Image Credit: CFJC Today / Chad Klassen

By Chad Klassen

PEOPLE'S PARTY OF CANADA

Maxime Bernier trying to distinguish new party from Conservatives, Liberals

May 23, 2019 | 4:21 PM

KAMLOOPS — Maxime Bernier is travelling across the country trying to separate himself and his new People’s Party of Canada from his former Conservative colleagues.

“We’re very different than the Conservatives and the Liberals. I call them the Lib-Con party because they have the same on a lot of issues,” said Bernier speaking to CFJC Today. “We’re different because we don’t try to pander to every special interest group.”

One of the groups to which he plans not to pander are Canadian farmers, some of whom Bernier says are being supported by the Liberals and Conservatives as “cartels” when it comes to supply management of things like milk and eggs.

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“Canadians are paying twice the price for these products,” he said. “The cost for a Canadian family is about $400 a year, and they are protecting that cartel, they’re protecting 19,000 producers under supply management. They represent only 10 per cent of the farmers in this country.”

Bernier left the Conservative Party last August after losing the 2017 leadership race. He formed the People’s Party of Canada last September.

His former colleague, Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Cathy McLeod doesn’t like who Bernier has become as the leader of his new party.

“I’ve become more disappointed to see a Maxime Bernier that I didn’t know in terms of some of his interactions on Twitter and some of the things he’s out there saying.”

McLeod say she doesn’t like Bernier’s tactics in “attacking” some of her female Conservative colleagues online. McLeod also questions how different the People’s Party of Canada is, alluding to the idea that Bernier will have trouble in his own riding in Quebec.

“The Conservatives have a very strong candidate (former Saint-Elzear, Que. mayor Richard Lehoux) who will actually give him a challenge for his own seat,” said McLeod. “So he’s got huge challenges ahead of him and certainly needs to even be watchful in terms of what’s happening in his own riding.”

Bernier, meantime, says he wants to ensure Kamloops residents and all Canadians are keeping as much of their own money as possible with plans to lower and simplify tax rates.

“We’ll have only two tax rates at the federal level: 15 per cent for people on incomes more than $15,000 a year and 25 per cent for people earning more than $100K,” he said.

Bernier is speaking with a couple of “well-known” people in Kamloops and hopes to announce a candidate for the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding in the next two weeks.

Bernier will be appearing on CFJC’s Balance of Power on May 30 at 7:00 p.m.