The Conservative Party that Bernier wants to run against was the Conservative Party of Erin O’Toole. With Poilievre now the leader of the CPC, Bernier has to pretend that nothing has changed.
Maxime Bernier wants you to think that Pierre Poilievre & Justin Trudeau are exactly the same.
He calls them both members of the “Ottawa elite.”
So why then did Bernier want Poilievre to join his party not long ago?
Here’s what Bernier said in early 2022 during the Freedom Convoy:
“People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier is praising Conservative MPs Candice Bergen and Pierre Poilievre for supporting the convoy of transport-truck drivers, and for opposing some government COVID-19 measures.”
“I congratulate MPs (Bergen and) Poilievre for finally oppos(ing) the government measures,” Bernier said. “This is (in) contrast with their leader (Erin O’Toole), who is unable to answer simple questions, and has essentially supported every one of the government’s decisions regarding COVID.”
Bernier went on to say his party would welcome the two MPs. “The door is open … if they want to join us.”
Other Tory MPs who’ve said they support the trucker protest include Leslyn Lewis, Andrew Scheer, Kevin Waugh, Melissa Lantsman, Martin Shields, Marilyn Gladu, Jeremy Patzer, Ted Falk, Michelle Ferreri, Laila Goodrige, and Colin Carrie.”
Credit to Yukon Strong for first pointing out the dishonesty:
Otoole is not “the CPC”. He’s been fired as leader & run out of the party entirely. Furthermore, at one point 50% of the party voted for Max who PRAISED CPC’s opposition to the mandates.
Like why the dishonesty? This type of direct vote splitting handed Trudeau 28 ridings now. https://t.co/mHw5CRNHoV pic.twitter.com/JREKOKkpBt
— Yukon Strong 🇨🇦🇺🇸 (@YukonStrong) May 11, 2023
Here’s an important question: If Bernier is against the “Ottawa elite,” and if he thinks Pierre Poilievre is part of the “Ottawa elite,” then why did he want Poilievre in his party last year?
And what has changed now?
It’s not as if Poilievre has changed his position. The Conservatives are now against vaccine mandates and border restrictions. They pushed the government to drop those restrictions.
Justin Trudeau even attacked Poilievre after Poilievre spoke to US President Joe Biden about the need to end vaccine requirements at the US border – a policy which has now ended.
So again, what has changed?
Simple: Maxime Bernier is running in the Portage-Lisgar by-election and needs to demonize Pierre Poilievre in order to have any chance of winning.
The facts of Poilievre’s position haven’t changed, only Maxime Bernier’s political interests have.
Bernier’s problem is that the Conservatives aren’t the same party they were under O’Toole
Under Erin O’Toole, Canada came very close to being a country without any real political opposition in the House of Commons. He was pushing the Conservatives to become basically a clone of the Liberals, copying Liberal policy on deficits, carbon taxes, vaccine mandates, border restrictions, and firearms.
At that time, Bernier’s criticisms of the CPC as ‘Liberal lite’ were correct.
But what ended up happening?
O’Toole’s own colleagues rejected him.
The CPC held a leadership race.
Pierre Poilievre ran on a campaign of opposing carbon taxes, opposing vaccine mandates, opposing border restrictions, opposing endless budget deficits, opposing Liberal attacks on law-abiding gun owners, and more.
Pierre Poilievre then won the most votes ever in a party leadership race in Canadian history, and raised more money than any party leader candidate had ever raised before.
The Conservatives moved decisively away from their direction under O’Toole, and have re-embraced a pro-freedom, limited-government mindset.
Furthermore, many of the Conservative MPs who supported the Freedom Convoy and who opposed Trudeau’s vaccine mandates & border restrictions are now top members of Poilievre’s leadership team.
This is all great for Canada, because it means the Conservatives are once again a real opposition party.
It’s also incredibly inconvenient for Maxime Bernier.
Bernier wanted to run against the Conservative Party led by Erin O’Toole. That party doesn’t exist anymore. So, Bernier has to try to convince people that the Poilievre-led Conservatives are the same as the Trudeau Liberals, despite all evidence to the contrary.
It’s either Poilievre or Trudeau
At the end of the next federal election, either Pierre Poilievre will be Prime Minister, or Justin Trudeau will remain Prime Minister.
If Justin Trudeau stays in office, he will likely do so with the support of Jagmeet Singh. Thus, Canada will move further and further down the path to Neo-Communism, with our rights and freedoms being stripped from us, productive Canadians increasingly having their earnings leeched away by the government, and Communist China gaining more and more influence over our nation.
The alternative is for Pierre Poilievre to win and begin undoing the damage of the Trudeau years.
Thus, anything that hurts Pierre Poilievre & the Conservatives politically is something that helps Justin Trudeau.
The Neo-Communists would love nothing more than to see the PPC win the Portage-Lisgar by-election, because that would throw the Conservatives into chaos and keep them focused on internal battles instead of being focused on defeating Justin Trudeau’s dangerous anti-Canadian agenda.
Spencer Fernando
