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OTTAWA — Maxime Bernier prides himself on being a man who says what he thinks — and the People’s Party leader seized every opportunity to do just that during the federal campaign debate Monday.

From the beginning of the campaign, Bernier has said that his participation in the two official leaders’ debates will be pivotal to his upstart party’s chances in Oct. 21’s vote. With little to lose and much to gain, he threw verbal darts at all of his rivals, advocating his small-government, pro-business, Canada-first agenda.

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He declared himself the only real trailblazer among the six leaders on fiscal responsibility, Indigenous issues, the environment and dealing with newcomers to Canada.

Bernier unabashedly touted his party’s plan to slash the number of immigrants and refugees Canada accepts each year to between 100,000 and 150,000 from about 350,000.

“I’m the only leader on this stage that wants to have a debate about immigration,” he said.