In a hastily called press conference early Thursday afternoon, Saskatchewan MP Maxime Bernier dropped the proverbial “bombshell,” announcing he was quitting the Conservative Party as Conservative Caucus members gathering in Halifax for a policy convention.
“(The) party is afraid to articulate any coherent philosophy to support its position. Every public declaration is tested with polls and focus groups,” Bernier told reporters in Ottawa, reports the Toronto Star.
“The result is a bunch of platitudes that don’t offend anybody, but also don’t mean anything and don’t motivate anyone. Andrew Scheer keeps talking about his positive Conservative vision, but nobody knows what that vision is.”
NEWS | Bernier declares he's leaving federal Conservative party. Details here: pic.twitter.com/rBZ55ffxRT
— NewsTalk 610 CKTB (@610CKTB) August 23, 2018
As Digital Journal noted on Sunday, Andrew Sheer, who beat out Bernier in the Conservative leadership race last May, has been involved in a rather heated disagreement with him lately, so much so that Bernier took to Twitter to lambaste the overly conservative values of his own party while attacking PM Justin Trudeau’s “extreme multiculturalism” and immigration policy.
Bernier listed several policy areas where he diverged with the Conservative party’s platform. He cited his opposition to “Canada’s production quotas for dairy, poultry and eggs, the use of retaliatory trade tariffs against the U.S., his opposition to current immigration and multiculturalism policies (although he proposed no specific changes), and to federal equalization transfers, “corporate welfare” and regional economic agencies that subsidize businesses.”
You could say that the list covers just about everything under the sun. With respect to the Conservative Party, Bernier had this to say: “How can we expect this party to adopt any conservative reform, when it comes to power if it cannot even articulate a clear stand and defend them before it is elected?”
VIDEO: …And @MaximeBernier calls it quits: “…as of today, I am no longer a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.” pic.twitter.com/YiV1jue65m
— Omar Sachedina (@omarsachedina) August 23, 2018
“I am now convinced that what we will get if Andrew Scheer becomes prime minister is just a more moderate version of the disastrous Trudeau government. I have come to realize over the past year that this party is too intellectually and morally corrupt to be reformed.”
According to the BBC, Bernier came to his decision to quit his party after he was told to “shut up” when he attacked Trudeau’s immigration and diversity policies. In response to Mr. Bernier’s decision to leave the party, Mr. Scheer said: “He has chosen to put himself above all things.”
