‘Mad Max’ Bernier exits Canada’s Conservatives, denouncing ‘extreme multiculturalism’ and vowing to set up new party

Hard-right former foreign minister Bernier said the Conservatives had become ‘intellectually and morally corrupt’, while party leader Andrew Scheer said his departure would only help Liberal PM Justin Trudeau

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Former Conservative Party leadership candidate Maxime Bernier, addresses a Conservative Party debate in Toronto on April 26. He lost the leadership race to moderate Andrew Scheer and now plans to leave the party. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:20pm, 24 Aug 2018Updated: 8:21pm, 24 Aug 2018

Canada’s opposition Conservatives face a potential split a year ahead of national elections after a prominent former cabinet minister quit the party on Thursday to form his own right-leaning faction, focused on limited immigration and promoting free trade.

Maxime Bernier, who failed in his bid to lead the Conservative Party more than a year ago, said he hoped to have an alternative party up and running within weeks to challenge Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the 2019 election.

“He has decided today to help Justin Trudeau,” Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer told a news conference, condemning the defection as one driven by personal ambition. “Other conservatives and Canadians who want a responsible government in power will continue to work with us.”

Trudeau, speaking with reporters after Cabinet meetings in British Columbia, dodged direct questions on Bernier. “I’m going to let Conservative focus on themselves, as they are right now, and we’re going to stay focused on Canadians,” he said.

The Conservatives – recently neck and neck in polls with Trudeau’s Liberals – split into two factions in 1987, but reunified the party in 2003 and later held power for nearly a decade under former prime minister Stephen Harper.

Maxime Bernier (left) speaks with Andrew Scheer after the first results are announced during the Conservative Party of Canada leadership convention in Toronto in May 27, 2017. Photo: Reuters

Speaking out against “fake news” and saying the Conservatives under Scheer were “too intellectually and morally corrupt to be reformed,” Bernier announced his split in Ottawa just as the party was gathering in Halifax for its annual convention.

“The Conservative party has abandoned conservatives. It does not represent them anymore. And it has nothing of substance to offer Canadians looking for a political alternative,” Bernier said.