Bergen became involved in politics because of frustration with the
Canadian federal government, including what she perceived as wasteful spending. She began volunteering for the
Canadian Alliance's local
riding association.
Government backbencher On October 14, 2008, Bergen, under her then-married name Candice Hoeppner, was elected to represent
Portage—Lisgar in the
2008 Canadian federal election. Previously, Bergen served as chair of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. She was the vice-chair of the Standing Committee for the Status of Women and sat on the Standing Committee for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. Additionally, she has been a member of the Liaison Committee as well as the Panel of Legislative Committee Chairs. Bergen was involved in several special parliamentary groups. She was on the executive on the Canada-Japan Inter-Parliamentary Group. She is also the former chair of the Canada-Australia-New Zealand Parliamentary Friendship Group, in addition to sitting on a number of other parliamentary groups. On September 22, 2010, a
Liberal motion to kill debate on bill C-391 was passed 153–151, after six
NDP MPs who backed Bergen's bill changed their votes, along with several Liberal MPs, enough to ensure the passage of the motion, keeping the registry alive.
Parliamentary secretary and cabinet minister On May 2, 2011, at the
41st Canadian general election, Bergen was returned as Member of Parliament for Portage—Lisgar with 76.0 per cent of the vote. On May 25, 2011, Bergen was appointed as the parliamentary secretary to the
minister of public safety. In her role as parliamentary secretary, Bergen had the opportunity to work alongside the Minister of Public Safety on bill C-19, Ending the Long Gun Registry Act which became law on April 5, 2012.
In opposition and
Andrew Scheer in 2019 After Stephen Harper resigned as Conservative leader after the party became the Official Opposition after the
2015 election, Bergen, who was re-elected, announced that she would run for the interim leadership. Rona Ambrose was chosen instead. In opposition, she served as the Official Opposition critic for Natural Resources from November 20, 2015, to September 15, 2016. Bergen was appointed by Interim Conservative leader,
Rona Ambrose as Opposition House Leader on September 15, 2016, replacing
Andrew Scheer. In 2018, Bergen criticized
Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government during the
Question Period after not ordering law enforcement to arrest
Abu Huzaifa al-Kanadi after admitting to be a member of the
Islamic State group. She also called on Public Safety Minister
Ralph Goodale to reveal whether the government knows where he is or not, but Goodale stated that it was the "opposition of keeping Canadians safe". She was re-elected in the
2019 federal election. She considered running in the
2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election to succeed Andrew Scheer, but decided not to because of her lack of fluency in French. In September 2020, Bergen was appointed
Deputy Leader of the Opposition by
Erin O'Toole. She was succeeded as Opposition House Leader by
Gérard Deltell. On January 7, 2021, an undated photo of Bergen apparently wearing a camouflage
MAGA hat began circulating on social media. In response, Bergen denounced the
2021 storming of the United States Capitol but did not deny that she was depicted in the picture. On January 31, 2022, Bergen advised senior Conservative MPs not to tell members of the
Ottawa Protests to leave the city. In an email she told members that, "we need to turn this into the [Prime Minister's] problem" by portraying Trudeau as unwilling to take steps such as meeting protestors to defuse the situation. Bergen also argued that there are "good people on both sides". The same day, fellow Conservative MP
Marilyn Gladu posted a picture of Bergen and herself meeting with protestors in a downtown Ottawa restaurant. On February 2, 2022, Erin O'Toole was removed as leader in a vote by Conservative MPs according to the terms of the
Reform Act. The vote occurred by secret ballot. The vote ousted him as leader, which took effect immediately. Following O'Toole's removal, a second vote of Conservative MPs took place on the same day to appoint an interim party leader pursuant to the
Reform Act. Bergen was elected as the interim leader of the Conservative Party by the Conservative caucus, and became the
Leader of the Official Opposition. During the
Public Order Emergency Commission, Trudeau's chief of staff and three other staffers said that Bergen had "acknowledged that there were significant concerns about whom the federal government could engage with and setting a bad precedent." on a February 3 phone call with Trudeau to see if she could engage protest leadership. On February 6, 2022, Bergen appointed
Mégantic—L'Érable MP
Luc Berthold as the party's
deputy leader and
Quebec lieutenant. On September 6, 2022, she announced she would not be standing at the
next federal election. On September 10, 2022, it was announced that MP
Pierre Poilievre was elected as her successor in the
2022 leadership election. On February 1, 2023, Bergen announced that she had submitted her letter of resignation and would be stepping down as an MP. == After federal politics ==