Conservative MP Maxime Bernier caught driving without a license

Conservative MP Maxime Bernier is pleading ahem...forgetfulness, irresponsibility, ignorance, or something like that.

On Friday, newspaper reports from Quebec claimed that Bernier — Minister of Small Business and Tourism — was pulled over for a traffic infraction on June 16th and told that his drivers licence was suspended.

"Mr. Bernier was unaware his driver’s license was suspended after a ticket went unpaid. Once this was brought to his attention, he immediately paid the ticket," Bernier’s spokesperson said in an email to CTV News.

"His driver’s license has been reinstated."

This is the third time, in as many weeks that an MP has been on the opposite side of the traffic law. Last week, we learned that MP Eve Adams had received a $155 traffic citation for talking on her cell phone while driving on Parliament Hill. The week before, CTV News reported that NDP leader Thomas Mulcair failed to stop at a checkpoint on Parliament Hill as he blew through four stop signs, all while an RCMP vehicle was in pursuit.

Bernier's infraction is yet another black mark for an electorate getting increasingly cynical about our politicians and their 'judgement.'

[ Related: Tory MP Eve Adams gets ticketed for talking on cell phone while driving on Parliament Hill ]

This story could also be bad news for the political ambitions of Maxime Bernier.

It has long been rumoured that Bernier — the former Minister of Foreign Affairs — is interested in the leadership of the Conservative Party. In 2008, a wrench was thrown into those plans when he ex-girlfriend — who was alleged to have ties with biker gangs — publicly revealed that he had left classified documents in her Montreal home. Bernier resigned from cabinet and was shut out from Harper's inner circle until 2011. Since his readmission to cabinet as a junior minister, he has, by most accounts, performed well as the highest profile Conservative MP in Quebec.

He was on a path of redemption, so to speak.

[ More Politics: Who is more embarrassing: Rob Ford, Mike Duffy or Dalton McGuinty? ]

Driving with a suspended license doesn't kill his chances of ever residing at 24 Sussex, but it certainly doesn't help.

(Photo courtesy of the Canadian Press)

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