Maxime Bernier

Bernier was one of the higher-profile freshman MPs from Quebec, and as such, on February 6, 2006, was appointed Minister of Industry and minister responsible for Statistics Canada, and by virtue of being appointed as the Minister of Industry, he also served as the Registrar General.[16] During his time as Industry Minister, Bernier set in motion steps that led to reformation of the telecommunications industry, particularly on local phone service.[17][18][19] Professor Richard J. Schultz from McGill University lauded his attempt to deregulate the telecommunications industry, calling him "the best Industry Minister in 30 years, without challenge".[20][21] James Cowan from Canadian Business, called Bernier's tenure "a golden age" for Canadian business policy.[22][23]

Bernier as Minister of Foreign Affairs with Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of External Affairs for India, 2008

On August 14, 2007, Bernier was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs, replacing Peter MacKay, who became the Minister of National Defence. The rumour is that appointment had to do with preventing Bernier from pushing his personal views such as opposing corporate welfare farther as industry minister.[24][25][26][27][28] During the beginning of his tenure, Bernier's personality and charm received praise among foreign dignitaries.[29]

In May 2008, it was revealed that, one month earlier, Bernier inadvertently left a confidential briefing book at the home of his girlfriend at the time, Julie Couillard.[30][31] While Prime Minister Stephen Harper originally defended Bernier,[32] he ultimately accepted his resignation on May 26, 2008, saying "It's only this error. It's a very serious error for any minister. The minister immediately recognized the gravity of that error."[31] Bernier explained that the incident made him rethink his political career and that he would avoid taking government information out of his parliamentary office in future.[33]

Recalling his tenure as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernier felt unsatisfied due to the Prime Minister's Office controlling the portfolio, making it harder for him to implement his views into Canadian foreign policy.[29]

Six days before the 2008 election, Couillard released a book which was supposed to reveal his confidential opinions such as his personal objection to Canadian involvement in the Iraq War.[34][35] The English version peaked at No. 6 on La Presse's bestseller list while the French version reached No. 5. However, the book was viewed negatively by some of Bernier's constituents.[36] He was reelected with 62% of votes,[6] and was made chair for the National Defense Select Committee.[37]

In 2009, Bernier decided to start a blog and spent the next four years travelling across the country to discuss political issues.[38][39] Bernier's speeches were criticized by Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Raymond Blanchard and Tom Mulcair,[40][41] but praised by Andrew Coyne, Warren Kinsella, and André Pratte.[41][42][43][44]

In September 2010, after Bernier's Quebec colleagues pushed for the federal government to invest $175 million in the Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Bernier expressed opposition to the proposed project and a feasibility study by Ernst & Young, stating that the proposal made little financial sense.[7][45] The government later decided against the investment.[46] When recalling about that decision, he revealed that his colleagues were furious at him because they wanted to use the investment to "Buy votes".[47][48]

It had been rumoured that Conservative Party insiders wanted Bernier to take over as leader of the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) party if Stephen Harper's preferred choice, Mario Dumont, became Quebec lieutenant, and that Bernier was considering a leadership run.[49][50] In 2009, there was a movement to draft Bernier for the leadership of the ADQ. Bernier called the attention flattering, but declined to run.[51]

On May 18, 2011, Bernier was appointed as Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism),[52] a junior ministerial post.[29] Bernier did not enjoy being bound by the principal of cabinet solidarity, and disliked being named to a minor department, but accepted the role out of deference to his colleagues and to regain credibility via a return to the cabinet.[29] Bernier later said he also accepted the position because he had felt he did not accomplish enough in his career and expressed a desire to end the budget deficit.[33]

His responsibilities were expanded with his appointment on July 15, 2013, as Minister of State (Small Business, Tourism, and Agriculture).[52] During this time, he led the Red Tape Reduction Commission, which created a rule that for every regulation added another one has to be cut.[53]

On November 20, 2015, Bernier was appointed by interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose as Critic for Economic Development and Innovation.[52] He resigned on April 7, 2016 to run in the Conservative Party's leadership election.[54]

In March 2016, Bernier introduced a motion to require Bombardier executives to testify to the Industry Committee to explain the reasoning for the federal government to bail them out. Bernier argued that Bombardier should restructure itself rather than seek public funds. Justin Trudeau's Liberal government blocked Bernier's motion.[55][56]

At a conservative conference in March 2016, Bernier said that China has "less government and more freedom" than Canada; a video of the speech was later circulated by the Broadbent Institute's Press Progress.[57] Bernier said that he was referring to economic freedom, not political freedom, and said that his remarks should not be construed to suggest that he supported Chinese dictatorship.[58]

On April 7, 2016, Bernier filed his nomination to be a candidate in the 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election,[54] saying that he was running to promote his views and ideas on four principles: freedom, responsibility, fairness, and respect.[59][60]

In May 2016, Bernier broke from his Conservative colleagues on supply management, the Canadian agricultural system in which a form of insurance is granted to farmers. He said that there was no way to reconcile the Canadian system with his "free-market principles".[61]

After the Conservative Party decided to remove the traditional definition of marriage from their constitution, Bernier was one of few leadership contenders to march in the Toronto Pride Parade.[62]

Bernier achieved unexpectedly high levels of support,[29][38] finishing a close second in the 13th and final round of voting on May 27, 2017, taking 49.05% of the vote to Andrew Scheer's 50.95%.[63][64] A few days after the results, Michael Chong, another leadership candidate, argued that both his and Bernier's campaigns represented "real change, significant change" to the party but felt they wanted the status quo.[65]

Bernier with Andrew Scheer in Ottawa, several days after the Conservative leadership election concluded, 2017

Nathan Giede of the Prince George Citizen wrote that Bernier was "the living reincarnation of all Laurier's good ideas and Dief the Chief's pan-Canadian optimism".[66] In the Times Colonist, Bernier stated, "They can call me a fiscal conservative, they can call me a conservative who believes in freedom, they can call me reasonable libertarian, call me anything you want—call me Max, call me Maxime, call me 'Mad Max'."[67] Occasionally, he displayed a sense of humor which helped him gain voters' attention.[68][69] William Watson argued in the National Post that although some of Bernier's policies were reflective of the role "rugged individualism" played in Canada's past, and may have played a role in his loss, they could also affect Canada's future.[70] Stanley Hartt, former Chief of Staff to Brian Mulroney, found Scheer's victory not "stirring" and suggested that Scheer should have taken ideas from Bernier's economic platform, which Hartt praised.[71]

On August 31, 2017, Bernier was reappointed critic for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada by Andrew Scheer.[72]

After it was revealed that the 2015 Conservative campaign team knew about sexual assault allegations against former Conservative MP Rick Dykstra, on January 31, 2018, Bernier publicly demanded answers as he was heading towards a caucus meeting into the handling of the nomination[73] as did Conservative MP Brad Trost, who tweeted in favor of Bernier statement. After the meetings, Scheer reversed his previous decision.[74] and called for a third-party investigation.

Bernier intended to publish a book, Doing Politics Differently: My Vision for Canada. In April 2018 he pre-released a chapter on his publisher's website explaining why he made the abolition of Canada's supply management system an issue during the leadership campaign.[75][76] The chapter referred to Quebec's dairy farmer lobby as "fake Conservatives" because they opposed his abolition of the supply management policy and supported Scheer's candidacy.[77][78] However, in deference to his Conservative colleagues who saw the chapter as an attack on the Scheer, Bernier agreed to postpone publication of the book indefinitely for the sake of party unity, while also saying that the book was not about his leadership campaign, but about important ideas.[79] He later told the Toronto Star in an email that he defended his comments and that the book would someday be published.[80]

On June 12, 2018, Scheer dismissed Bernier from the Official Opposition shadow cabinet, saying that Bernier had violated his pledge to delay publication of the book by posting the chapter on his website on June 5, after it had been removed by from the publisher's website. Bernier denied that he broke the pledge, saying that the published excerpts had previously been publicly released on his publisher's website.[81] During an At Issue panel after Bernier's demotion, Chantal Hebert was critical of Bernier decision to publish the chapter, Coyne found Bernier to be a victim of "a political setup" and Paul Wells thought Scheer was being "paranoid".[82] On June 15, Bernier stated in an interview that he believed his stance on supply management was the real reason behind his dismissal, not his decision to post the chapter.[83]

In a series of Twitter posts in August 2018, Bernier garnered attention for criticizing Prime Minister Trudeau's comments about "diversity is our strength".[84] He later tweeted that naming a park in Winnipeg after Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was an example of "extreme multiculturalism".[85] The tweets were broadly seen as divisive and inflammatory with calls for him to be reprimanded or removed from caucus such as John Ivison;[86] However, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer stated Bernier "speaks for himself" amid calls for Bernier to be expelled from the party's caucus.[87] Scheer later claim that he did not use identity politics to gain support; which Bernier issued a series of tweets counter-arguing the point.[88] Others such as him Mathieu Bock-Côté,[89] Lise Ravary[90] and Neil Macdonald[91] defended his comments by writing op-eds to counter arguing critics. While, Tom Walkom,[92] Deborah Levy[93] and Andre Valiquette[94] found his critique common within mainstream Quebec. In his resignation speech, Bernier, had an issues with Scheer's response, and later clarified that he wanted to have a conversation about "ethnic division".[95] When asked about his tweets by Question Period, he responded by stating "Instead of always promoting the diversity in our country, why not promote what unites us. That's the most important."[96] Commentator Colby Cosh later wrote that Bernier had previously praised ethnic diversity, while also "objecting to its elevation to cult status".[97]

Logo of the PPC

On August 23, 2018, Bernier announced that he was leaving the Conservative Party with the intention of founding a new political party.[98][99] He held a press conference at which he declared that the Conservative Party was "too intellectually and morally corrupt to be reformed", and was afraid to address important issues or articulate a coherent philosophy.[95][100]

Bernier's departure was criticized by former Conservative Prime Ministers Stephen Harper and Brian Mulroney. Harper suggested that Bernier was a sore loser,[101] while Mulroney said that Bernier's creation of a new party would split the vote and make it more likely that Trudeau's Liberals would win the 2019 election.[102] Conversely, Bernier's decision was praised as courageous by columnist Christie Blatchford.[103] In a National Post op-ed, Bernier stated that his establishment of a new party aimed to reverse what he called a "public choice dynamic" in Canadian politics, that led to vote-buying and "pandering" by the main political parties.[104]

On September 14, 2018, Bernier announced the creation of the People's Party of Canada,[105] saying the party would advocate for "smart populism", which Bernier defined as policies based on principles of freedom, responsibility, fairness, and respect.[106][107] Bernier positioned the People's Party to the right of the Conservative Party;[108] the party has been variously described as conservative,[105] libertarian, right-wing populist,[109][110][111] classical liberal,[112] far-right,[113][114][115][116][117][109][110][111] and alt-right.[118][119] In December 2018, some of its founding members were shown to have ties to American white nationalist and anti-immigrant groups.[120][121] The party later told Le Devoir that they did not have enough resources to vet them at the beginning of the PPC's formation.[122]

Campaigning in advance of the 2019 Canadian federal election, Bernier and his chief strategist, Martin Masse, aligned the People's Party with the anti-immigrant European New Right. Bernier called for steep cuts to immigration to Canada and criticized multiculturalism,[109] his focus on issues like cutting immigration marking a change in his public profile that contrasted with his earlier focus (while in the Conservative Party) on free-market, libertarian stances, such as telecom monopolies and deregulation.[109] Bernier also proposed reductions in federal income tax, called for a reduction of the federal role in healthcare and the replacement of the Canada Health Transfer, and proposed the replacement of the Indian Act. He was the only leader of a party represented in the House of Commons to reject the scientific consensus on climate change.[123][124][125][126] He said he would do "nothing" to deal with climate change, and that Canada should withdraw from the Paris Agreement on carbon emissions.[127]

In the election in October 2019, Bernier was challenged for his seat in Beauce by Conservative candidate Richard Lehoux, a fourth-generation dairy farmer and past president of the Fédération Québécoise des Municipalités.[128] He lost over 20 percent of his vote from 2015, finishing with 28.3% to Lehoux's 38.6%, with the Bloc Québecois and Liberals finishing a distant third and fourth, respectively. Nationally, Bernier was the only PPC candidate to come within sight of being elected; no other candidate won more than six percent of the vote, and the party as a whole won only 1.6% of the popular vote.

Upon the December 2019 resignation of Scheer from Conservative Party leadership, Bernier stated he would not be interested in returning to the Conservative Party.[129] In January 2020 he announced an upcoming TV series with the English title The Max Bernier Show and French title Les nouvelles de Maxime.[130]

In February 2020, Bernier launched a lawsuit alleging defamation against Warren Kinsella.[131]

Bernier announced his intention to run in either the Toronto Centre or York Centre by-elections, when those seats became vacant due to the resignations of Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Liberal MP Michael Levitt over the summer of 2020.[132] He subsequently confirmed his candidacy in the suburban Toronto riding of York Centre shortly after the date of the October 26, 2020 by-election was announced.[133] He finished fourth with 642 votes (3.56%).[134]