SCHEER OUSTS BERNIER FROM SHADOW CABINET

Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer has removed Quebec MP Maxime Bernier from his role as the party’s innovation critic. A senior Conservative source tells The Canadian Press Scheer made the decision after finding out Monday that Bernier had posted to his personal website a chapter on supply management that is part of his forthcoming book. “He made a commitment to the leader and to caucus that he would no longer promote his book and he misled the leader and the caucus,” said the source. Bernier posted the chapter on June 5 but Scheer was not made aware of it until Monday. The move introduces a new fracture in an already tenuous relationship between the party leader and the man he beat out for the job a year ago. On April 18, after a tense caucus meeting in which other Conservative MPs accused Bernier of backstabbing Scheer and causing division within the party, Bernier announced he would postpone the publication indefinitely. But on June 5, Bernier quietly added the chapter to his personal website where it can be downloaded.