Bernier challenges ‘fake Conservative party’ at Portage byelection campaign rally

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This article was published 12/05/2023 (896 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier made his first local pitch in his bid to become the MP for Portage—Lisgar, with the Quebec politician telling a Manitoba gathering society has been “overtaken by evil” and flooded with “pervert ideas.”

Among talking points ranging from the “radical left” to “cultural Marxism,” Bernier promised he would come out on top of what he called a “two-horse race between the People’s Party and the fake Conservative party” in the upcoming byelection in the Tory stronghold riding.

“We are living in a completely different society, one overtaken by evil,” Bernier told a crowd of around 80 people Friday morning in a Portage la Prairie hotel.

“The worst part of that is as these pervert ideas are being pushed everywhere in Canada, there is not a single MP fighting against these in the House of Commons.”

Bernier, 60, worked within prime minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government before losing his 2017 party leadership bid to Andrew Scheer and quitting the Tories in 2018.

He then founded the PPC, a right-wing party that campaigns on cutting immigration numbers, censoring gender and sexuality education for children, reopening the debate on abortion laws, and defunding the CBC.

After representing the Quebec riding of Beauce from 2006-19, Bernier lost the 2019 and 2021 elections to the Conservative party candidate.

He’s now seeking the seat left empty after Candice Bergen, who had represented the south Manitoba riding since 2008, stepped down in February.

Bernier was chosen by the PPC to serve as its byelection candidate without a nomination process, he said.

The presumptive front-runner is Conservative candidate Branden Leslie, who beat out former MLA Cameron Friesen for the spot. Leslie, who grew up on a farm near Portage, ran a “pro freedom” intra-party campaign that criticized Friesen’s part in COVID-19 lockdowns and mask mandates.

Bernier said Friday he wasn’t worried about Leslie taking votes from people who share the pair’s ideological values.

“If he’s elected, when he’ll be in Ottawa, he will be silent, like the Conservative Party of Canada — the Conservative Party of Canada was nowhere to be seen during the COVID hysteria,” he said.

Bernier said plans to stay in Portage for the entirety of the byelection campaign period, and will move to the area if he wins. No matter the result, he would continue to lead the PPC, he said.

Meantime, Bernier will be in court Tuesday in Winnipeg, on trial for breaking public pandemic health orders during a Manitoba rally in 2021.

On Friday, Bernier received a standing ovation from supporters, including Kristy Leckie, who was in attendance with her husband and two young children.

Leckie said she voted Conservative before switching to the PPC for the past two elections.

“During COVID, vaccine mandates was a big (concern), when they were pushing vaccine mandates and the Conservatives weren’t doing anything,” she said. “That was a big reason why I stick with the PPC.”

Leckie said she believes there’s a good chance Bernier will be welcomed into the community with open arms.

“I just think with the population, a lot of people are aware of the PPC down here, and we have a lot of people with different values, obviously, than in Quebec, and that aren’t a big fan of socialism.”

Outside the hotel conference room, not everyone was so sure.

“He’s not from here,” said one Portage resident, who asked to stay anonymous. “He’s a strong-viewed guy, we’re a little soft and easy here. I don’t think he’ll do that well here.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has until Aug. 27 to announce a date for the byelection.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca