BURNING BRIDGES
MP Maxime Bernier tears strip off Conservative leader Andrew Scheer and party, announces plans to start a new movement
OTTAWA — Aside from calling for an end to supply management in the dairy sector and privatizing Canada Post, the man dubbed “Mad Max” has a history of making headlines, often with colourful — if not contentious — commentary. Here’s a look:
April 2008: Bernier touches off a diplomatic row during a visit to Afghanistan by publicly urging the country’s government to replace the governor of Kandahar, linking him to rampant corruption: “I think (the Afghan government) can work with us to be sure that the governor will be more powerful, the governor will do what he has to do to help us, and there’s the question to maybe have a new governor.”
May 2008: Bernier comes under fire from opposition MPs over his relationship with Julie Couillard, who reportedly had ties to Quebec’s notorious biker gangs.
Bernier resigns his cabinet post by the end of the month after he is found to have left confidential briefing notes at Couillard’s home.
September 2010: Bernier slams a proposal to give federal money for a new NHL rink in Quebec City, needed to fulfil dreams of the return of professional hockey to the city.
October 2010: Bernier delivers a speech in Toronto where he says the federal government should end health transfer payments to provinces and territories, creating a new system to let them raise the money themselves to cover the costs of health care.
November 2013: At the Conservative policy convention, Bernier floats the idea of holding a referendum on whether to abolish the Senate, which at the time is mired in scandal.
May 2016: Bernier weighs in on the high-profile acquittal of Sen. Mike Duffy, which was critical of how Harper’s office handled the affair: “I think we have some blame to take and that the people who were in charge at the time, they have to take the blame.”
May 2017: Bernier loses the party’s leadership battle to Andrew Scheer on the last of 13 ballots, even though Bernier led the previous 12. Scheer wins with 50.95 per cent of the vote; Bernier earned 49.05 per cent.
April 2018: A chapter from Bernier’s forthcoming book is made public and causes a stir in caucus. In it, Bernier charges that it was “fake Conservatives” in the Quebec dairy lobby who signed up in the leadership vote to help Scheer win the leadership and protect Canada’s supplymanagement system for dairy and poultry products — a scheme Bernier is anxious to abolish.
August 2018: Amid controversy over irregular border crossers, Bernier sent out tweets on the issue of immigration and multiculturalism, saying too much diversity and “extreme multiculturalism” could divide the country into “little tribes” and erode Canada’s identity.