Statement - Maxime Bernier Candidacy Announcement in Portage—Lisgar

Press conference, Portage la Prairie, MB, May 12, 2023

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming. Merci à tous d’être ici aujourd’hui pour cette importante annonce.

I have some big news to share with you. But first, I want to speak a little about what’s happening in our country. What I’m about to announce will make better sense if I give you the context.

Today, our country is at its lowest point in living memory. I say with the confidence of experience that we no longer have the country I grew up in. Canada has changed dramatically and for the worse.

For years, we’ve gotten less and less for our dollar, and what we get is not the same quality as before. Inflation is eating away at our standard of living. Government and household debt has skyrocketed. Our healthcare system is hopelessly broken.

But even worse than the state of our economy is the state of our culture. We are living in highly immoral times. Everywhere you look, you see examples of moral and cultural degeneracy.

Radical cultural Marxists have seized control of our educational system, the mainstream media, and governments. They push a program of anti-life, anti-family, and anti-Canadian values. Gender ideology and the trans movement are promoting confusion and the mutilation of children.

It is useless to debate with these extremists. There is no common ground. They seek only one objective—to destroy Canadian society as we know it and upend the traditional structures of life which have underpinned our civilization. Their insanity is undermining our traditions, our history, and our nation.

The Woke Cult is demolishing the traditional pillars of our society and aims to establish a twisted and profoundly sick vision of the future. They are moving at a rapid pace. Do you remember ten years ago? There was no drag queen story hour where children were indoctrinated into the cult of transgenderism. Ten years ago, it would have been unthinkable to indoctrinate seven and eight-year-olds and force sexuality upon them. Now you can go to jail for opposing the transition of your child!

We are living in a completely different society, one overtaken by evil. And do you want to know the worst part? As these perverted ideas are being pushed everywhere in Canada—there is not a SINGLE MP FIGHTING AGAINST THIS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Let that sink in.

We are losing our society because few people are fighting for it. The elites are totally on board with this radical transformation of our society. And those who reject it are silenced and smeared as intolerant, racist and transphobic.

And you might ask the question, “Maxime, what about the Conservative Party of Canada?”

The so-called Conservative Party has conserved NOTHING since its inception in 2003 after the merging of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party. As I said when I left that party in 2018, they are morally and intellectually corrupt.

Whether it's gender ideology, mass immigration, climate hysteria, the cult of diversity, or abortion, the CPC has refused to fight the necessary cultural battles. They are too scared of negative coverage from the mainstream media and being called bigots. They have sat on their hands as the Radical Left has taken over our society.

What is the Conservative Party doing today? Some of their most prominent MPs, including their Deputy Leader, promote the so-called “Transgender Day of Visibility.” The men in that party walk around in pink high heels and prostrate themselves before radical leftists. They are not coming to the rescue. They will not stop the sexualization of our children. They will not stop cultural Marxists from rewriting our history. The Conservatives won’t save us. They have given up.

I am ready to fight. The PPC is ready to fight. I left the Conservative party for a reason. I know that if we do not fight for our values and culture, we will lose everything.

That is why I am proud to announce that I am putting my name forward in the upcoming by-election to be YOUR representative, you the people of Portage-Lisgar, in the House of Commons. Because families deserve a strong voice!

This riding has a strong tradition of electing conservative-minded members of Parliament. It elected a Reform Party member in the 1990s. And I am the right person, as leader of the People’s Party of Canada, to represent its voters today.

Today’s fake Conservative Party have no real arguments as to why you should vote for them instead of the PPC. They can’t compete with our policies and principles. All they can do is attempt to smear us and scare Canadians into voting for them.

Their tired argument that we “split the vote” makes no sense. The PPC and the CPC have very different policies and principles. It’s not us who are splitting the conservative vote; on the contrary, it’s the Conservatives who keep moving to the left to split the Liberal vote!

This “split the vote” argument is even less valid in the current situation. No matter the result of this by-election, the CPC will not form the government. We will still be stuck with Justin Trudeau. This is not an opportunity to get Trudeau out, but IT IS an opportunity to get a new voice in.

The Liberals and NDP are not competitive here. There is no concern about a radical leftist winning. This is a two-horse race between the People’s Party and the Conservative Party.

This by-election is about giving a voice to the people of Portage—Lisgar: it’s about YOUR values and who YOU want to represent you in Ottawa.

Do you want a strong voice for your families or another fake Conservative who will say one thing when he’s here in Manitoba but stay silent when he returns to Ottawa? Do you want a Member of Parliament who respects and will fight for family values or another so-called Conservative who takes your vote for granted?

Send me to Ottawa, and I will speak out against the anti-family policies pushed by the Ottawa elite.

I’m sure some of you are wondering, “What is this Quebecer doing running in Southern Manitoba? How can he represent us?”

Over the past few years since I founded the PPC, I’ve been lucky enough to make many stops across Portage—Lisgar, even more so in recent weeks and months as I’ve prepared for this by-election.

When I visit Winkler, Morden, Portage, and many other communities in this riding, I am reminded of Beauce, where I grew up, the riding I represented in parliament for 13 years. But I am also reminded of so many special corners of this country that I have had the privilege of visiting in my years campaigning to give a voice to the voiceless.

When I talk to people here and across the country, I keep hearing that they feel forgotten by an Ottawa-elite class focused on pet social issues that are irrelevant to them.

I have a message for those who feel forgotten here in Portage—Lisgar. You will not be forgotten anymore. I will be your voice in Ottawa. I have been defending the same principles and policies consistently for many years now. If you believe in these principles and want someone to fight for them in Ottawa, I am that man. I won’t change. I won’t compromise.

I will be in the House talking about the issues the fake Conservatives are too afraid to even discuss. And yes, I will work and vote with them whenever they find enough courage to act like real conservatives.

I know that the PPC already has a lot of support in this riding. In the last election we had our best result across the country here in Portage—Lisgar.

This is where we hosted the biggest PPC rally in the Party’s history. Near Winkler 3000 patriots came out to support our fight for freedom. It was the biggest rally held by any political party during the last election.

Just outside this riding, I was wrongly arrested two years ago for refusing to comply with immoral, unconstitutional, and tyrannical covid restrictions imposed on us.

These are just a couple of events that have drawn me to this area over the past few years. I feel a special connection to this riding. This is where the renewal of our country will begin.

Together, we will redefine what it means to be a conservative in Canada. One more or less CPC MP will not make a difference. But one PPC Member of Parliament will offer more opposition against the Radical Left than the entire so-called Conservative Party!

We saw during the covid years just how morally bankrupt and ineffective the 119 CPC MPs truly were. For two years, every last one of them stayed silent, including their leader Pierre Poilievre. They did nothing as the Liberals and NDP worked hand in hand to steal our freedoms, destroy our economy and coerce millions to take unnecessary covid shots.

We have a special opportunity here. The opportunity to jump-start a much-needed political revolution in this country. To make history by electing the first ever PPC MP and adding a badly-needed true conservative voice to the House of Commons.

This situation reminds me a lot of the Reform Party. Back in 1987, the Reform Party was founded to give a voice to frustrated conservative Canadians here in Western Canada. The People’s Party policies are very similar to those of the Reform Party back then.

The Reform Party first entered Parliament in 1989 when they won a single seat in a by-election. In the subsequent general election in 1993, 51 more MPs were sent to Ottawa. The following election saw them become the official opposition. All the populist-conservative Reform Party needed was a foothold into Parliament, a single seat, and then the floodgates opened.

Despite never forming government, the years with the Reform Party in Parliament saw some of the most conservative governance in my lifetime. The Liberal minority governments with Reform in opposition were arguably more conservative than the subsequent Harper government!

The PPC will pick up the torch from the Reform Party, and it starts right here in Portage—Lisgar. We have learned from the mistakes of the Reform Party. We will never compromise our values. We won’t merge with a corrupt party. We will fight until we win and restore sanity in this country.

In 2023, a true conservative voice is more necessary than ever. The Radical Left has been unopposed for too long, and the impact that it has had on our culture is obvious. We need a strong voice for families in Ottawa. The Liberals and NDP attack you and your families. At the same time, the so-called Conservatives forget about you until your vote is convenient during an election.

This by-election is the start of a major turning point in Canadian politics. Let’s begin this common sense, populist, conservative revolution right here today. For the people of Portage—Lisgar. And for all of Canada!

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