His life, politics and juicy tidbits
WHO
•Maxime Bernier, leader People's Party of Canada • Born Jan. 18, 1963, in St-Georges-de-Beauce, Quebec.
• Son of Gilles Bernier, radio show host who held the riding of St-Georges-de-Beauce from 1984 to 1997.
• The senior Bernier was elected as a Conservative, later sat as an independent, and appointed as Canada’s ambassador to Haiti from 1997 to 2001.
• Maxime has a bachelor of commerce from the Université du Québec à Montréal and law degree from the University of Ottawa.
• Called to the Quebec Bar in 1990.
• Father of two girls with first wife Caroline Chauvin. They married in 1991 and divorced in 2005.
THE RESUME
• Pre-political career centred mainly around business and finance.
• Named executive vice-president of the Montreal Economic Institute in 2005.
• Elected Conservative member of parliament for Beauce on Jan. 23, 2006, with the largest majority outside Alberta.
• Appointed to the Stephen Harper’s cabinet Feb. 6, 2006, as minister of Industry.
• Served as minister of Foreign Affairs Aug. 14, 2007, to May 26, 2008.
• Re-elected to represent Beauce Oct. 14, 2008, again receiving the largest majority of all MPs in Quebec.
• Re-elected on May 2, 2011, and appointed Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism.
• Re-elected November 2015.
• Left the Conservative Party of Canada on Aug. 23, 2018, to sit as an independent MP and announced the launch of a new party.
A PARTY IS BORN
Maxime Bernier is candid about his past. In an interview with the Huffington Post this past May, he admitted supporting sovereigntists during the 1995 Quebec referendum on independence. “I was separatist, I must have he was fired after a new president was hired. They clashed. “I was always challenging her. The positions she was taking were not the positions I thought we should be taking,” he told the Huffington Post in a 2017 interview. He says eventually he was called into her office and let go. “That was a real firing,” he says. His next position was vicepresident of corporate affairs and communications at Standard Life insurance. Bernier says he enjoyed working there, but when his boss retired, the new boss offered him a new VP job with the same salary and similar title. He felt it was a demotion. “I was arrogant, and I told him, ‘If you offer me that, I would rather take a package.’” Two weeks later, Bernier was offered a package.
CLOSING THE BOOK
While at Standard Life, Bernier joined the board of the Montreal Economic Institute, a right-wing think tank in Quebec. As an associate researcher, he tax. The book was a flop with fewer than 1,000 copies sold.
YOU MAY HAVE FORGOTTEN
Bernier is a runner. And we’re not talking a jog in the park. Maxime Bernier likes marathons. In 2013, when he was 50, he ran an ultramarathon from one end of his Beauce riding to the other to raise money for a local food bank. He completed the 106 kilometres in just over 13 hours, raising more than $153,000 for the Beauce Harvest Foundation.
THERE’S MORE
Running marathons is not his only claim to fame. Bernier also ran into some scandal during his tenure as a minister in Stephen Harper’s government. He was forced to resign as minister of Foreign Affairs in 2008 when it was revealed he had left sensitive NATO documents at the home of a former girlfriend, Julie Couillard. of a non-profit community mental health organization in Montreal.
THE 2019 POLICIES THE ENVIRONMENT
The People’s Party of Canada holds a right-wing view on climate change. “There is, however, no scientific consensus on the theory that CO2 produced by human activity is causing dangerous global warming today or will in the future, and that the world is facing environmental catastrophes unless these emissions are drastically reduced. Many renowned scientists continue to challenge this theory,” the party states in its 2019 Election platform. “The policy debate about global warming is not grounded in science anymore. It has been hijacked by proponents of big government who are using crude propaganda techniques to impose their views.” Under Prime Minister Maxime Bernier Canada would pull out of the Paris Accord and “abandon unrealistic greenhouse gas emission targets” and abolish subsidies for green technology, among other things.
MULTICULTURALISM AND IMMIGRATION
If the People’s Party of Canada is elected to govern, Canada won’t be such a welcoming country for immigrants. The party spells it out bluntly in its platform, saying it would lower the total number of immigrants from 350,000 annually to just 150,000 each year. Under Prime Minister Maxime Bernier, Canada would limit the number of immigrants under the family reunification program — and abolish the program for parents and grandparents. Bernier and his party say decisions on which immigrants would be allowed in would be based on the immigrants’ skill sets. A People’s Party government would also “ensure that every candidate for immigration undergoes a face-to-face interview and answers a series of specific questions to assess the extent to which they align with Canadian values and societal norms.”
BOTTOM-LINE ME
Maxime Bernier does not seem to do diplomacy. He doesn’t tip-toe around issues or worry about whether his words and ideas will offend. He’s blunt and makes no apologies for it. He’s had a colourful life. Some might describe it as outrageous, if they count the ex-girlfriend with ties to the Hell’s Angels and the 2008 incident with the missing briefcase full of NATO documents. That alone might have been the end of most political careers. Not so for Bernier, who seems to be able to shrug off the missteps and continue pushing forward to consistently be re-elected in Beauce by very healthy margins. The People’s Party Platform for 2019 will not appeal to those worried about climate change and welcoming immigrants to Canada. Election night 2019 will determine whether Bernier and the Peoples Party are just a novelty or a serious option for voters who subscribe to a far-right way of thinking.
He's colourful, some say outrageous. Will Canadians take him seriously?