Why Maxime Bernier should be in Parliament

OTTAWA—Maxime Bernier did not win the June 19 federal byelection in Portage-Lisgar, Man. But that doesn’t mean his People’s Party of Canada (PPC) does not merit a seat in Parliament: to provide representation for a statistically steady group of voters and to bring the PPC’s policies under greater public scrutiny. In the 2021 federal election, the Green Party’s share of the national vote collapsed to 2.3 per cent. Meanwhile, the PPC’s share increased from 1.6 per cent in 2019 to 5.1 per cent. In 2022, polling by Nanos Research showed that the percentage of Canadians who would consider voting for the PPC shot up to 16 per cent. Cumulative polling data currently have the PPC at 4.9 per cent and the Green Party at 2.3 per cent. Yet, the Greens occupy two seats in Parliament. The PPC occupies none. Of course, polling numbers mean little in our first-past-the-post electoral system. To get a seat in Parliament you have to win a seat; and as it often happens, a party can win the popular vote, but lose the election. That said, the various polls do highlight that the PPC—or at least the issues that the party purports to advocate—cannot be dismissed as temporary or as outlier phenomena. The challenge, therefore, is to address these issues within the rubric of Canada's democratic values and systems. The Liberals and the New Democrats have written off the PPC as an affront to Canadian sensibilities. On the other hand, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has tried to appeal to PPC voters with his own brand of snarly far-right populism. But Poilievre comes across as a phoney, unable to match Bernier’s mean and vociferous railings against what he calls the “moral and cultural degeneracy” of Canada. Ideologies that have potency on the periphery can be rendered lifeless once they are brought under investigation in the mainstream. The federal Green Party is a good example. Once heralded as fresh champions of an important issue, the Greens find themselves exposed as just another gang of political egos vying for the centre stage. The Green Party’s agenda, where it was deemed acceptable to fit into Canadian norms, was usurped by the traditional parties. The same could apply to the PPC. A seat in Parliament would provide a focal point for the PPC’s populists to concentrate their angst and grievance-laden energies. This in turn could free the Conservatives to ditch their far-right impulses for the more competitive space in the centre-right. Their leader’s penchant for far-right populism hasn’t helped their case, anyways. According to Abacus Data, Poilievre’s negative polling numbers have gone from 27 per cent before he became leader to 40 per cent as of June 14, 2023. Poilievre needs to ease up. The far-right is, in fact, in serious decline. From British ex-prime minister Boris Johnson to Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, the superstars of far-rightism are either dying, losing elections, or awaiting criminal trails. Their appeal in places like Holland, Spain, Sweden, Norway, and even France has been greatly diminished. Once the entirety of their political programs started to come under critical examination by parliamentary processes, they rapidly began to lose their appeal as a viable option to tackle serious political issues. Dr. Tereza Capelos at the University of Birmingham, U.K., has studied the psychology of populism. She pegs far-right populism as an accumulation of resentment which generates a feeling of victimhood and vindictiveness. She notes that resentment should not be confused with anger. While anger pushes one to action, resentment leaves one feeling powerless and bitter. Sly politicians are always lurking, ready to harvest that sense of helplessness by exploiting social antipathy for short-term electoral gain. Bernier is doing exactly that. Canada’s far-right should thus be seen as split between the chronically grieved rank and file, and its opportunistic leadership. During the byelection, Bernier manipulated and gaslit his party’s membership. He offered no radical or pragmatic policies to combat climate change, housing affordability, political neglect, or economic disparity. He spent his time tweeting conspiracy theories, complaining about immigration, and bullying the LGBTQ+ community, which put him completely out of synch with core Canadian ethics, laws, and morals. Deservedly, he lost. Bernier can, however, live to fight another day. But issuing misleading statements and whipping up fears won’t do it. He needs to address the hard problems facing Canadians, like increasing wage inequality, social injustice, and class formations which have relegated big swaths of our society to the sidelines. He needs to replace his calls for libertarian abstractions with concrete demands for equity and economic inclusion. Simply put: he needs to swap the war on culture for a war on socio-economic disparities. Regrettably, the conduct of populist leaders elsewhere suggests that Bernier will continue duping the ill-fated members of the PPC for his own political ambitions. That is, until those members catch on and send him to the same dustbin of history as all the other ex-superstars of far-right populism. Bhagwant Sandhu is a retired director general from the federal government. Between 2002-21, he held senior roles in several departments, including Fisheries and Ocean Canada, Infrastructure Canada, Treasury Board Secretariat, and Public Works Canada. He has also held executive positions in the governments of Ontario and British Columbia. The Hill Times