Despite a severe beating inflicted on Conservatives by Pierre Poilievre on Monday night, Maxime stands firm and assures his supporters that he and his party are not about to go away.
• Also read – By-elections: Maxime Bernier is far behind in his race in Manitoba
“We will be even better prepared for the federal elections. Because I can already tell you: We are here to stay!” said the leader and founder of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC).
The by-election in Portage-Lisgar, a rural community in Manitoba, was the perfect opportunity for Maxime Bernier to break through and enter Parliament under the PPC banner.
Despite a bitter campaign on the ground and strong positions on issues close to the hearts of the social conservatives, the results achieved on Monday evening are even worse than those of the last federal election, in which the questions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic were still in the foreground.
Maxime Bernier received only 17.2% of the votes against Conservative candidate Brendan Leslie. Mr Leslie got away with 64.9% of the vote, more than three times as many votes as Mr Bernier.
Portage-Lisgar is the area where the PPC achieved its best result in the 2021 general election.
“There is a place for us in Canadian politics. Our ideas are shared by many Canadians, even as the establishment ignores them and tries to convince people otherwise,” he continued.
In particular, Mr Bernier had argued that last month’s recent wildfires in Canada were the fault of “green terrorists” and had “nothing to do with climate change”.