There’s nothing new to say about his sovereigntist past, Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier said Thursday, adding it’s a chapter he closed long ago but one he’s still “proud of”.

At a Parliament Hill press conference to launch his income tax plan, Bernier was asked whether any Conservative party members had raised his past work as an aide to Parti Québécois Finance Minister Bernard Landry since he entered the Conservative leadership race.

“It’s a fact. It’s a fact. And yes, people raised that in 2006 when I decided to be part of Stephen Harper’s team at that time. Everybody knows that. There’s nothing special. And that’s why I believe in the Constitution, because I was inside a PQ government and I’ve seen what they’re doing and I say, when you respect the Constitution, that’s the best way to have a constitutional peace in Canada. ” he answered.

“I’m a Canadian, and maybe somebody will raise that, but it’s not new. I don’t have any problem with that.”

When a French reporter pressed Bernier on whether he thought his past might hurt him with Conservatives outside Quebec, he answered that people are focusing on his ideas and pointed to his claim that he’s raised over $450,000 from 1,500 supporters across the country.

But he finished his answer with this statement: Ça fait partie de mon passé et j’en suis fier. “That was part of my past and I’m proud of it.”

If his words surprise some in English Canada, they’re consistent with what he’s said in French media.

Appearing on Radio Canada’s Déjà dimanche! in July, Bernier said he and his former boss Landry didn’t have the same “vision for the state”.

At the same time, Bernier said, he was a “very nationalist Quebecer”.

In a campaign that’s seen candidates question each other’s conservative credentials and fling mud over who’s the most ‘elitist’, it may puzzle some that not one of Bernier’s opponents has made an issue of his PQ past.

“I guess I’m the guy who’s the most controversial and everything, so I’d be a good one to talk to,” leadership aspirant Brad Trost told iPolitics. “I haven’t thought about it at all, honestly. I know Max worked for the Parti Québécois way back when. I suspect he’s completely over it.”

Tony Clement echoed Trost, saying anyone dredging up his own political past might take issue with his record as a cabinet minister in Mike Harris’ Ontario Progressive Conservative government.

And Michael Chong, who quit Stephen Harper’s cabinet over a motion recognizing Quebec as a nation within Canada, said he believes Bernier is in the race to build “a stronger Canada”.

“I’m proud to call him my colleague. I’m running for leader to build a modern, inclusive Conservative party that includes people from all backgrounds,” he said.