kanesetake reserves near Montreal, and the Akwesasne reserve near Cornwall. The bulk of those arrested are accused of drug trafficking, however Chamas faces 10 counts relating to the possession of illegal weapons.
In the fall of 2007, the Lebanese-born Chamas was arrested in Switzerland after a routine customs inspection turned up 2 million euros in cash. The money was seized pending an investigation by Swiss authorities. He is also facing other legal difficulties closer to home. The Canada Revenue Agency accuses Chamas of owing $952,355 in unpaid taxes. Documents show that federal officials sought to freeze his assets, including his suburban Montreal house and four other properties, until the matter is settled.
Photo of Bernier & Chamas:
http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/424061
It dont make any difference i took that example because i was reading something on us civil right .You are ashamed to be canadian because you dont like a man choice for girlfriend the man is only guilty of poor judgement big dealAllOverHer said:It happened in my country
Doc Holliday said:
I think it's spelled ophthalmologist - and I was only being facetious about the hdh stuff
. Btw, any predictions on where YOUR Leafs will finish next hockey season? the front 9 or the back 9 Doc Holliday said:
Some people get a thrill getting down and dirty with those far beneath their station. Apparently, that is the case with Ms. Couillard choosing a politician.
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I'm ashamed of my country because Harper and his troops are too close to the politics of that other idiot named Bush.voyageur11 said:
Canada was a proud country that stood for itself now it's represented by a puppet named Harper.
And yes I am ashamed that we have such a moron representing us as foreign affairs minister. If the poor ex-biker chick was the only problem we wouldn't have this conversation. Aren't we lucky we still can express ourselves in Canada but for how long? Isn't censorship well exploited by harper?
It makes me sick how small, unimportant, gossipy things overshadow more important issues on parliament hill.
Harper too is being hypocritical. I'll bet if Bernier was going to marry the broad, Harper would have given him an ultimatum that he'd have to quit the gang, I mean party.
Nice rack, and that is why the story is getting attention - because it makes for some eye-catching, newspaper-selling photos. I see they have blurred out faces in some newspapers. They should have blurred out her breasts too, but then that wouldn't sell papers.
Harper too is being hypocritical. I'll bet if Bernier was going to marry the broad, Harper would have given him an ultimatum that he'd have to quit the gang, I mean party.
Nice rack, and that is why the story is getting attention - because it makes for some eye-catching, newspaper-selling photos. I see they have blurred out faces in some newspapers. They should have blurred out her breasts too, but then that wouldn't sell papers.
Turbodick said:
It's more than breasts. This is a national security issue. It's comparable to let's say.....let's go back a few years ago & pretend that Sammy "The Bull" Gravano's ex wife is now Colin Powell's girlfriend. Let's say that like Bernier has done, he took her on trips abroad with him & she got to witness & hear things that any other regular citizen wouldn't be allowed to. This would be a scandal of gigantic proportions! It's not the fact he had a gf who likes to expose her cleavage & travels with him on missions abroad. It's the fact that she hung around & was even married to some top members of organized crime in this country. That's the problem. You can bet that everyone in Ottawa is wondering how the hell she & Bernier met. It's comparable to time back in the early 60's when J. Edgar Hoover found out that Judith Campbell was banging both JFK (who was President) and famous Chicago mobster Sam Giancana. Hoover made RFK (attorney general & JFK's brother) aware of this national security problem & the affair was quickly put to rest. And finally, inside sources have indeed claimed that Bernier has already got flak for showing off Couillard as much as he has been in the past. And now, another potential scandal is brewing.....the one where he had his picture taken with that lebanese gangster, which is mentionned in the last story i posted.
from the globe and mail
http://images.theglobeandmail.com/a...ernierfollow0511/_done_0509bernier_400big.jpg
would you say C or D cups? either look nice for some Russian (followed by some Italian Im sure her ass is nice too)
http://images.theglobeandmail.com/a...ernierfollow0511/_done_0509bernier_400big.jpg
would you say C or D cups? either look nice for some Russian (followed by some Italian
Im sure her ass is nice too)
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gohabsgo said:would you say C or D cups? either look nice for some Russian (followed by some Italian
Considering her age, her boobs probably fall right down to her knees once her bra's removed. Just a sexy MILF in my books.....nothing more, nothing less.
AllOverHer said:
It was a screw up, but not that big an issue. Besides, the RCMP has stated that she was never involved in any illegal activity, and that in fact she tried to get her biker husband to quit the gang.
How many SPs have dated gang members? Should a MERB member lose his job for sleeping with / dating an SP?
Doc Holliday said:
Now that's a bullshit story. Bernier only met the guy 10 seconds for the time it took to snap the picture. Politicians get hundreds of similar pictures taken per day. Next time a minister is in town, just get in line and you can get a picture taken too. And then mail it to the Globe and Mail "Harper photographed with MERB member!!!"
hormone said:
Not for a girl you're just starting to date. Besides, I'll sleep very well at night even if the Hells Angels got advance info on Canada's position on Kosovo's independence.
Kepler said:
The RCMP? Are you fucking kidding me? They're the most incompetent law enforcement outfit this side of the Keystone Kops!!! They said that she was never involved in any illegal activity? Oh no?? So why did Mom Boucher put a contract on her head then? It's because she knew too much. As far as i'm concerned, she could have been planted by the bikers in order to retrieve info for them. A mole. I know a biker who tried to get out but the only he could have on his own was by committing suicide. As he once told me "you either become a stool or you die if you want to get out.....you're a biker for life." Not that big of an issue? The Hells Angels are the most powerful organized crime outfit in Canada. She slept with bikers for years & only managed to get out when she found out that there was a contract on her head. Or was there? She could have been used in order to blackmail powerful gov't officials. Who knows? I"m still curious of knowing how Bernier met her.
Kepler said:
Do you know this for a fact or are you just speculating? They made a big deal of Mel Lastman getting his picture taken with the bikers a few years back. He didn't know they were bikers & got a fast one pulled from under him. However, Lastman was only a mayor, not one of the key figures in the Canadian gov't. What if Dick Cheney got his picture taken with a member of the organized crime community? Do you think it would fly?
Question?
When you're a moll for the LE, don't they have the power to erase all your criminal past?
to Kepler: You are alway comparing regular johns to public personalities. It's a different games!
To Doc H: If she went on trips with him, no way she was at meetings hearing secret talks. Only pillow talk was her source. With such an idiot in her bed, I would bet that he bragged to her about what secret talks he had.
When you're a moll for the LE, don't they have the power to erase all your criminal past?
to Kepler: You are alway comparing regular johns to public personalities. It's a different games!
To Doc H: If she went on trips with him, no way she was at meetings hearing secret talks. Only pillow talk was her source. With such an idiot in her bed, I would bet that he bragged to her about what secret talks he had.
Doc Holliday said:
It is what has been stated by him and confirmed by the RCMP as far as I know. As for Mel Lastman, I vaguely remember the story. I thought he knew who they were. If he didn't, then it's not a big deal either.
AllOverHer said:
Sure, there are some things public personalities should not do. But I think it's hypocritical to hold them to way higher standards. We're all human, and I'm willing to forgive such trifles.
I care a lot more about a politician's policies than about who he's banging.
You don't understand it's politics. I also don't give a fuck what a politician does as long as he run the country properly. But that is a nasty place where your enemies only want to sink. That's why in my book Bernier is a total idiot and has no judgment on how to survive in the political ring.Kepler said:
AllOverHer said:
I totally agree & that's why i want this guy fired. I have lost total confidence in this guy. If he's allowed to keep his portfolio, then our external affairs dept. is in big, big trouble!
Julie Couillard breaks her silence
The 39-year-old readily admits how abandoned she felt by Bernier, saying she was left alone. She says she was almost destroyed and that her name was unfairly dragged through the mud, telling Larocque yesterday that she feels she has nothing to be ashamed of.
News outlets first reported on May 7 that the former model had past ties to two Hells Angels in Quebec, dating one and marrying the other. They divorced in 1999. One of the bikers was part of the inner circle of former Hells kingpin Maurice "Mom" Boucher. At the time, the biker links led police officers from the Surete du Quebec to apprehend and question Couillard. No charges were ever brought against her.
The reports led opposition parties to question whether national security had been breached. After the news broke, Couillard hid in her house for the first three days. She decided to end her silence, according to Larocque, because "she wants to tell the truth."
"She wants to rebuild her reputation. She's a real estate agent, and she can no longer work," Larocque said. Dressed in a simple beige suit, Couillard yesterday answered all of Larocque's questions candidly.
About the rumours of foreign travels with Bernier? Yes, she confirmed, pictures in hand.
About the infamous plunging neckline of the dress she wore when she accompanied Bernier to his swearing-in last August? She admits it was a mistake, but stresses that the choice had not been hers alone.
Couillard has remained tight-lipped about her relationship with Bernier -- the only exception to date being on May 9, in a very short interview with Sun Media. At that time, and visibly exhausted, she admitted to being "completely crushed by events," saying that her life had been "ruined."
For the full exclusive interview with Julie Couillard, log on to http://ondemand.canoe.tv/ tonight at 9 p.m. EST.
To read the story with a picture of Julie Couillard:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/05/26/5669276-sun.html
The 39-year-old readily admits how abandoned she felt by Bernier, saying she was left alone. She says she was almost destroyed and that her name was unfairly dragged through the mud, telling Larocque yesterday that she feels she has nothing to be ashamed of.
News outlets first reported on May 7 that the former model had past ties to two Hells Angels in Quebec, dating one and marrying the other. They divorced in 1999. One of the bikers was part of the inner circle of former Hells kingpin Maurice "Mom" Boucher. At the time, the biker links led police officers from the Surete du Quebec to apprehend and question Couillard. No charges were ever brought against her.
The reports led opposition parties to question whether national security had been breached. After the news broke, Couillard hid in her house for the first three days. She decided to end her silence, according to Larocque, because "she wants to tell the truth."
"She wants to rebuild her reputation. She's a real estate agent, and she can no longer work," Larocque said. Dressed in a simple beige suit, Couillard yesterday answered all of Larocque's questions candidly.
About the rumours of foreign travels with Bernier? Yes, she confirmed, pictures in hand.
About the infamous plunging neckline of the dress she wore when she accompanied Bernier to his swearing-in last August? She admits it was a mistake, but stresses that the choice had not been hers alone.
Couillard has remained tight-lipped about her relationship with Bernier -- the only exception to date being on May 9, in a very short interview with Sun Media. At that time, and visibly exhausted, she admitted to being "completely crushed by events," saying that her life had been "ruined."
For the full exclusive interview with Julie Couillard, log on to http://ondemand.canoe.tv/ tonight at 9 p.m. EST.
To read the story with a picture of Julie Couillard:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/05/26/5669276-sun.html
I feel sorry for this woman. Everyone was so quick to condem her and Bernier for basically no reason. Seems like a decent woman actually. If there was any more dirt to be dug it would have surfaced by now - the Liberals went halfway to China on this one.
So what was the greater crime ? Being married and then divorcing a senior Hell's Angel or dating a politician ?
The latest linked pictures are nice. She is the same physical "type" as Giselle although I would give the facial edge to "Gia".
So what was the greater crime ? Being married and then divorcing a senior Hell's Angel or dating a politician ?
The latest linked pictures are nice. She is the same physical "type" as Giselle although I would give the facial edge to "Gia".
Bernier resigns!!
Foreign affairs minister admits that he left classified documents in a non-secure place
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has accepted Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier's resignation after he admitted he left classified documents in a non-secure place.
Earlier in the day, Harper had defended Bernier, after new revelations that Julie Couillard was part of a bid for an airport security contract, only a few years after having been married to a member of a biker gang. "I have no intention of commenting on a minister's former girlfriend," Harper told reporters during a joint press conference with Ukranian President Victor Yushchenko. "It is not a subject I take seriously."
Opposition MPs, however, are taking the latest information very seriously, suggesting that Couillard poses a security risk and more care should have been taken to look into her past associations before allow her to have access in 2004 to the bidding documents for an airport security contract being sought by a previous boyfriend, Robert Pépin and his company, Agence d'investigations et de sécurité D.R.P.
While D.R.P bid for the business, they did not win the contract. According to news reports, Pépin, who has since committed suicide, owed a lot of money at one point to a Hells Angel loanshark.
In 2005, as her relationship with Pépin was breaking up, Couillard set up her own security company. Couillard first garnered attention in Ottawa when she arrived hand in hand with Bernier for his swearing in as foreign affairs minister last summer. However, questions were raised about her posing a possible security risk after it was revealed that two of her past partners had been members of biker gangs associated with the Hells Angels.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=79a127c8-c4cd-43fb-9b32-60eacfebd513
Foreign affairs minister admits that he left classified documents in a non-secure place
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper has accepted Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier's resignation after he admitted he left classified documents in a non-secure place.
Earlier in the day, Harper had defended Bernier, after new revelations that Julie Couillard was part of a bid for an airport security contract, only a few years after having been married to a member of a biker gang. "I have no intention of commenting on a minister's former girlfriend," Harper told reporters during a joint press conference with Ukranian President Victor Yushchenko. "It is not a subject I take seriously."
Opposition MPs, however, are taking the latest information very seriously, suggesting that Couillard poses a security risk and more care should have been taken to look into her past associations before allow her to have access in 2004 to the bidding documents for an airport security contract being sought by a previous boyfriend, Robert Pépin and his company, Agence d'investigations et de sécurité D.R.P.
While D.R.P bid for the business, they did not win the contract. According to news reports, Pépin, who has since committed suicide, owed a lot of money at one point to a Hells Angel loanshark.
In 2005, as her relationship with Pépin was breaking up, Couillard set up her own security company. Couillard first garnered attention in Ottawa when she arrived hand in hand with Bernier for his swearing in as foreign affairs minister last summer. However, questions were raised about her posing a possible security risk after it was revealed that two of her past partners had been members of biker gangs associated with the Hells Angels.
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=79a127c8-c4cd-43fb-9b32-60eacfebd513
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