People’s Party’s Bernier Max’d out on ‘mass immigration,’ climate-emergency claims
Credit to Author: Lori Culbert| Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2019 00:34:21 +0000
People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier brought his campaign messages of cutting taxes and slashing immigration to Metro Vancouver Wednesday, and was dogged by protesters at two of his events.
While Bernier spoke in a Surrey ballroom, protesters yelled “PPC, shut it down!” Security officers barred a door, preventing the dozen or so people carrying signs in support of immigrants and refugees from entering the room.
Bernier’s organizers were also preparing for protesters outside a nighttime rally in Vancouver, which the party said had 900 supporters register to attend.
In a sit-down interview with Postmedia, Bernier defended his platform policies, saying he is against “mass immigration” but insists he is not radical, arguing he wants Canada to let in more skilled immigrants, but far fewer immigrants overall.
“I don’t have any problem with them protesting, but what I’m telling them: ‘Let’s have a discussion about that.’ They use this white supremacist and racist card because they don’t want to discuss,” said Bernier, a former Conservative MP and leadership candidate whose PPC party was officially launched less than a year ago.
“For me, everyone knows Maxime Bernier and what I did in the last 13 years in politics. I don’t have to justify myself that I’m not a racist and I won’t play that game.”
Say-no-to-mass-immigration billboards in support of the PPC were taken down this summer after they sparked outrage in Metro Vancouver, and yet Bernier maintains his policies are embraced by many voters here and noted some of his candidates were immigrants themselves.
‘For me, everyone knows Maxime Bernier and what I did in the last 13 years in politics,’ says the People’s Party of Canada leader. ‘I don’t have to justify myself that I’m not a racist and I won’t play that game.’
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh were also campaigning in Metro Vancouver on Wednesday, a sign the area is an important battleground during this federal election.
Bernier said the fledgling PPC had nominated candidates in all but one of B.C.’s 42 ridings, and would have a full slate by the end of the nomination period. He believes his party is polling at about five per cent in some local ridings, but stopped short of saying where he is gaining the most support.
He said his candidates are well-vetted, but acknowledged Wednesday his campaign will look into an animated video posted by a supporter that bore the PPC name and contained bikini-clad women thrusting suggestively, guns being fired, and foul language.
“I’m not aware of that, I will have to look into that personally and with my team,” Bernier said when told of the video that was advertising a PPC meetup in Vancouver on Saturday. “The promotion of our party is based on principle, it’s based on respect.”
PPC Meetup for supporters & candidates in Vancouver on Sept 28th. Let's get together & have some drinks. #PPC2019 #PPC #PPCGrassroots #CDNPoli #CDNvote2019 #MaximeBernier #MadMax #MadMax2019 #PeoplesParty https://t.co/S4JIbBLFUz pic.twitter.com/o38ZpYTmBH
When asked about how to address Metro Vancouver’s housing affordability crisis, Bernier said reducing immigration is one of the answers, noting many immigrants move to Vancouver and Toronto, which puts pressure on the housing market.
“If you have fewer immigrants that can help, and the most important is to lower taxes, that will help Canadians and people in B.C. and Vancouver to have more money to buy their first house,” he said.
Bernier does not support the climate-crisis platforms of the Liberal, NDP and Green parties, arguing climate change is normal and not primarily the result of human activity.
A billboard featuring a portrait of People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier and its message in Toronto in August 2019.
“We must not change our way of life because of that … There is no crisis for sure,” said Bernier, who does not believe students should leave school this Friday to participate in global climate action strikes.
“I am saying to Canadians, there is no climate emergency in this country.”
Bernier said his biggest problem isn’t his platform, but the fact that many people have never heard of his new party.
“The biggest challenge that we have, it is not about our policies, it is the fact that maybe half of the population doesn’t know that we exist,” he said.
Bernier hopes his participation in the leaders debate will boost his party’s profile, and says he looks forward to debating Singh, who has criticized PPC policies as “ideology of hate.”
— With a file from The Canadian Press
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