Article content

I must retract my earlier expressed regard for former Conservative Max Bernier.

I refer to a recent column in which I said I liked him, and pronounced him a feisty and vibrant fellow.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Christie Blatchford: How much do I love Max Bernier? Let me count the cartels Back to video

Turns out, my mild affection has flowered in mere days into a raging crush. I do not like Bernier; I adore him. I’m not a joiner, or I would sign up immediately as a member of the Mad Max club.

How do I love him?

Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

I love how he’s embraced that nickname, apparently given him by advisers to then Conservative PM Stephen Harper and meant of course to denigrate his ability to finesse a problem, as when he was the federal industry minister.

I love him so much I read Chapter 5 of his as yet unpublished book. The chapter is entitled “Live or Die With Supply Management.” Given my reading material tends to the police procedural, preferably Norwegian, this should have been hard work. It wasn’t. Bernier writes like most of us talk.

I love his unabashed use of the word “cartel”— both in this chapter and in his daily language — to describe the supply management system used to keep the price of Canadian dairy, poultry and eggs artificially high.