OTTAWA, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A review by the Canadian government says the mishandling of NATO documents by the foreign minister was embarrassing but not a blow to national security.
The report on the investigation was released Friday and concluded that Minister Maxime Bernier had tarnished Canada's reputation in the alliance by leaving an unlocked briefcase containing material from a recent NATO meeting in his girlfriend's apartment in April.
The report by the independent firm hired by the government to conduct the investigation concluded Bernier had failed to follow procedures for the handling of sensitive documents.
Opposition politicians were making hay of the issue this weekend, the Canwest News Service reported. There were calls for further investigation and statements that the report amounted to a whitewash.
Canwest said the investigators acknowledged they did not interview Bernier's now-former girlfriend, Julie Couillard, nor discuss any evidence she might have lifted the papers from Bernier's briefcase.
