C onservatism in Canada has taken a beating over the past year, but things may be turning around now that Brad Wall has won his third term and Brian Pallister ended the Manitoba NDP. Conservatism is on the rise in the provinces, but at the federal level it is at a crossroad. How do we move forward in the face of Justin Trudeau’s 24/7 celebrity party?



This question brings us to Maxime Bernier.



As returning Poletical visitors know, Maxime Bernier has a lot of fans here, both among our readers and our writers. We’ve written multiple articles about him and his libertarian-style conservative brand over the years. We even floated him as a leadership candidate back in 2013. An online poll we conducted that year had Bernier support for leadership at 33%. Today, you can see him winning our latest poll.



I was very happy to sit down with Mr. Bernier for the first interview we’ve had with him on the site and ask some questions about his goals, his ideas and where the Conservative Party needs to go.







J eff Hodgson : Tell us about the state of your campaign right now.







M axime Bernier : First of all, I can tell you that I am very happy with the reception I had when I launched my campaign. Very good positive feedback. We received a lot of emails from across the country and we are building the organization right now. People can contact me on my blog and we will have our campaign website ready on May 15th and this is also when I’ll do a speech in my riding talking about why I’m running and what my vision is for the country.







H odgson : Your vision has some strong principles.



B ernier : I received a lot of questions when I tabled my documents to the party. I said I was running because I want to have a freer and more prosperous country. I believe in free markets and I think we must have less government in our day-to-day lives. The first question I received from the journalists was, “If you are a free market politician, then what is your position on supply management?”



I think that was a good question, because it is a contradiction to believe in supply management and free markets at the same time. I do have a position and I will explain why and I told them I will release my position in May, and my intention is to release policy positions on a regular basis after that.



H odgson : The media tells us that there are many divisions between different types of conservatives in the Conservative Party. If you become the leader how will you balance the different interests of social conservatives, libertarians, and red tories?



B ernier : I won’t use the word “division”. We are all conservatives, we all believe in smaller government and more freedom in Canada. Other candidates can have a different point-of-view and that will be great to debate with them. But at the end-of-the-day conservatives don’t believe the government has the solution to every social challenge. Contrary to the Liberals and the NDP, we think Canadians themselves know better than the politicians or civil servants in Ottawa. Like I said in a speech...I want to shrink the government, not your paycheck. The Liberals and the NDP want to shrink your paycheck in order to expand programs, but what unites Conservatives is this belief in freedom and less government intervention and I will promote this.



H odgson : Are social conservatives contrary to libertarians?



B ernier : Even social conservatives don’t want the state to interfere in their lives. They don’t want the government imposing social values. I was very happy to have people who want to work with my organization who told me they are social conservatives, but they like my principled position and I respect other conservative ideas.



H odgson : What about when it comes to abortion?



