Maxime Bernier appears to eye Manitoba byelection in bid to return as MP | 24CA News
People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier seems set to announce his candidacy in an coming byelection for a federal seat in Manitoba.
A news launch says Bernier, a former cupboard minister who give up the Conservative caucus in 2018 to discovered the social gathering, will make an necessary announcement in regards to the byelection within the Portage-Lisgar using on Friday.
The byelection was prompted by longtime member of Parliament Candice Bergen, who served as interim Conservative chief final 12 months, stepping down in February.
Bernier has beforehand stated he was contemplating operating for the seat, partially as a result of it’s in a rural space with a big francophone neighborhood.
The People’s Party of Canada candidate within the 2021 election misplaced to Bergen however nonetheless gained 22 per cent of the vote.
Bernier wouldn’t verify his potential run in an interview, however stated he desires to change into an MP once more — and folks in Portage shall be ready to make historical past.
“I can tell you that I believe that people in Portage, or in these other ridings where there is a byelection, they will have an opportunity to make history,” he stated.
“We are the only real conservative political party with common-sense policies.”
Bernier stated he desires give his right-wing social gathering extra visibility and take part in a federal leaders’ debate in the course of the subsequent federal election marketing campaign.
The former MP served for 9 years in Parliament and held a number of roles in Stephen Harper’s Conservative authorities, together with helming the trade and international affairs ministries.
He give up the Conservative social gathering in 2018, the 12 months after he misplaced the social gathering’s management as an in depth runner-up to Andrew Scheer.
Bernier ran in his former seat of Beauce, Que., within the 2019 and 2021 elections beneath the purple People’s Party of Canada banner. But each occasions, he misplaced out to a Conservative social gathering candidate.
He railed towards lockdowns and different restrictions in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and was arrested in Manitoba for breaking public-health orders in 2021.
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