Maxime Bernier

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Maxime Bernier (born January 18, 1963) is a Canadian businessman, lawyer and politician who served as cabinet minister of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and as Member of Parliament (MP) for Beauce from 2006 to 2019.

He is the founder and current leader of the People's Party of Canada (PPC). Prior to entering politics, Bernier held positions in the fields of law, finance and banking.

He was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Conservative in the 2006 election in the same riding his father, Gilles Bernier had represented from 1984 to 1997.

Bernier served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Minister of Industry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism, which later became the Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism and Agriculture.

Following the Conservatives' defeat in the 2015 election, he served as opposition critic for Innovation, Science and Economic Development in the shadow cabinets of Rona Ambrose and Andrew Scheer, until June 12, 2018. Bernier ran for the Conservative Party leadership in the 2017 leadership election, and came in a close second with over 49% of the vote in the 13th round, after leading the eventual winner, Andrew Scheer, in the first 12 rounds.

Fifteen months later, in August 2018, Bernier resigned from the Conservative Party to create his own party, citing disagreements with Scheer's leadership.

His new party was named the People's Party of Canada in September 2018.

He lost his seat in the 2019 election to Conservative Richard Lehoux.

Early life and education

Bernier was born in Saint-Georges, Quebec, the son of Doris (Rodrigue) and Gilles Bernier, a well known radio host, who represented the riding of Beauce from 1984 to 1997, first as a Progressive Conservative and then as an independent. In a 2010 interview with John Geddes, Bernier said he respects his father as a Mulroney-era politician, but tries not to emulate his style. Bernier has stated that his views were shaped from his upbringing in Beauce to his life experiences. He is the second oldest child and has two sisters, Brigitte and Caroline, and a brother, Gilles Jr. In his teens, Bernier played football as a member of the Condors, the team of the Séminaire St-Georges, that won the Bol d'Or in 1980 at the Olympic Stadium.

Bernier obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Université du Québec à Montréal, completed his law degree at the University of Ottawa and was called to the Quebec Bar in 1990, of which he is still a member.

Personal life

Bernier has two daughters. In 2010, he began a relationship with Catherine Letarte, a National Ballet School-trained ballerina, who worked for a women's shelter and currently runs a community centre for adults living with mental health issues. Bernier and Letarte married in the summer of 2019. Bernier is fond of quoting James M. Buchanan, Friedrich Hayek, and Henry Hazlitt and has been known as "Mad Max", the "Bloc-buster", or the "Albertan from Quebec" by his Ottawa colleagues.

In September 2013, Bernier trained for and ran an ultramarathon across his riding to raise funds for a local food bank. In 2014, Bernier participated in the Rodeo de Cochons after being challenged by a local mayor.

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Early career

Bernier worked in law, several financial and banking fields, including as a consultant at McCarthy Tétrault, rising to become the National Bank's Branch Manager, an advisor, from 1996 to 1998 in Bernard Landry's office, Quebec's finance minister and Deputy Premier of Quebec. He also served as Executive Vice President of the Montreal Economic Institute, a Quebec free-market think tank, where he wrote a book on tax reform.

Political career

In 2005, Bernier became the Conservative nominee for Beauce in the 2006 federal election. Stephen Harper had begged Bernier's father to re-enter politics, but the latter advised that his son should run instead. Bernier received 67 percent of the vote, the most significant majority for a Conservative politician outside of Alberta. His ties to Beauce and his support for provincial jurisdictions (which was also endorsed by former Social Credit Party leader Fabien Roy) were key factors in his victory. During the election, several political pundits believed Bernier's theories resulted in the unexpected Conservative victory in Quebec.

Bernier, a prominent new Quebec politician, was elected Minister of Industry and Minister of Statistics Canada on February 6, 2006. He also served as the Minister of Industry as the Registrar General. Bernier started resurrecting the telecommunications industry, particularly in the case of local phone service, during his tenure as Prime Minister. McGill University Professor Richard J. Schultz praised his efforts to telecommunications industry by proclaiming him "the highest Industry Minister in 30 years, without exception." Bernier's tenure was described as a "gold age" for Canadian corporate policy, according to James Cowan of Canadian Business.

Bernier was named Minister of Foreign Affairs on August 14, 2007, succeeding Peter MacKay, who became Minister of National Defence. According to the rumors, his appointment had to do with blocking corporate welfare from being pursued further as industry minister. Bernier's personality and charm at the start of his tenure were lauded by foreign dignitaries.

It was revealed in May 2008 that Bernier had mistakenly left a confidential briefing book at his girlfriend's home, Julie Couillard. Although Prime Minister Stephen Harper had supported Bernier, he eventually accepted Bernier's resignation on May 26, 2008, saying, "It's only this mistake." Any minister would make a serious mistake. The minister understood the severity of the mistake right away. Bernier was forced to rethink his political career, and he avoided publishing government information outside of his parliamentary office in the future.

Bernier, a former foreign minister, felt dissatisfied because the Prime Minister's Office was in charge of the portfolio, making it impossible for him to carry out his recommendations on Canadian foreign policy.

Couillard released a book six days before the 2008 election that was supposed to reveal Bernier's private information, including his personal opposition to Canadian involvement in the Iraq war. The English version ranked No. 1 in the world's highest rankings. On La Presse's best sellers list, 6 on La Presse's bestseller list, while the French version at No. 1. 5. Nevertheless, some of Bernier's constituents saw the book dismissively. He was re-elected with 63% of votes and was appointed chair of the National Defense Select Committee, and he was appointed chair.

Bernier started a blog in 2009 and spent the next four years in Canada discussing political topics. Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Raymond Blanchard, and Tom Mulcair chastised Bernier's addresses, but Andrew Coyne, Warren Kinsella, and André Pratte applauded him.

Bernier opposed the proposed scheme and Ernst & Young's feasibility study in September 2010, after Bernier's Quebec colleagues pressed for the federal government to invest $175 million in the Centre Vidéotron in Quebec City. The plan, according to him, made no financial sense. The government later decided against the investment. Later, he revealed that his coworkers were outraged because they were unable to use the funds to "buy votes."

It was reported that insiders of the Conservative Party wanted Bernier to lead the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) party if Stephen Harper's chosen candidate, Mario Dumont, became Quebec lieutenant, and that Bernier was considering a leadership bid. In 2009, there was a movement to draft Bernier for ADQ leadership. Bernier praised the attention but declined to run.

Bernier was named Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism), a junior minister of State, on May 18, 2011. Bernier did not like being tied by the virtue of cabinet alliance and feared being assigned to a minor department, but he accepted the position out of deference to his coworkers and to regain respect by returning to the cabinet. Bernier later said he accepted the position because he did not do enough in his career and expressed an interest in ending the budget deficit.

With his appointment as Minister of State on July 15, 2013 (Small Business, Tourism, and Agriculture), his responsibilities were enlarged. He was in charge of the Red Tape Reduction Commission during this period, which established a rule that every law that was added must be reduced, in this case.

Bernier was appointed by interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose as Critic of Economic Growth and Innovation on November 20, 2015. He resigned on April 7, 2016, but he stood down in the Conservative Party's leadership race.

Bernier proposed a bill in March 2016 requiring Bombardier executives to testify before the committee on the Industry Committee about the government's decision to ban them out. Bombardier, according to Bernier, should restructure itself rather than seek public funds. Bernier's motion was blocked by Justin Trudeau's Liberal government.

Bernier said at a conservative conference in March 2016 that China has "less government and more freedom" than Canada; a video of the speech was later posted by the Broadbent Institute's Press Progress. Bernier said he was referring to economic rights, not political rights, and that his remarks should not be misconstrued as if he favoured Chinese draconian rule.

Bernier declared himself on April 7, 2016, stating that he was running to promote his beliefs and ideas on four fronts: freedom, accountability, fairness, and reverence.

Bernier broke with his Conservative peers on supply management in May 2016, the Canadian agricultural system in which a form of insurance is provided to farmers. He said that there was no way to reconcile the Canadian system with his "free-market ideals."

Bernier was one of the few leadership candidates in the Toronto Pride Parade after the Conservative Party decided to outlaw the traditional definition of marriage from their constitution.

Bernier gained unexpectedly high support in the 13th and final round of voting on May 27, 2017, losing 56.5 percent of the vote to Andrew Scheer's 59.5 percent. Michael Chong, another leadership candidate, argued that both his and Bernier's campaigns represented "real change, significant reform" to the party, but that they preferred the status quo.

Bernier, according to Prince George Citizen Nathan Giede, was "the living reincarnation of all Laurier's great thoughts and Dief the Chief's pan-Canadian optimism." "They can call me a fiscal conservative, they can call me a libertarian who believes in liberty, and they can call me a liberal libertarian, so they can call me a responsible libertarian, call me Maxime, and call me 'Mad Max'," Bernier said in the Times Colonist. He had a sense of humor on occasion, which helped him to compel voters' attention. Although some of Bernier's measures were reflective of the role "rugged individualism" played in Canada's past, and may have played a role in his demise, William Watson argued in the National Post that they may have influenced Canada's future. Scheer's victory was not "stirring," according to Stanley Hartt, who was in charge of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's staff, and he argued that Scheer may have stolen ideas from Bernier's economic website, which Hartt lauded.

Bernier was re-appointed critic for Innovation, Science, and Economic Growth Canada by Andrew Scheer on August 31, 2017.

Bernier asked questions as he approached a caucus meeting into the nomination process on January 31, 2018, as did Conservative MP Brad Trost, who tweeted in favour of Bernier's position. Scheer reversed his previous decision after the meetings. A third party probe has been launched and a third party investigation has been launched.

Bernier wanted to publish a book titled Doing Politics Differently: My Vision for Canada. During the leadership campaign, he pre-released a chapter on his publisher's website describing why he made the abolition of Canada's supply management system an issue. The chapter referred to Quebec's dairy farmers as "fake Conservatives" because they opposed his removal of the supply management policy and endorsed Scheer's candidacy. Bernier, on the other hand, decided to postpone publication of the book indefinitely for the sake of party unity, while still acknowledging that the book was not about his leadership campaign but rather about important topics. He later told the Toronto Star in an email that he defended his remarks and that the book might be released someday.

Scheer fired Bernier from the Official Opposition shadow cabinet on June 12, 2018, claiming that Sanders fulfilled his promise to postpone the book's unveiling by posting the chapter on his website on June 5, after it had been taken down by the publisher. Bernier denied that he broke the pledge by saying that the excerpts had been posted on his publisher's website before. Chantal Hebert, a member of Bernier's demotion, was dismissive of Bernier's decision to publish the book, while Paul Wells thought Scheer was "paranoid." Bernier said in an interview on June 15 that his resignation was based on his belief in supply management, not his decision to publish the chapter.

Bernier earned a lot of attention in August 2018 when criticizing Prime Minister Trudeau's remarks about "diversity is our strength." Muhammad Ali Jinnah's naming of a park in Winnipeg was an example of "extreme multiculturalism," he said. The tweets were widely seen as divisive and insurgent, with calls for him to be reprimanded or entirely banned from caucuses, including John Ivison; however, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said Bernier "speaks for himself" amid calls for Bernier to be barred from the party's caucuses. Scheer later said that he did not use identity politics to gain followers; and that Bernier published a series of tweets contradicting the claim. Mathieu Bock-Côté, Lise Ravary, and Neil Macdonald wrote op-eds to oppose arguing protesters. However, Tom Walkom, Deborah Levy, and Andre Valiquette found their critique within mainstream Quebec. Bernier, who had an issue with Scheer's response, later confirmed that he wanted to have a talk about "ethnic divisions" in his resignation address. When asked about his tweets by Question Period, he replied: "Instead of continually promoting the diversity in our world, why not promote what unites us." "That's the most significant." Bernier had earlier celebrated ethnic diversity but later "objected to its ascension to cult status," columnist Colby Cosh said later.

Bernier declared on August 23, 2018 that he was leaving the Conservative Party with the intention of founding a new political party. He held a press conference in which he said that the Conservative Party was "too intellectually and morally corrupt to be reformed" and that he was unable to comment on pressing topics or articulate a coherent vision.

Former Conservative Prime Ministers Stephen Harper and Brian Mulroney chastised Bernier's departure. Harper said that Bernier was a sore loser, while Mulroney said that Bernier's formation of a new party would split the vote and make it more likely that Trudeau's Liberals would win the 2019 election. Conversely, columnist Christie Blatchford praised Bernier's decision as brave. Bernier said in a National Post op-ed that his founding of a new party was intended to turn around what he terms a "public choice dynamic" in Canadian politics, which resulted in vote buying and "pandering" by the major political parties.

Bernier declared the formation of the People's Party of Canada on September 14, 2018, claiming that the party will advocate for "smart populism," which Bernier characterized as a set of principles of liberty, responsibility, fairness, and respect. Bernier put the People's Party to the right of the Conservative Party; the party has been characterized as conservative, libertarian, right-wing, classical liberal, far-right, and alt-right. Some of the country's founding signatories were shown to have links to American white nationalist and anti-immigrant organisations in December 2018. The party later told Le Devoir that they did not have enough funds to vet them at the start of the PPC.

Bernier and his chief strategist, Martin Masse, united the People's Party with the anti-immigrant European New Right, who are campaigning in anticipation of the 2019 Canadian federal election. Bernier called for major cuts to immigration to Canada and condemned multiculturalism, reflecting a change in his public image that contrasted with his earlier work (while in the Conservative Party) on free-market, economic liberty, and deregulation. Bernier also suggested a cut in federal income tax, called for a decrease of the federal role in health care, and the replacement of the Canada Health Transfer, and suggested that the Indian Act be repealed. He was the only representative of a party of the House of Commons to condemn the scientific consensus on climate change. He said he would do "nothing" to combat climate change, and that Canada should withdraw from the Paris Agreement on carbon pollution.

Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist, was "mentally unbalanced" in Bernier's series of tweets on September 2, 2019. Bernier returned from recess on September 4, after being strongly chastised.

Bernard Lehoux, a fourth-generation dairy farmer and former president of the Fédération Québécoise des Municipalités, was vying for his seat in Beauce in October 2019. He lost over 20% of his vote from 2015 to Lehoux's 38.6 percent, with the Bloc Québecois and Liberals finishing third and fourth respectively, with the Bloc Québecois and Liberals finishing in third and fourth places. Bernier was the only PPC candidate to have come within minutes of being elected nationally; no other candidate received more than 60% of the vote; and the party as a whole gained only 1.6 percent of the popular vote.

He filed a lawsuit in February 2020 claiming defamation by Warren Kinsella for referring to Bernier as a bigote in connection with the 2019 election. The complaint sought an acknowledgment of defamation and compensation of $325,000. The court dismissed the complaint, based on Ontario's Anti-SLAPP law, finding that it was not established that the defamation fears outweighed the importance of protecting free expression in November 2021. In February 2022, Bernier was ordered to pay Kinsella $132,000 in legal fees.

Bernier said he would not be interested in returning to the Conservative Party following Scheer's departure from the Conservative Party leadership in December 2019. He revealed a new TV series with the English name The Max Bernier Show and French title Les nouvelles de Maxime in January 2020.

Bernier declared his candidacy after Bill Morneau and Michael Levitt's resignations over the summer of 2020. He announced his candidacy for Levitt's former Toronto riding of York Centre shortly after the date of the October 26, 2020 by-election was announced. He came in fourth with 642 votes (3.56 percent).

Bernier has been highly critical of public health steps taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, having travelled to anti-lockdown demonstrations around the region in 2021. Despite being forbidden from doing so by the mayor and the area's city councilor, he spoke to hundreds of people in Barrie, Ontario, on April 17. Both he and MPP Randy Hillier were ticketed for their presence in a protest in Peterborough on April 24 for breaching the Reopening Ontario Act. They had been told not to attend by mayor Dianne Therrien the day before.

On May 2, he attended a rally in Montreal. The crowd at the Olympic Stadium, where the demonstration began, was large enough that it closed the mass vaccination clinic at the Olympic Stadium. On May 8, he consulted with Chris Sky in Regina, Saskatchewan, and was awarded a $2800 ticket. On June 6, he and several other PPC candidates from neighbouring countries rallied in Waterloo, Ontario. During a pandemic, Waterloo's mayor, Dave Jaworsky, described their attendance as a political campaign rally that was "beyond shocking." On June 11 in St-Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba, Bernier was arrested and fined by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), for attending a protest against COVID-19 prohibitions, which was in violation of health legislation. He paid $1000 bail, postponed the remainder of his tour in Manitoba, and returned to Montreal the next day. He said in August that he would not get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Bernier ran in his old riding of Beauce for the 2021 election and then lost to Richard Lehoux. In December, the People's Party's leadership search was concluded, and he was elected and retained as leader.

In Ottawa, he endorsed Freedom Convoy 2022.

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