Maxime Bernier, a former cabinet minister nicknamed “Mad Max”, is channelling anger against mandatory vaccines into surprising support for his populist People’s Party of Canada(PPC) in the country’s tight election race.
His efforts may end up helping the man he calls a “fascist psychopath”: Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Bernier, 58, who quit the main opposition Conservatives in 2018 after losing a leadership race, was previously most famous for leaving classified documents in a former girlfriend’s apartment, leading to his resignation as foreign minister in 2008.
Now, amid fatigue over successive coronavirus lockdowns and simmering anger over mandatory masking and vaccine rules, his right-wing party is rising in polls.
The PPC, which Bernier founded, has 9% support nationally, according to an EKOS poll, up from 1.6% in the 2019 election. That is higher than the Green Party though well below Trudeau’s Liberals and the Conservatives, who are hovering around 30%.
But PPC support may draw votes away from the Conservatives in close district races, helping the Liberals eke out win in poll Graphics. https://graphics.reuters.com/CANADA-ELECTION/zjvqkjkomvx/index.html
Bernier’s rallies have swelled as provinces began requiring proof of COVID-19 inoculation for activities like dining in restaurants or sporting events. Trudeau plans to make vaccinations mandatory for domestic air and train travel, and for government workers.
The PPC supports repealing vaccine mandates and passports, saying the issue is about freedom of choice.
Bernier’s support has also grown as his speeches echoed former U.S. President Donald Trump’s charged rhetoric.
On Sept. 5, he told a British Columbia rally that “when tyranny becomes law, revolution becomes our duty.”
PPC supporters have heckled and shouted profanities at Trudeau’s campaign stops, forcing the Liberals to cancel one event last month due to safety concerns. The PPC expelled a local official on Thursday over allegations he threw gravel at Trudeau.
“They’re responsible for their own actions,” Bernier told Reuters, referring to the protestors that turn up to Trudeau campaign events.
“We need to have an ideological revolution … I’m not asking anyone to be violent. I’m asking people to stand up and speak out.”
Bernier, who is from the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec, was himself hit with an egg in Saskatchewan on Sept. 2.
At a Trudeau stop in Candiac, Quebec on Sunday, a lone protester with a purple PPC sign tucked under his arm thrust his middle finger in the air as the prime minister spoke.
“Bernier is the only politician advocating for the end of lockdowns, the end of masking, the end of mandatory vaccination,” said the man, who said his name was Marcus but declined to give his last name. “That’s all I care about.”
The PPC holds no parliamentary seats and Bernier himself lost his seat in 2019.
Even a few hundred PPC votes could influence the outcomes of at least half a dozen parliamentary constituency races to the detriment of the Conservatives, said Paul Thomas, professor emeritus of political studies at University of Manitoba, adding that he does not expect the PPC to win any constituencies https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/parties-focus-key-battlegrounds-tight-canadian-election-2021-09-07.
Bernier denies that he is snatching support mainly from the Conservatives. The platforms of Trudeau and Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole are so similar, it makes little difference which one wins, he said.
“They’re the same. I call them the Lib-Con party, with one leader, Justin O’Toole.”
Bernier said his goal is to win 4% of the popular vote, pointing out that organizers did not allow him to participate in nationally televised leaders debates.
Canada has rarely seen Bernier’s combination of inflamed rhetoric and substantial support in a politician. Trump’s term in the White House created a “cultural spillover” to Canada that emboldened those who have flocked to the PPC, Thomas said.
Bernier’s famous “Mad Max” nickname – after the Mel Gibson movie character – dates back to his losing effort for the Conservative leadership. In a Facebook post with his head photoshopped onto Gibson’s body, Bernier listed things he was “mad about” including government waste and “politics as usual.”
In June, Manitoba police arrested Bernier for violating public health orders, including refusing to self-isolate upon entering the province.
“He’s now taken on a kind of martyr complex and he’s almost daring people to arrest him,” Thomas said. “That’s what he desperately wants.”
(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg and Steve Scherer in Candiac, Quebec; Editing by Alistair Bell)
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
