National Post (National Edition)
Bernier’s ‘karaoke Trump’ turn threatens Tory harmony
What is Maxime Bernier upto? He seems intent on political martyrdom, issuing tweets daily that are apparently designed to infuriate the leader of the Conservative party, Andrew Scheer.
After his thread on Twitter that boosted Liberal fundraising and membership with its talk about the “cult of diversity” and “extreme multiculturalism”, the rogue Conservative MP was at it again on Wednesday. First he noted that Conservative immigration critic, Michelle Rempel, was holding a press conference talking about Liberal policy. “After disavowing me last week for raising the issue, and telling me to shut up, my colleagues have just realized that it is something Canadians find important and want to hear about. Great example of strong leadership.”
Later he turned to supply management, on which he has been a consistent critic. “Why is my party still defending the cartel and backing the Trudeau Liberals in putting all of Canada’s economy at risk,” he said.
I have known Bernier for more than a decade and hold him in fond regard. But this behaviour is erratic and irresponsible.
His only explanation in reply to a request to talk was that he’s “in politics to defend real conservative ideas.”
But he has to know it looks like he’s goading Scheer into kicking him out of the party.
The leader can’t do that unilaterally and it would require 20 per cent of the caucus to sign a letter to caucus chair, David Sweet, asking him to hold a vote. That hasn’t happened ahead of a caucus meeting in Halifax at the party’s policy convention.
“No-one is in the mood to have a crisis at the convention. But caucus is pissed and I expect a few people will let Max know it,” said one MP.
Rempel gave a taste of what awaits Bernier in Halifax. “My colleague has a choice to make: does he want Andrew Scheer to win or Justin Trudeau to win?” she asked.
Politicians who want to achieve things should not set out to be liked — in fact, those who are prepared to compromise on everything, usually achieve nothing. Bernier sees himself as a standard bearer in the fight against the tyranny of the prevailing opinion, even if it makes life uncomfortable for all concerned.
But politics is not lone combat and in his musings on the “cult of diversity” he is causing his own side collateral damage.
He claims he has long held strong opinions on immigration and points to his leadership campaign document from 2017.
In fact, in that campaign he accused rival candidate Kellie Leitch of being a “karaoke version of Donald Trump” over her “Canadian values” campaign and said Canada should be open to immigration.
His policy document objected to the Liberal increase in immigration numbers to 300,000 a year but the word “diversity” wasn’t mentioned — his concerns were primarily economic.
Taking issue with the Trudeau government on its immigration policy is perfectly valid. In fact, Rempel made a convincing case that the mishandling of the waves of asylum seekers crossing into Canada from the U.S. is eroding the consensus that has underpinned policy for decades. A new opinion poll for Angus Reid Institute this week showed that for the first time in more than 40 years, the number of people who would like to see immigration levels decrease outnumbered those who are happy to see it stay the same or increase.
Rempel pointed out that the Liberals are contributing to the fiscal deficit by making arbitrary decisions on immigration and refugee numbers that are “set like an auction” and bear no relation to the demands of the provinces or industry.
Trudeau has “normalized” a situation at the border, where refugee claims are more than double the number the system was designed to handle (funding was put in place by the Conservatives to facilitate a system that handles 22,500 claims annually; in 2017, 47,425 claimants arrived, creating a massive backlog).
Rempel’s Pathway to Canada presser was designed to lay out the principles and “potential policy” on immigration that would be followed by a Scheer government — a “fair, orderly and compassionate system” designed to integrate newcomers and “sustain Canada’s pluralism”. The refugee system would “prioritize the world’s most vulnerable”. Intake levels were not specified but would “reflect cost realities”.
It was reasonable, if unremarkable, stuff — certainly hard to portray as the “politics of fear and division”, as Trudeau is wont to do whenever the Conservatives raise immigration.
Reasonable people can disagree on whether the number of newcomers averages 250,000 a year, as it did under Stephen Harper, or rises to 340,000, as the Liberals plan by 2020.
Many economists suggest the increase will be absorbed relatively easily, given the aging population and low birthrate.
Statistics Canada’s most recent figures outline that long-term, immigrants become self-sufficient (the unemployment rate for more recent immigrants is around 10 per cent but that drops in half after a decade in Canada).
Yet Bernier has moved into karaoke Trump territory himself when talks about an end to “ever more diversity”. It does not make him a crusader for free speech — it makes him a saboteur to Conservative electoral success.
People who have worked with him say they are perplexed. “He was in a good position to play a big supporting role. But it’s vintage Max — spasms of controversy and attention-seeking that are not always strategically thought out,” said one former colleague.
Scheer will have to think long and hard on what to do next. Quebec will be the battleground for the next election and Bernier is his highest profile MP in the province.
Harper’s legacy was a relatively robust coalition that has proven electorally viable. The new leader will meddle with it at his peril.
But neither can he treat such an open challenge to his leadership from a former rival with impunity. His authority and the party’ s reputation are at stake.
It’s appropriate the two men will meet Thursday in Nova Scotia — the province’s official motto translates as: “One conquers and the other defends”.