Diversity looms large in federal election after Mad Max attacks

He may not be in Donald Trump’s league, but Maxime Bernier is still tweeting up a big enough storm north of the border to earn himself a new nickname: Mad Max.

The controversial and outspoken Conservative MP finished a close second to Andrew Scheer in the party’s leadership race last year.

Scheer later stripped Bernier of his critic portfolio after Bernier dared to criticize Canada’s supply-management system in agriculture (something Trump has also attacked.)

But Mad Max is not sulking in the corner after getting his knuckles rapped by the boss. Quite the opposite. Bernier has suddenly and shockingly thrown federal politics for a loop with his Twitter storms attacking Canada’s “extreme multiculturalism” while warning “more diversity” will destroy the country.

This has placed Scheer in a difficult spot as the party gathers in Halifax this week for a policy convention.

Some want Bernier kicked out of the party for tweets they say are insensitive, toxic and borderline racist.

But Scheer knows Bernier remains a popular figure in the party, especially in the critical battleground of Quebec. Bernier has a tonne of social media followers and raises a lot of money.

And if the Conservative caucus did give him the boot, it would risk tearing the party apart. The thought of Bernier starting his own rival party is a nightmare scenario for Scheer.

So Bernier stays. The question now is: What impact is he having with a federal election just a year away?

Bernier has thrust diversity, multiculturalism and immigration into the federal political debate and the issues suddenly loom large in an approaching campaign.

And some indicators suggest Bernier’s views are not as toxic with Canadians as his critics think. A new opinion poll shows falling support for increased immigration levels, for example.

Is this a concern to Justin Trudeau? The Liberal prime minister shows no signs of worry.

In speeches, Trudeau is now at his most passionate when discussing the strength of Canadian diversity.

And at a recent rally in Quebec, Trudeau did not hesitate to engage a heckler who criticized his government’s handling of illegal border crossings into the province.

Trudeau criticized the heckler’s “intolerance.”

When she questioned whether he was intolerant of the descendants of 17th-century and 18th-century French colonists, Trudeau accused her of “racism.”

The heckler was later revealed to be a member of a Quebec nationalist group that has advocated against immigration. But Trudeau was still accused of being overly hostile to a voter voicing concern over immigration policy.

Get set for more of this. It could get nasty. And the impact is difficult to predict.

But I’d say Trudeau and the Liberals are looking more comfortable than Scheer these days. The Liberals know support among visible minority Canadians helped propel Trudeau into the prime minister’s office, something Bernier’s attacks may help them to repeat.