In 2005, Bernier became the Conservative candidate for Beauce in the
2006 federal election. Stephen Harper had asked Bernier's father to re-enter politics, and the latter suggested that his son should run instead. and his support for provincial jurisdictions (which was endorsed by former
Social Credit party leader
Fabien Roy) were factors in his win. Some political pundits believed Bernier's ideas led to the unexpected Conservative breakthrough in Quebec during the election.
In government (2006–2015) Minister of Industry (2006–2007) , meets with
US secretary of commerce,
Carlos Gutierrez, June 2006 Bernier was a high-profile new MP from Quebec; on February 6, 2006, he was appointed
Minister of Industry and minister responsible for
Statistics Canada. As the Minister of Industry, he also served as the
Registrar General. During his time as Industry Minister, Bernier started reformation of the telecommunications industry, particularly on local phone service. Professor Richard J. Schultz from
McGill University lauded his attempt to
deregulate the telecommunications industry, calling him "the best Industry Minister in 30 years, without challenge". James Cowan from
Canadian Business, called Bernier's tenure "a golden age" for Canadian business policy.
Minister of Foreign Affairs (2007–2008) On August 14, 2007, Bernier was appointed as
Minister of Foreign Affairs, replacing
Peter MacKay, who became the Minister of National Defence. During the beginning of his tenure, Bernier's personality and charm received praise among foreign dignitaries. with
Pranab Mukherjee,
Minister of External Affairs for India, 2008 In May 2008, news stories indicated that had Bernier had inadvertently left a confidential briefing book at the home of his girlfriend,
Julie Couillard. While Prime Minister
Stephen Harper originally defended Bernier, he ultimately accepted Bernier's resignation on May 26, 2008 saying, "It's only this error. It's a very serious error for any minister. The minister immediately recognized the gravity of that error." Recalling his tenure as foreign minister, Bernier felt unsatisfied due to the
Prime Minister's Office controlling the portfolio, making it harder for him to implement his views on Canadian foreign policy. The English version peaked at No. 6 on
La Presses bestseller list while the French version reached No. 5. However, the book was viewed negatively by some of Bernier's constituents. He was re-elected with 62 per cent of votes, In 2009, Bernier started a blog and spent the next four years travelling across Canada to discuss political issues. Bernier's speeches were criticized by
Jean-Pierre Blackburn,
Raymond Blanchard and
Tom Mulcair, but praised by
Andrew Coyne,
Warren Kinsella, and
André Pratte. In September 2010, after Bernier's Quebec colleagues pushed for the federal government to invest $175 million in the
Centre Vidéotron in Quebec City, Bernier opposed the proposed project and a feasibility study by
Ernst & Young. He stated the proposal made little financial sense. The government later decided against the investment. He later stated that his colleagues were furious because they wanted to use the investment to "Buy votes". It was rumoured that Conservative Party insiders wanted Bernier to become leader of the
Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) party if Stephen Harper's preferred choice,
Mario Dumont, became
Quebec lieutenant, and that Bernier was considering a leadership run. In
2009 there was a movement to draft Bernier for ADQ leadership. Bernier called the attention flattering, but declined to run.
Minister of State (2011–2015) in New Delhi, February 2013 On May 18, 2011, Bernier was appointed as
Minister of State (Small Business and Tourism), a junior ministerial post.
In opposition (2015–2016) On November 20, 2015, Bernier was appointed by interim Conservative Leader
Rona Ambrose as Critic for Economic Development and Innovation. At a conservative conference in March 2016, Bernier said that China has "less government and more freedom" than Canada; a video of the speech was later circulated by the
Broadbent Institute's
Press Progress. Bernier said that he was referring to economic freedom, not political freedom, and said that his remarks should not be construed to suggest that he supported Chinese dictatorship.
Conservative leadership campaign (2016–2017) On April 7, 2016, Bernier filed his nomination to be a candidate in the
2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, saying that he was running to promote his views and ideas on four principles: freedom, responsibility, fairness, and respect. In May 2016, Bernier broke from his Conservative colleagues on
supply management, the Canadian agricultural system in which a form of insurance is granted to farmers. He said that there was no way to reconcile the Canadian system with his "free-market principles". After the Conservative Party decided to remove the
traditional definition of marriage from their constitution, Bernier was one of few leadership contenders to march in the
Toronto Pride Parade.
Policies Bernier campaigned on smaller government, lower taxes, paying down the national debt, increasing investments, increase pipeline developments, and opening up markets. He proposed balancing the budget within two years, reduce the number of
tax brackets from five to three, and increase basic exemption from $11,474 to $15,000 being paid by "boutique" tax credits. He proposed abolishing capital gains taxes, and lowering corporate taxes to 10% by getting rid of corporate welfare. Bernier also campaigned on phasing control of the
Canada Health Transfer to the provinces for health care by replacing it with a health transfer point system. He supported the decriminalization/legalization of marijuana, wants to allow MPs to vote their conscience, and get rid of
omnibus bills. He opposed a "
Canadian values" test on the basis that it is logistically ineffective to fight
terrorism. He proposed abolishing the
Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission, privatizing
Canada Post Corporation, phasing out
supply management on dairy and poultry, and expanding
free trade. He also proposed ending inter-provincial trade barriers. He also wanted to "break" Quebec's maple syrup cartel and wanted to allow foreign ownership for the airline industry. Bernier believes first nation communities need to be consulted before the Indian Act needs to be "abolished, or changed." He opposed federal control overreaching into other jurisdictions. He also campaigned on stricter foreign aid standards and phase out development aid.
Reactions from pundits Nathan Giede of the
Prince George Citizen wrote that Bernier was "the living reincarnation of all
Laurier's good ideas and
Dief the Chief's pan-Canadian optimism". In the
Times Colonist, Bernier stated, "They can call me a fiscal conservative, they can call me a conservative who believes in freedom, they can call me reasonable libertarian, call me anything you want—call me Max, call me Maxime, call me '
Mad Max'." Occasionally, he displayed a sense of humour which helped him gain voters' attention. William Watson argued in the
National Post that although some of Bernier's policies were reflective of the role "
rugged individualism" played in Canada's past, and may have played a role in his loss, they could also affect Canada's future.
Stanley Hartt, who was
chief of staff to Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney, found Scheer's victory not "stirring" and suggested that Scheer should have taken ideas from Bernier's economic platform, which Hartt praised.
Results in Ottawa, several days after the Conservative leadership election concluded, May 2017 Bernier achieved unexpectedly high levels of support, A few days after the results,
Michael Chong, another leadership candidate, argued that both his and Bernier's campaigns represented "real change, significant change" to the party but felt they wanted the status quo.
Post-leadership campaign (2017–2018) On August 31, 2017, Bernier was re-appointed critic for
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada by Andrew Scheer. In 2018, media stories indicated that the
2015 Conservative campaign team knew about sexual assault allegations against former Conservative MP
Rick Dykstra, on January 31, 2018, Bernier publicly demanded answers as he was heading towards a caucus meeting into the handling of the nomination as did Conservative MP
Brad Trost, who tweeted in favour of Bernier statement. After the meetings, Scheer reversed his previous decision. and called for a third-party investigation. Bernier intended to publish a book,
Doing Politics Differently: My Vision for Canada. In April 2018, he pre-released a chapter on his publisher's website explaining why he made the abolition of Canada's
supply management system an issue during the leadership campaign. The chapter referred to Quebec's
dairy farmer lobby as "fake Conservatives" because they opposed his abolition of the supply management policy and supported Scheer's candidacy. However, in deference to his Conservative colleagues who saw the chapter as an attack on Scheer, Bernier agreed to postpone publication of the book indefinitely for the sake of party unity, while also saying that the book was not about his leadership campaign, but about important ideas. He later told the
Toronto Star in an email that he defended his comments and that the book would someday be published. On June 12, 2018, Scheer dismissed Bernier from the
Official Opposition shadow cabinet, saying that Bernier had violated his pledge to delay publication of the book by posting the chapter on his website on June 5, after it had been removed from the publisher's website. Bernier denied that he broke the pledge, saying that the published excerpts had previously been publicly released on his publisher's website. During an
At Issue panel after Bernier's demotion, Chantal Hebert was critical of Bernier decision to publish the chapter, Coyne found Bernier to be a victim of "a political setup" and Paul Wells thought Scheer was being "paranoid". On June 15, Bernier stated in an interview that he believed his stance on supply management was the real reason behind his dismissal, not his decision to post the chapter. In a series of
Twitter posts in August 2018, Bernier garnered attention for criticizing Prime Minister Trudeau's comments about "diversity is our strength". He later tweeted that naming a park in Winnipeg after
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was an example of "extreme multiculturalism". The tweets were broadly seen as divisive and inflammatory with calls for him to be reprimanded or removed from caucus such as
John Ivison. However, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer stated Bernier "speaks for himself" amid calls for Bernier to be expelled from the party's caucus. Scheer later claimed that he did not use identity politics to gain support; which Bernier issued a series of tweets counter-arguing the point. Others such as
Mathieu Bock-Côté,
Lise Ravary and
Neil Macdonald defended his comments by writing op-eds to counter arguing critics. While,
Tom Walkom, Deborah Levy and Andre Valiquette found his critique common within mainstream Quebec. In his resignation speech, Bernier, had an issues with Scheer's response, and later clarified that he wanted to have a conversation about "ethnic division". When asked about his tweets by
Question Period, he responded by stating "Instead of always promoting the diversity in our country, why not promote what unites us. That's the most important." Commentator Colby Cosh later wrote that Bernier had previously praised ethnic diversity, while also "objecting to its elevation to cult status".
Formation of People's Party of Canada (2018–2019) On August 23, 2018, Bernier announced that he was leaving the Conservative Party with the intention of founding a new political party. He held a press conference at which he declared that the Conservative Party was "too intellectually and morally corrupt to be reformed", and was afraid to address important issues or articulate a coherent philosophy. Former Conservative prime ministers
Stephen Harper and
Brian Mulroney criticized his departure. Harper suggested that Bernier was a sore loser, while Mulroney said that Bernier's creation of a new party would
split the vote and make it more likely that Trudeau's Liberals would win the 2019 election. Conversely, Bernier's decision was praised as courageous by columnist
Christie Blatchford. In a
National Post op-ed, Bernier stated that his establishment of a new party aimed to reverse what he called a "public choice dynamic" in Canadian politics, that led to vote-buying and "pandering" by the main political parties. On September 14, 2018, Bernier announced the creation of the
People's Party of Canada, saying the party would advocate for "smart
populism", which he defined as policies based on principles of freedom, responsibility, fairness, and respect. Bernier positioned the People's Party to the right of the Conservative Party; the party has been variously described as conservative,
classical liberal,
far-right, and
alt-right. In December 2018, some of its founding signatories were shown to have ties to American
white nationalist and
anti-immigrant groups. The party later told
Le Devoir that they did not have enough resources to vet them at the beginning of the PPC's formation.
2019 federal election Campaigning in advance of the
2019 Canadian federal election, Bernier and his chief strategist, Martin Masse, aligned the People's Party with the anti-immigrant
European New Right, calling for steep cuts to immigration to Canada and criticizing
multiculturalism. He said he would do "nothing" to deal with
climate change, and that Canada should withdraw from the
Paris Agreement on
carbon emissions. On September 2, 2019, Bernier posted a series of tweets in which he called Swedish climate activist
Greta Thunberg "mentally unstable". On September 4, after receiving widespread backlash, Bernier backpedaled. Bernier and the PPC struggled in the election. Their affiliations with and support from the far-right were received negatively and the party never surpassed five per cent in national polls; Bernier himself fared poorly in debates and had the lowest net favourability rating among leaders, at -36. In his riding of Beauce, he faced Conservative candidate
Richard Lehoux, a fourth-generation dairy farmer and past president of the
Fédération Québécoise des Municipalités. He lost over 20 points compared to 2015, finishing with 28.3 per cent to Lehoux's 38.6 per cent, with the Bloc Québecois and Liberals finishing a distant third and fourth, respectively. Nationally, Bernier was the only PPC candidate to come within sight of being elected; no other candidate won more than six per cent of the vote, and the party as a whole won only 1.6 per cent of the popular vote. When Andrew Scheer resigned as Conservative Party leader in December, Bernier stated he would not be interested in returning. After the election, he announced the YouTube series with the English title
The Max Bernier Show and French title
Les nouvelles de Maxime. In February 2020, he launched a lawsuit alleging defamation by
Warren Kinsella for branding him a racist, on behalf of the Conservative Party, during the 2019 election. The lawsuit sought an admission of defamation and $325,000 in damages. Bernier was ordered in February 2022 to pay $132,000 in legal costs to Kinsella. He confirmed his candidacy for Levitt's former Toronto riding of
York Centre shortly after the date of the
October 26, 2020 by-election was announced. He finished fourth with 642 votes (3.56 per cent). Bernier was strongly critical of public health measures undertaken to combat the
COVID-19 pandemic, having travelled to
anti-lockdown protests throughout the country in 2021. On April 17, he spoke to several hundred people in
Barrie, Ontario, despite being discouraged from doing so by the mayor and the area's city councillor. He and MPP
Randy Hillier were both ticketed for their participation in a rally in
Peterborough on April 24 for violating the Reopening Ontario Act. The day before, they had been told not to attend by mayor Dianne Therrien. He attended a protest in Montreal on May 2. The crowd was large enough that it closed the mass vaccination clinic at the
Olympic Stadium, where the protest began. He spoke along with
Chris Sky in
Regina, Saskatchewan, on May 8, and received a $2800 ticket. In
Waterloo, Ontario, he and several other PPC candidates from neighbouring regions spoke at a rally on June 6. Waterloo's mayor, Dave Jaworsky, described their attendance as a political campaign rally that was "beyond shocking" during a pandemic. Bernier was arrested and ticketed by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on June 11 in
St-Pierre-Jolys, Manitoba, after attending a rally against
COVID-19 restrictions, which was itself in violation of health restrictions. He paid $1000 bail, cancelled the remainder of his tour in Manitoba, and returned to Montreal the next day. In August, he said that he would not receive a
COVID-19 vaccine. Bernier led the PPC in the
2021 election and campaigned against vaccine mandates, vaccine passports and lockdowns. He ran in his old riding of Beauce for the election and again lost to Richard Lehoux. However, the PPC, despite not winning any seats, increased its share of the popular vote to nearly five per cent, triple of what it garnered in the 2019 election. The People's Party concluded its leadership review in December and he was confirmed and continued as leader.
Since the 2021 election In July 2021, an affidavit filed in court alleged that People's Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier made a racist remark about NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, saying Singh would "never get elected with that rag on his head." Bernier denied the accusation, stating that this was the only eyewitness account of him supposedly making a racist comment and accused political strategist
Warren Kinsella of orchestrating a defamation campaign against him. In November 2021, Ontario Court dismissed Bernier's defamation lawsuit for failing an anti-SLAPP screening test. Bernier supported the January–February 2022
Canada convoy protest in Ottawa and accused the federal and provincial governments of violating human rights as a result of their imposition of health measures during the pandemic. He also accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of 'colluding' with
U.S. President Joe Biden on vaccine mandates. Bernier announced on May 12, 2023 that he would run for MP in a
by-election in
Portage-Lisgar in Manitoba following the resignation of
Candice Bergen. He finished in 2nd with 17.16% of the vote, losing the by-election to Conservative Party candidate
Branden Leslie who won with 64.95% of the vote and a margin of almost 15,000 votes. Immediately following his defeat in the by-election, Bernier announced that he intended to run in Portage-Lisgar again at the next general election, before later announcing in 2025 that he would instead be a candidate in his old riding of Beauce. In the
2025 election, Bernier placed fourth in Beauce, winning only 3,628 votes (5.8%) and the PPC declined to less than 1% in the popular vote, with much of its support going to the Conservatives. Bernier won a
leadership review in July 2025, with 79.1% of the vote, a drop from his 2021 review numbers, when he garnered 95.6%. The Voter participation rate was 32.7% compared to 57% in 2021. In August 2025, Bernier stated that he would support a
third Quebec referendum, earlier stating his support for a Western independence referendum. ==Personal life==