People’s Party Founder Bernier Hopeful for Larger Vote Share This Election

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier leaves a protest against COVID-19 restrictions, in Peterborough, Ont., on April 24, 2021. The Canadian Press/Fred Thornhill

People’s Party of Canada (PPC) Leader Maxime Bernier says he is hopeful support will grow for his party this election, dismissing charges that the party is splitting the conservative vote.

“This party is there for the long term. What we are doing, it’s a quiet revolution, and we know you cannot have a revolution in one election,” Bernier said in an interview. “I’m pretty sure that we’ll grow a percentage of the vote, for sure, at this election.”

The PPC garnered around 5 percent of the vote in the 2021 election and won over 840,000 votes compared to around 294,000 in the 2019 election. According to the polling aggregator 338Canada, the PPC currently sits at around 1 percent support in the polls.

Bernier said he is also working “hard” to get elected in the riding of Beauce in Quebec, which he represented for the Conservatives from 2006 to 2015. Bernier unsuccessfully ran in the riding again in 2019, winning 28 percent of the vote compared to the Conservatives at 38 percent.

Bernier then ran in the riding of York Centre in 2020 and won just 3 percent of the vote, ran again in Beauce to take home 18 percent of the vote to 48 percent for the Tories, and ran in Portage-Lisgar in 2023 upon the resignation of interim Conservative Leader Candice Bergen and won 17 percent of the vote compared to the Conservatives at 65 percent.

“Don’t forget, there’s 40 percent of the population who didn’t vote at the last election,” Bernier said. “We are different, and you can give us a chance to grow very fast if you are ready to vote for the first time.”

2025 Election

Bernier acknowledges that the PPC is facing a more difficult race in 2025, and argues this is because it has been “cancelled” by the mass media. “I must say that in 2021, at least the mainstream media was following us. Now it’s a little bit more difficult,” he said.

During the 2021 election, the PPC campaigned mainly against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and public health restrictions like lockdowns and mask mandates, which attracted Canadians concerned with those issues.

Similar to the 2021 election, the PPC has also not qualified for either of the leaders’ debates, with Bernier calling the process unfair.

However, Bernier said that his team is “very active” on social media and campaigning on the ground. “So the goal is to do better than we did at the last election. And I don’t trust the polls right now,” he said.

Bernier rejects critics who say his party could split the conservative vote in the 2025 election. This was the criticism levelled by then-Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole during the 2021 election, saying a vote for the PPC is a vote for the Liberals.

In this election, as Carney’s Liberals have closed the Conservatives’ previous double-digit lead in the polls, there have been increased calls within conservative circles to avoid splitting the right-of-centre vote, with even some in the Western independence movement voicing similar concerns.

Bernier dismisses such claims, saying the PPC’s message speaks to Canadians who feel the Liberals and Conservatives have the “same policies.”

Focus

Similar to previous elections, the PPC’s primary focus is around Canada’s immigration levels, which Bernier says is the “most important issue for the future of our country.” Bernier argues that high immigration levels are having a negative impact on Canadians’ standard of living and social fabric, and is thus calling for a complete moratorium on immigration for several years.

Canada’s population increased from 38 million in July 2020 to an estimated over 41.6 million today, as the Liberal government loosened its immigration policies. But by the end of 2023, challenges to the country’s housing, health care, and job market led the government to reverse course and reduce rates.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney has said a Liberal government would cap immigration until it returns to its “sustainable pre-pandemic trend,” while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said he will tie immigration to the availability of housing, services, and jobs.

While the country’s new permanent resident targets were lowered to 395,000 in 2025 compared to 500,000 previously, Bernier says that number is still too high.

He said the PPC would permanently lower Canada’s immigration rate to between 100,000 and 150,000, modify the immigration system to bring in more economic immigrants with the right skills while lowering the number of refugees and international students, withdraw from the United Nations’ Global Compact for Migration signed by the Liberal government in 2018, and engage in mass deportations.

Bernier also said to make up for this lowering of immigration, the government should implement pro-nativist policies that would increase the country’s birth rate.

PPC is also calling for Canada to withdraw from the Paris Accord and stop all climate change initiatives, set up a “Department of Government Downsizing” aiming to help eliminate the federal deficit within one year, amend section 34 of the Criminal Code to clarify Canadians’ rights to self-defence, and completely phase out international aid and withdraw from all UN commitments and organizations that the party says “threaten” Canadian sovereignty.

The PPC would also modify the Criminal Code to outlaw the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors, ban biological men from participating in women’s sports, and introduce legislation to restrict late-term abortion.

Bernier said while the COVID-19 pandemic is over, his party is still speaking out for Canadians who were harmed by COVID-19 vaccines, either because they experienced side effects or because they lost out on employment opportunities because they were not vaccinated.

“We want everybody who lost their jobs with the federal government to be to be fully compensated for that,” Bernier said. “And we want soldiers who were not able to work in the Canadian Armed Forces because of that to be able to be reintegrated.”