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Maxime easily made Cabinet in Stephen Harper’s first government. Industry was an ideal portfolio for this lawyer who had once worked for a right-wing economic think tank in Montreal. Although doubts persisted about his separatist leanings, he learned his craft and did well in government.

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That all came crashing down in a rocambolesque affair involving his former model girlfriend who might have had past ties to biker gangs. Max la Menace had forgotten his briefing papers on a highly sensitive issue at her house and the rest is the stuff of Canadian political lore. Max was sent to the back benches for several years.

When Stephen Harper won a majority with only a handful of Quebec seats in 2011, Bernier was given a second chance and was back in the game. When the Conservative leadership opened up, Bernier ran a strong campaign and entered the homestretch in the lead of a very large field of candidates.

Forgetting the classic Mulroneyism that you “dance with the one that brung ya,” Maxime included a full-throated attack on supply management as part of his economic platform. Dairy farmers in his own region got the message and rallied behind lesser-known candidate Andrew Scheer to defeat Bernier by a nose. (In a hilarious Press gallery performance a few weeks later, Scheer guzzled from a milk carton and, in French, lauded the low price and fair profit for producers…. while joking he was beholden to no one for his victory).

Maxime was, of course, given a key role in Scheer’s shadow cabinet but not for long. He soon began tweeting out his own messages and policies. When it became clear he was taking on Scheer, he was turfed and went on to form his own party. In a year-end interview, he indicated clearly that his main objective was to get back at Scheer, a position that he’s tried to nuance since, now talking about the need to shake up Canadian politics.