(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Canada believe a security breach that led to the resignation of foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier should be investigated, according to a poll by Angus Reid Strategies. 57 per cent of respondents think the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) should look into the matter.

Canadians renewed the House of Commons in January 2006. The Conservative party—led by Stephen Harper—received 36.3 per cent of the vote, and secured 124 seats in the 308-member lower house. Harper leads a minority administration after more than 12 years of government by the Liberal party.

In August 2007, Harper announced a cabinet shuffle, replacing defence minister Gordon O’Connor with Peter MacKay, and appointing Bernier as the new foreign affairs minister.

On May 26, Harper announced that he had accepted Bernier’s resignation, adding, "Last night, Maxime Bernier became aware that he had left classified government documents at a private residence earlier this spring. I became aware of this security breach late this afternoon." Bernier left the documents in the home of his former girlfriend Julie Couillard.

On May 28, deputy Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff questioned whether Harper knew about the security breach before May 26, saying, "The opposition simply does not believe the government’s story, and this is about the prime minister’s credibility. (...) He sat there with a national security bomb about to explode and he did nothing about it."

Polling Data

[Foreign affairs minister Maxime] Bernier resigned over a security breach, after some classified documents were left in the home of his former girlfriend. From what you have seen, read, or heard, do you think an RCMP investigation into the security breach is warranted?

Source: Angus Reid Strategies
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,001 Canadian adults, conducted from May 27 and May 28, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.

Other poll highlights:

53% think the Bernier situation raises questions about Stephen Harper’s judgment
33% agree with David Emerson’s interim appointment; 50% are not sure

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