Max Bernier is the leader of the People s Party of Canada and has been in politics for a long time. He has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and has stood up to him on a number of issues, including the forced vaccination policies and the drug lockdowns. He is also a proponent of a flat 10% tax for business.
00:00:01.000Okay, guys, welcome to another episode of the Plane to Win podcast. We're at the episode 101. I'm joined today with Max Bernier. He's the leader of the People's Party of Canada.
00:00:10.300And I wanted to bring him on today because we've got an upcoming election, whether it happens in the next few months or later on this year.
00:00:16.140I like the PPC's platform. I've enjoyed following Max and his stance on many of the Canadian issues that I think plague people today.
00:00:23.660I'm of the opinion that it's probably a better party to vote for than the Conservative Party.
00:00:30.420And I'll explain that in the broadcast as well. I've got some interesting questions for Max. Max, thanks for joining me today. How are you?
00:00:37.080Thank you, Richard. I'm very happy to be with you. That's a nice day here in Montreal.
00:00:42.400I'm just in the Toronto suburbs. So I'm also dealing with about minus 20 degrees Celsius weather, but, you know, such as life in Canada in the wintertime.
00:00:50.200But let's get right into it. So we've had an interesting number of years with Justin Trudeau leading Canada.
00:00:57.140I'm one of the people that have been critical of a lot of his policies and procedures.
00:01:01.420You were one of the few that actually stood up during the lockdowns, the, you know, the forced, you know, vaccination protocols and all that sort of stuff.
00:01:10.880There was even a time that you were arrested, if I understand. You spent some time in jail because of your stance on these policies.
00:01:16.200Why did you, why did you stand up against the lockdowns and why was that important to you?
00:01:23.940Yeah, it was very important because, as you may know, when I decided to jump into politics in 2006, after 19 years in the private sector,
00:01:34.200I wanted to go in politics because I wanted to fight for a smaller government, more freedom and less government.
00:01:42.740So when we created the People's Force Party in 2018, two of our four principles are, you know, individual freedom and personal responsibility.
00:01:53.520So for me, when all that happened a couple of three years ago, it was four years ago, sorry, it was normal for me to question that.
00:02:04.740And I saw early that, you know, what they were doing, it was using fear and propaganda to control the population and they wanted to impose that job on us.
00:02:15.200So that's why early in the beginning, I did rallies and I was out there speaking for individual freedom, for freedom of choice with an informed consent.
00:02:25.660And I didn't take the vaccine myself because we had data early in the beginning showing that that vaccine was not safe and effective.
00:02:34.540So, yeah, I did campaign and like you said, these traditional establishment agents were not taking any position for freedoms at that time.
00:02:49.140I want to talk to you about taxation because one of the things I've noticed myself, you know, I'm an entrepreneur, I've been working for myself since 2003.
00:02:59.460I've employed a lot of people. I've created a lot of tax revenue for the government.
00:03:04.640I've seen a lot of my friends during the Trudeau regime leave Canada.
00:03:09.680A lot of my friends that are entrepreneurs that have location independent businesses that found the taxation erroneous, burdensome, too much, if I can put it that way.
00:03:20.600And I think the straw that broke the camel's back for most of them was a lot of the lockdown protocols that happened.
00:03:25.000And anybody that had a location independent business that could pick up, move and go and live somewhere else with more freedom and lower tax rates did so.
00:03:32.480I think I've seen a lot and I'm even contemplating this myself, Max, if I'm being honest.
00:03:37.220I mean, I have family obligations that tie me to Canada still.
00:03:41.220But I think giving the opportunity to go and live somewhere where the tax burden is significantly lower is quite appealing.
00:03:49.380What do you say to the Canadians when it comes to your policies on taxation?
00:03:55.000Yeah, we want them to keep more of their own money in their own pockets.
00:04:00.980So that being said, for businesses, for example, we will we will stop giving subsidies to all businesses.
00:04:10.360And instead, we will have a flat tax on business of 10 percent.
00:04:15.660You know, it's unfair that maybe the little shop in downtown Montreal won't be able to have subsidies coming from the federal government because they cannot have a lobbyist full time in Ottawa.
00:04:29.940You know, it's unfair that there's programs at the federal level for black entrepreneurs only.
00:04:42.360We will end all that and save a lot of money, 10 billion dollars, and use that to have a flat tax for every business at 10 percent.
00:04:51.540So that country, but at the same time, we need to be serious about our budget.
00:05:01.220We need to balance the budget because we have this inflation today because of these deficits and we are paying the inflation tax right now.
00:05:09.900So the way to stop inflation for every Canadian, it's to balance the budget and we can do that in one year and after that, throwing tax for everybody.
00:05:22.920And actually, what you're saying, what you just said, just about, you know, people entry, Calgary, Victoria, Vancouver, and I'm meeting a lot of business people and they're telling me the same thing you have here in Canada.
00:05:52.920It's for them, they think that it's better to reinvesting outside the country.
00:05:58.220So we need to bring back this investment and we need to have a government that would be pro-business and not against business.
00:06:06.880I don't see a meaningful offer to reduce taxes currently from Pierre Polivier.
00:06:14.800He, you know, he talks often about axing the tax and I believe he's making reference to the carbon tax.
00:06:20.040And if I understand it correctly, the liberals haven't implemented the carbon tax yet as he's proposing to ax.
00:06:27.080So he's basically, if I understand this correctly, you know, if you can clarify, he's proposing to ax the tax that doesn't exist today.
00:06:33.880Is that the extent of the tax relief the conservatives are offering?
00:06:37.560Yeah, actually, you're right by saying that because for people who live in Quebec, they don't pay the carbon tax because Quebec has a cap and trade system.
00:06:50.760But for Canadians outside Quebec, yes, they're paying a carbon tax.
00:06:55.420So when Polivier is speaking about axing the tax, he's speaking about the carbon tax.
00:07:00.760But I must say that the liberals, the new leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada, Carnie or Freeland, they said the same thing.
00:07:10.240Carnie said in a speech last week that he will ask the carbon tax, he will repeal that tax, he won't impose that tax.
00:07:18.920So now Polivier has the same platform than the liberals and but what they want to do, Polivier and the liberals, they want to fight the climate change.
00:07:41.920We will withdraw from the Paris Accord, we won't impose any new taxes, we won't give subsidies to the green industry so we know that the climate is always changing and will always change, but for us, that's not a priority, there's no climate emergency.
00:08:02.520So Polivier and both candidates for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada share the same vision about the carbon tax.
00:08:11.640So Polivier said he wants a carbon tax election.
00:08:17.480Actually, you know, there's no there's no it's now now we won't have an election about that because all these mainstream political parties agree with that.
00:08:30.320We must have a referendum on immigration in the next election must be a referendum on immigration.
00:08:37.640That's more important for the future of our country.
00:08:41.720Yeah, I'll get to immigration and wokeness and the climate hysteria as well.
00:08:47.000But I want to stay on the taxation issue because this is a bothersome issue for a lot of people out there.
00:08:52.880Somebody put the put a comment here in the chat and says if you abolish the carbon tax GST and make 20 percent income tax across the board, you will win.
00:09:00.320I don't know that there's enough room in a federal budget to get rid of that much in the way of taxation.
00:09:06.440But I think what people are looking for, Max, is a meaningful reduction in their income taxes.
00:09:11.720Like I pay 53 percent of my income tax.
00:09:14.440Then I pay capital gains on money that I've invested in the market and I win.
00:09:18.600So when I win after I've paid tax on income that I've been taxed on, then I have to pay more tax again on that income.
00:09:24.320And then when I go and take that money and I go buy things, I'm paying GST and fuel taxes and all kinds of property taxes.
00:09:29.400There's there's there's taxes on taxes on taxes.
00:09:31.640I think that one of the big issues that Canadians are not hearing any kind of a strong stance on is tax relief on their income.
00:09:39.920Does the PPC have a policy to reduce income taxes for Canadians?
00:09:44.320We have a policy, yes, for income tax.
00:09:48.720There's a five tax brackets right now.
00:09:51.320Our goal is to reduce that in three to go down in three tax brackets.
00:27:08.720You know, we, you know, we hear a lot about global warming, rising sea levels, forest fires, you know, all being, you know, part of a consequence of climate change.
00:27:18.880And we have to do something to do, you know, to fix that problem.
00:27:22.340You know, apparently we have the means to fix that problem.
00:27:25.140The thing that I find fascinating is that Canada as a country produces more or sorry, will eat up more carbon dioxide than what it produces because of forest land and, you know, all the greenery that we have here.
00:27:38.120What is the PPC's, you know, position on taxation when it comes to carbon taxation, global alarmism, potentially locking people down, forcing people to eat bugs instead of buying beef anymore.
00:27:53.500You know, there's a lot of these notions that have been spoken about.
00:27:55.700And I haven't heard much from the Pierre camp speaking out against stuff like that.
00:29:25.380And what I can tell you, we are we know that the gun owners are not criminals and we must go after real criminals and not gun owners.
00:29:35.420Speaking of crime, because it's it's a real problem here.
00:29:40.900I mean, in the Toronto area, I hear anything from 56 to 70 something cars are stolen daily.
00:29:49.360People are having their homes broken into in the middle of the night.
00:29:52.640There was a case that we heard about recently where there was a father calling 911 and there was a gun held to his daughter's head and he was hung up on three times.
00:30:01.860I'm I'm interested in your position on castle law, something that exists in much of the United States, where you can defend your own property with a licensed firearm should somebody break into your house.
00:30:16.340Is that something that the PPC parties contemplate?
00:30:18.960Is that a platform that you're willing to stand on or interested in?
00:30:42.460The RCMP must focus on the real criminals and you must have the right to defense yourself.
00:30:48.140And that's why we will change the criminal code to be sure that a person who's will defend his own or property or life with a gun won't be the one that will be the criminal.
00:31:03.440That's that's the first party leader I've heard speak out against that.
00:31:07.360So thank you so acknowledging that crime is a problem in Canada and actually offering a potential solution to that problem because and and Richard Richard also there's another solution to that.
00:31:19.540And as you know, I was a conservative and we voted tough laws against crime.
00:31:28.540So what we did, we passed legislation for minimum sentences for crimes that are crimes like murder or something like that.
00:31:39.640very odious crimes and all that when it came to the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court said, you know, this is not constitutional, so our legislation was not able to be enforced.
00:31:53.160So what we must do, we must do the same thing, pass legislation that we did when I was a conservative, but use the non-unstanding clause.
00:32:02.560When you use the non-unstanding clause, the Supreme Court of Canada won't be able to say that your legislation is unconstitutional.
00:32:10.240So like that, your legislation will be enforced and we'll be able to have minimum sentences for some crimes in our country.
00:32:27.040That's mean that your province will have more autonomy.
00:32:30.280Every province will have more autonomy, the federal government will be smaller, we won't interfere in provincial jurisdictions, you know, we will, for example, the federal government has an infrastructure budget, we're spending billions of dollars in infrastructures, we won't do that, you know, except if it's a pan transnational infrastructure, yes, that is under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
00:32:59.200But for example, you know, if you are in Quebec and you want to have, you know, a road in Quebec City built, that must be by the taxpayers in Quebec, why the taxpayers in BC will pay for a road in Quebec and vice versa.
00:33:15.100So that infrastructure funds was only there to buy votes, we will eliminate that.
00:33:22.900And so when I'm saying you that we will have a very small government, for example, international aid, we will cut that, save $10 billion, we will be able to have a smaller government.
00:33:36.220So yeah, when I'm speaking about radical decentralization, I'm speaking about respecting our constitutions, not interfering in provincial jurisdictions, like actually right now in healthcare, the federal government is giving about $52 billion for healthcare for two provinces.
00:33:56.120I don't want to tax Canadians and after that transferring that money to provinces, healthcare is a provincial jurisdiction and that must stay like that.
00:34:06.120So instead of that, we're going to give the GST to the provinces, that will become a provincial tax.
00:34:12.860And actually with the GST, the amount that the federal government is raising for that tax, it's about the same amount, $52 billion.
00:34:21.820So like that, provinces will be able to deal with healthcare.
00:34:25.980So radical decentralization, it's respecting the constitution and it is doing everything to go back to the core function of the federal government.
00:34:37.020Not, you know, for example, daycare, daycare must not be part, dental care, Trudeau have just put a dental care program, but you have said that it's okay with that.
00:34:49.660And that must be under the jurisdictions of the provinces.
00:34:55.200So radical decentralization is to respect the constitution and like that, your province will have more autonomy and you will have more freedom.
00:35:03.460I want to talk to you about Canada's natural resources as well, because, you know, speaking to friends that have, that have left Canada and go on to other parts of the world.
00:35:13.140So I had a conversation with a friend of mine that's been living in Dubai.
00:35:17.400They have a very, very low tax rate on, on personal income.
00:35:20.580It's, it's practically nothing on corporate income.
00:35:39.080Um, you know, they follow, uh, what, what seems to be common sense, but all they had to create this, uh, utopia, as some people call it was oil.
00:35:59.620We have vast amounts of natural resources, and this country has been run by absolute morons for decades now.
00:36:06.860And we're not utilizing what Canada has because it's been shoved under the guise of, oh, climate change.
00:36:12.260We have to protect the environment, blah, blah, blah.
00:36:14.080But I think that there's a responsible way which a country can extract its natural resources while preserving the beauty.
00:36:21.820What's, what's the PPC's platform on natural resources and using the country's natural resources to improve the lives of Canadians and lower their tax rates?
00:36:30.860Yeah, repeal all the legislation that the true government did pass, uh, you know, against the oil and gas industry, uh, being able, we want the private sector to be able to build pipelines that will go to the east and also to the west of our country to be able to export our natural gas and our oil and gas.
00:36:51.860Also, because now we have only one market, that's the U.S. Market, so we need to be able to diversify and try to find other markets like in Europe.
00:37:01.980Actually, if you remember four years ago, the European Commission came here and they said, you know, we want to have a shale gas from, from you.
00:37:11.520And Trudeau wasn't able to, uh, to answer that request because we don't have any pipelines and actually we have in our own province in Quebec right now in my province, a moratorium on the, the exploitation of shale gas.
00:37:25.920So what we must do also is to change the equalization formula to be less generous, less generous, because right now in Quebec, there's no incentive for the provincial government to develop their natural resources.
00:37:40.120Same thing with New Brunswick, because they receive a lot of money from equalization.
00:37:45.400And if they are doing that, their equalization payment will go down.
00:37:49.120So we need to send the right incentive to provinces to develop their own natural resources and the way to do that is to give less equalization money and we can do that.
00:38:02.200You know, being less generous will be fair for everybody and that will be, that will be a great incentive for them to develop their natural resources and the federal government must be there.
00:38:13.440And also to be sure that Trudeau passed legislation on the environment, you know, to have before a project would be approved, they will have to pass different steps with the federal government about the environment and the equity and all these nonsense woke policies will abolish that.
00:38:36.920If you have a project, you know, and that will impact the environment, you know, your province can do the investigation, but the federal government must must not add to that.
00:38:50.280So free the economy, no more crazy legislation on the environment, being sure that provinces will be able to develop their own natural resources by being less generous in the equalization payment.
00:39:03.060And that would be fair for Western Canada.
00:39:06.060So, yeah, if you put all these policies together, Canada will be a place where you will be welcome to invest and and exploit natural resources here in our country.
00:39:19.060Donald Trump has just become the president of the United States today.
00:39:50.060The discussion is happening here in Canada with us.
00:39:53.060That discussion is happening in Europe and in France, in Germany.
00:39:58.060So the action of Trump is the first step tower, a big revolution in Western countries.
00:40:04.060And for us here in Canada, maybe, you know, the establishment politicians are looking at Trump and they say, oh, he will impose 25% tariffs.
00:40:36.060If you do these three things, you won't have any tariffs, but they are not ready.
00:40:41.060These establishment politicians, they are not ready.
00:40:44.060So for me, the election of Trump is the good news.
00:40:47.060And I must admit, if Trump is able to do only 25% of what he said during his electoral campaign, that would be a big success.
00:40:57.060So, yes, change, change, change are happening in the US.
00:41:03.060And here we have an opportunity in 2025 to bring these changes by pushing these establishment politicians.
00:41:10.060And I hope that Richard, your viewer, will support the BPC.
00:41:15.060And if they want to know more, they can always go.
00:41:18.060We have an electoral platform like, you know, and I will encourage people to go also on the website of the Conservative Party of Canada and try to find Pierre Poliev's electoral platform.
00:41:30.060You won't find that because Poliev is a follower, is not a leader, is following the public opinion, is not leading the public opinion.
00:41:39.060For me, Canadians have been manipulated by the mainstream media and the leftists.
00:41:45.060So that's why we have this platform and we believe that we have the best vision for this country.
00:41:51.060What do you think of the idea that Donald Trump was tossing around about Canada becoming the 51st state of the United States and having a Canadian governor report to President Trump?
00:42:03.060President Trump that that that was a joke that was, you know, a good joke in the beginning.
00:42:09.060But, you know, I'm not afraid of that.
00:42:12.060You are my main message for Trump about that is simple.
00:42:17.060You know, in Canada, we are 40 million people just like California.
00:42:25.060And I will say to Mr. Trump, President Trump, they did a poll in Canada just before your presidential election and 62% of Canadians were saying that they would have supported.
00:42:42.060They will have voted for Harris and the Democrats.
00:42:46.060So I don't believe that President Trump wants to have another big California that will vote Democrat.
00:42:54.060That will change the electoral tissue of the of the US forever.
00:43:06.060And I must say, like President Trump, President Trump is doing well by putting US first, working for Americans, making America great again.
00:43:18.060But here in Canada, my job is to do the same, putting Canada first, Canadian first, our country first and working to be sure to have a prosperous country, a secure country.
00:43:31.060And I agree with Trump about the problems that we are having with open mass immigration and open borders.
00:44:57.060And I'm very pleased that President Trump is doing that because right now in the mainstream media, as you may know, Richard, they don't want to speak about us, the People's Party.
00:45:07.060They don't want to speak about our platform because they know that we will grow faster because we are speaking about real common sense.
00:45:15.060So now with Trump, the Canadian media will have to tell us what Trump is doing and speak about the end of the wokeism in the US and all these gender ideology.
00:45:30.060So more people will be aware of that and more and actually we are the only party who raised that when it was not popular.
00:48:15.060We will send that petition to the Leaders Debate Commission to try to force them to have us in the debate because, you know, it's we believe in freedom of speech.
00:48:25.060We believe in democracy in this country and it is undemocratic what they did.
00:48:30.060And actually it's a little bit sad for the democracy when they decided that, but we will fight and we need people to help us.
00:48:41.060So if they want to send an email, they can go on our website and we have all the details.
00:48:46.060I hope that one of the things that people with a platform entertain.
00:48:52.060So guys like me, they'll invite you on to have a conversation on a podcast format.
00:48:59.060I also hope that your team has thought about reaching out to influential Canadians and trying to get on their podcasts.
00:49:07.060You know, for example, I'm sure you saw the interview with Pierre Polivier with Jordan Peterson.
00:49:14.060Has an invite been extended to you as your team reached out to him to see if you can get on his platform to have a conversation about your topics?
00:49:21.060Yes and no. So no, we didn't reach to him to have an invitation.
00:49:28.060But yes, I was with him in 2021 before the election.
00:49:32.060And my goal is to do that couple of weeks before the election.
00:49:38.060My goal is to be able to be with him again like I did before the last election.
00:49:43.060So we will ask him when the time will come.
00:49:49.060I hope I'll be able to participate again with him and having a real discussion on policies because I did watch the interview that Polivier did.
00:49:57.060He was good. He was a good communicator, but there's no policy.
00:50:01.060You know, it was he was speaking like he did usually with empty slogan.
00:50:07.060So that's why I wanted and I want to debate with him in the leaders debate and I want to be able to speak about our platform also with Jordan Peterson and other and friends.
00:50:20.060But if my message today, if you're a YouTuber or an influencer or you have your own, you have a podcast.
00:50:31.060Don't forget, you know, you can go on our website right to us.
00:50:35.060And my goal, yes, is to be more present, not only in person by traveling across the country, but also on social media.
00:50:43.060So write to us at info at people's party of Canada at CA and that will be my pleasure to be with you.
00:51:05.060And, you know, I guess the final word for me as we sort of wrap up is I don't buy the whole don't split the votes notion.
00:51:13.060It seems pretty clear that the conservatives are going to win the next election.
00:51:17.060I think that if you cast a vote for the people's party, you at least, you know, present an opportunity for them to capture one seat in parliament.
00:51:26.060And whether it's one, two, five, but some sort of a presence where they can push back on anything that might lean too far left from the conservatives.
00:51:35.060And I don't think that you're going to get that from the conservatives.
00:51:37.060You certainly won't get it from the liberals.
00:51:39.060You won't get it from Jagmeet Singh party.
00:51:41.060You won't get it from anybody on that side of the cap.
00:51:43.060I think there has to be more balance in parliament and in Canadian politics.
00:51:48.060Max, I wish you the best in the upcoming election.
00:51:51.060You know, I truly hope that your party captures at least a few seats so that you do have a voice.
00:51:57.060So don't don't think for a second that you should reserve your vote for a party that's not PPC because it's not going to have an impact.
00:52:05.060If you keep voting that way, you're never going to have an impact.
00:52:08.060And if you truly believe in a lot of the things that Max Bernier has spoken about today and the platform that the PPC stands on,
00:52:14.060I believe that you have to cast a vote in that direction in the expectation that they capture some presence in parliament.
00:52:20.060Because if you want him or the next party leader to have a place on the debate panel, they have to have a presence.
00:52:31.060And I think that, you know, for guys like you today, Max, I would I would have my team be reaching out to Joe Rogan, Patrick Bet David,
00:52:41.060anybody with a platform that Canadians watch, even if it's in the United States and have a conversation with them and speak your truth, man, because it because it needs to be heard.
00:52:51.060You know, if we're going to have any kind of real change, we have to we have to lean in that direction very, very strongly.
00:52:56.060So thank you for joining me today, Max.
00:53:06.060Actually, I'm looking at what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did in the US during his campaign when he was independent.
00:53:13.060He was canceled like me by the mainstream media, but he was able to grow his support by being present on different podcasts and social media.
00:53:22.060So that's part of what we I'm doing and we will continue to do.
00:53:26.060But thank you again for giving me that opportunity.