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BEAUCE, QUE. — The thing to know about the other Maxime Bernier is that he’s not as funny as you might expect. He’s not really that funny at all.

When the Rhinoceros Party, a satirical political protest party, announced last month it had found its own Maxime Bernier to run against the People’s Party leader in Beauce, Que., it was decidedly tongue-in-cheek.

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But Rhino-Bernier isn’t taking this lightly. He’s been out to the Beauce twice so far to gather the 100 signatures he needed to appear on the ballot, and he plans to go back. He’s motivated in part by his belief that the real Maxime Bernier, who founded the People’s Party of Canada a year ago after losing the Conservative leadership race and quitting the party, has left the people of the Beauce behind.

“I feel like I could for sure do a better job than him, because he’s not even there,” he told the National Post. It’s a strange mission for a satirical candidate, but perhaps unwittingly, Rhino-Bernier has put his finger on the question at the heart of Maxime Bernier’s political future.