The Commons public safety committee wants to know more about ties between Julie Couillard and former foreign affairs minister Maxime Bernier, but MPs won't be hearing from the ex-minister or from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

The former girlfriend of Maxime Bernier, Julie Couillard, was known to the RCMP before questions about the couple's relationship were raised in the media, a senior official with the RCMP said Tuesday.

Appearing before a House of Commons committee investigating whether there was a breach of national security in the Bernier affair, the RCMP's assistant commissioner for federal and international operations, Raf Souccar, refused to comment on when Couillard came to be known or what the Mounties knew about her.

But when asked by Liberal public safety critic and committee member Ujjal Dosanjh whether Couillard was known to the RCMP before the matter broke in the news, Souccar replied, "Yes, she was."

Bernier quit as foreign affairs minister last month when it became known that he had left sensitive documents, including some about Canada's mission in Afghanistan, at Couillard's home for five weeks. Couillard revealed that Bernier had left documents at her home during an interview with Quebec television channel TVA, broadcast shortly after Bernier's resignation was announced.

There were also revelations that she had friends and acquaintances in Montreal's biker and organized crime underworld, which the Commons committee is hoping to explore.

Souccar refused Tuesday to talk specifically about the RCMP's knowledge of Couillard, but it was made clear that any information that had come to their attention — either through the media or a complainant — would have been checked for relevancy, and a decision would have been made whether the information or any investigation should be passed along to the Privy Council Office.

Internal inquiry

He said he couldn't discuss details, including whether any information was passed from the RCMP to the government or whether a criminal investigation was planned or underway, in order not to compromise "the integrity of anything [the RCMP] have done or will do."

The government has ordered an internal inquiry into the issue by the Department of Foreign Affairs, but opposition parties say that's not good enough. They outvoted government MPs on the public safety committee to go ahead with the probe.

However, MPs won't be hearing from Prime Minister Stephen Harper or Bernier.

Both men have refused to testify before the Commons public safety committee. Harper said the hearings were politically motivated.

"I have no interest in participating in a partisan circus," he said Monday. "The opposition parties, if they wish to go ahead with this, it is their right."

A former RCMP and CSIS agent, Michel Juneau-Katsuya, also appeared before the committee Tuesday. He said that while all ministers undergo security checks, the government is showing a "double standard" in the way it handles clearance for federal employees and government members.

"In light of the information which was revealed and from my experience as a federal investigator, I believe that you are dealing with a situation of double standard, in which elected officials are exempt from submitting themselves to the same security standard imposed on federal employees," Juneau-Katsuya told the committee.

"In all fairness, it is also important to add that the current government is not responsible for this situation. Unfortunately, this situation has prevailed for decades and all previous governments have enjoyed the same loophole."

Juneau-Katsuya said the Bernier affair warranted investigation by the RCMP, if one wasn't underway already, in order to assure the public and Canada's allies abroad of the integrity of its security structures.

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and Couillard have also been invited to answer questions from the committee.

Couillard may testify

New Democrat MP and committee member Penny Priddy told CBC News that Couillard could testify as soon as next week. Priddy said Bernier's former girlfriend is not there to answer questions about the nature of her relationship with the former minister, but to shed some light on the documents he left in her home.

Harper, Bernier and Day — as sitting MPs — cannot be compelled to appear before a Commons committee.

Dosanjh told CBC News that the committee has options for getting top-level testimony, even without the prime minister and Bernier.

"If they don't appear, there is a long hard way of getting them there through the House of Commons," he said. "We might pursue getting their chiefs of staff, getting the Privy Council clerk, getting the deputy minister of foreign affairs. All of those people would have access to this information."

The government has repeatedly brushed off the significance of the Bernier affair, saying the private life of the former minister shouldn't be dragged through the public arena.

Opposition MPs and some security analysts have questioned how a young woman with ties to criminal gangs could end up as the companion of a high-profile cabinet minister, apparently without a security check.

The committee has set aside four of its scheduled meetings for the Bernier hearings, and some members have said they are prepared to sit through Parliament's summer recess if necessary.

With files from the Canadian Press