Western Standard - PPC leader Maxime Bernier on federal politics & Alberta sovereignty.

00:00:00.000 Thanks for coming in. I see you're all stampeded up this week.

00:00:02.720 Yes, absolutely. You know, for me, I like to be here. You know, people, journalists from Toronto

00:00:09.580 used to call me the Albertan from Quebec, and I'm very proud of that. I like to be here. We

00:00:15.020 have the same kind of values and vision. Well, there is. I mean, that's something I've talked

00:00:20.640 about in the past back when I was involved in independence movements. There's more in common

00:00:23.900 with a lot of Quebecers than we might think in Alberta. I mean, we're clashing because of the

00:00:28.200 battles over the federal system. But if we had our own provincial autonomy, I got a feeling

00:00:32.340 we wouldn't be fighting with each other nearly as much. Absolutely. And for me, that's a good

00:00:36.080 thing that you're asking for more autonomy. You're asking the federal government to respect

00:00:40.800 our constitution, respect our charter of rights and freedom. And it's all about that, the PPC.

00:00:46.620 You know, we created that party based on four principles, as you may know, individual freedom,

00:00:51.920 personal responsibility, respect and fairness. And we are doing politics differently. And

00:00:57.220 when I'm seeing that 32% of Albertans are ready to separate more than in Quebec. In Quebec,

00:01:04.360 it's at 30%. There's a challenge here for establishment politicians, and they don't want to engage and

00:01:13.720 they don't want to have a discussion. And for us, Western alienation is there. And we have a solution

00:01:19.780 for that. And we're speaking about that solution, not only here in Alberta, but also outside Alberta.

00:01:26.620 Well, outside of Alberta as well, that same poll, I think you're referencing also found that 21% of

00:01:31.600 Ontarians felt they would be better outside of Confederation. Like what an indication that this

00:01:35.920 country is broken when across the country, even the ostensibly the most powerful province in the

00:01:40.760 country and citizens aren't feeling well in control of their affairs there either.

00:01:43.640 Absolutely. And the solution to that is to stop to interfere in provincial jurisdiction, but also to be sure

00:01:50.720 that this country will be freer and more prosperous. And the way to do that is to build pipelines. And we have the

00:01:58.580 solution for that is to change the equalization formula to be less generous. But we are the only national

00:02:05.060 political party that is saying that because all these establishment politicians, including Pierre

00:02:10.040 Poliev, that is a career politician, he jumped into politics at 25 years old, he never had a real boss in his life.

00:02:18.000 And so he cannot understand and he's doing politics based on polling and focus group. And it's not popular to speak for

00:02:26.040 less equalization money and changing the formula in Eastern Canada. So they don't want to speak about that. But

00:02:32.580 that's important, like you just said, for the prosperity of our country, but for the unity of our country.

00:02:37.980 And you've been outspoken on other things. Something that was interesting, I just kind of reviewed your recent

00:02:42.420 tweets and the United Nations and some of the, as we seem almost sometimes beholden to international

00:02:48.300 interests when we can't seem to get our domestic affairs in order, but nobody speaks up about that.

00:02:52.800 No, no, I'm the only one I said that at the debate in 2019, when I was on the stage, because as you know,

00:03:00.300 at the last election, didn't want us to be there. But at the next one, I'll be there because the rule was

00:03:05.580 for us to have 4% of the vote, we had 5%, more than the Green Party, only after three years. And so I'll be

00:03:14.320 there and I will have the discussion. And I said at that time that the UN is a dysfunctional organization.

00:03:19.800 Actually, we are giving to the UN every year, a billion dollars over there. What I'm saying we can

00:03:26.700 save money because our goal is not for us not to be part of the UN. Yes, as a country, we will be part

00:03:33.320 in the UN will participate, but at one condition, everything that they must do must be in line with

00:03:39.880 our values. If it's not in line with our values, they won't have our money. So I believe that we can

00:03:46.120 save a lot of money. Yeah, because I mean, they're not going to change their values anytime soon.

00:03:53.480 So, I mean, you've been traveling across the country. The last time I had you on the show,

00:03:57.560 you were on the East Coast at that time. So you're still organizing. I imagine, I mean,

00:04:01.640 with the minority government, you're always preparing for the next election. How's that been going?

00:04:05.000 Yeah, absolutely. You're right. You know, I did a road trip last May in Atlantic Canada,

00:04:10.920 in the Maritimes, road trip, because as you know, I didn't have the right to travel across the country.

00:04:16.440 Now I can travel by plane. So I'm doing that. I'm here. And in Atlantic Canada, actually, our goal was

00:04:23.560 to build a party, being sure to be ready for the next election, because like you just said, we don't

00:04:29.480 know. It can be this far. It can be in three years, in four years, but we will be ready. And I did some

00:04:35.400 rallies over there also. I was in D.C. two days ago. I'm here for the weekend. I'll be back also.

00:04:43.880 During summertime, for me, it's the best time to do rallies, barbecues, meeting our people,

00:04:49.560 helping our riding association, our association across the country to raise money. And I'm very

00:04:56.360 pleased because we have very strong and generous donors. We are able to work and build this party.

00:05:05.400 step by step. And as you know, the platform of our party is always the same. I said the same thing

00:05:12.920 in the election in 2019, same thing in the last election, and that would be the same platform.

00:05:18.120 So that's why we are able to attract people. Our members and our people know, okay, what we are

00:05:23.480 saying today, it will be the same thing tomorrow until we win that battle of ideas, until we win that

00:05:29.480 common sense revolution. And I believe that it would happen.

00:05:34.600 Well, and you know, it kind of segues into what I was speaking of earlier with a sensitive issue,

00:05:38.680 but being able to just speak up and take them on. And that was something, for example,

00:05:43.080 Mr. Polian was here a few days ago. We had a good conversation, but I asked about Tamir Leish,

00:05:47.400 for example, and he kind of dodged off. We've got some people languishing in jail right now for taking

00:05:53.240 part in protests. And our federal candidates don't want to touch that. Did you ask him about pipelines?

00:05:59.480 On that interview? No, I don't think so. Yeah, because he doesn't have a solution.

00:06:02.520 He's saying publicly that it's for pipelines, but Harper also was for pipeline. And actually,

00:06:08.120 we don't have any pipelines right now. And the only way to have that is to use the constitution,

00:06:13.880 section 9210. And like that, the federal government will have the full jurisdiction,

00:06:18.040 and nobody will be able to stop. If Quebec is against the pipeline, they won't be able,

00:06:22.760 because the federal government will have the jurisdiction and the responsibility to build

00:06:27.800 pipelines. But Poliaev and all these establishment politicians won't say that because they don't want

00:06:33.800 to unplace Quebec or BC. Did you ask a question about immigration? Because he's aligned with also

00:06:42.680 the mass immigration. He won't do anything about that. Yeah, well, I'm just remembering the pipelines. 0.86

00:06:47.320 Actually, we did talk briefly about it because I did ask, as I said, it's a dicey area because you

00:06:51.000 want provincial autonomy and respect that. But at the same time, it's a national interest to get the

00:06:55.880 pipeline to the coast. And Quebec is saying, well, we're not going to allow an upper pipeline across

00:06:59.960 here. What would you do? And I think you spoke a lot along the lines of we would convince Quebec

00:07:05.000 as to why the pipeline is a good thing. Yeah, but that's not the solution. The solution is to

00:07:09.000 be, you know, upper try to convince Quebec and everybody. The Quebec government is listening to

00:07:16.600 the radical environmentalists. And but the reality is they cannot stop a pipeline if we use the

00:07:23.160 constitution. And it's easy. You pass a law. You said that pipeline energy is any pipeline is in the

00:07:29.800 national interest of our country. And like that, the federal government would be able to do that. And

00:07:34.200 actually, we did that more than 100 times in our history since Confederation. That's why we were

00:07:40.600 able to build national infrastructure. So that's the solution. They don't want to speak about that.

00:07:46.120 And I like Pierre Poliev. You know, he's a good speaker. But if you listen to his sound speech,

00:07:53.240 it's a 20 minute sound speech with buzzword. And he did a lot of focus group to be sure to please you.

00:08:00.120 So I believe that people are tired of establishment politicians. And Pierre is one of them. And when I

00:08:05.480 said, you know, I was a conservative. And I said this party is morally and intellectually corrupt. I said that

00:08:11.160 in 2018. And we have to prove now Pierre Poliev is the favor of the month. And in a couple of months

00:08:18.520 from now, they're going to go to the left. Because as you know, to be in government, they need to have

00:08:23.560 seats in the GTA. There's more seats in the GTA than in all Alberta. So he will go to the left before the

00:08:30.360 election to try to please them. So he's doing politics based on survey and polling, not based on

00:08:36.200 conviction. That's the big difference between myself and all these establishment politicians.

00:08:41.320 And that's the frustration with regional conservative values or, you know,

00:08:45.400 liberty values that they aren't shared. And mathematically, a party tends to be beholden

00:08:49.800 to central Canada. I see one of the commenters, JB Alberta, said, you know, how do we get the strong

00:08:55.160 conservative vote here in central Alberta then to move to the PPC? Because they are wedded to that

00:09:00.040 conservative party. Yeah, what I'm telling them, you know, there's no such thing as splitting the vote.

00:09:05.560 Pierre Poliev wants to split the liberal vote. That's his job to be in government.

00:09:10.120 You know, you voted for the conservative and you had Trudeau two times. So vote for what you believe

00:09:16.280 in, vote for your ideas. And, you know, if you want a change, vote for what you want and you'll have

00:09:22.040 more chances to have that change, to have what you want. So that being said, if you vote for a PPC

00:09:29.480 candidate, I don't believe that a liberal will be elected here in Alberta. So you won't split any vote.

00:09:36.840 And that candidate will be insurance police for you, being sure that the conservative will stay

00:09:43.080 conservative and will be in the right path. That's what I'm telling people, you know, a vote for

00:09:51.080 a PPC candidate in Alberta is a vote for your values. And to be sure, you know, we can be the balance of

00:09:58.040 power like the NDP and keep the conservative in the right direction because they will try to please

00:10:05.560 everybody and they will go to the left like Harper did. And speaking about conservative, we were in

00:10:11.000 government and I was part of that government. I want to ask people, what is the legacy of Stephen Harper? You had

00:10:17.080 Stephen Harper for nine years as prime minister, nothing, no legacy. Oh, sorry about that. Maybe

00:10:23.720 the whiteboard, dismantled the whiteboard. That was the legacy of Stephen Harper, nothing for the West.

00:10:30.200 And, and they will, they are the conservative and polyev and polyev is the candidate of the establishment,

00:10:37.240 is the candidates of Harper and the establishment of the conservative party of Canada. And, and they will,

00:10:43.240 they will do like they always did policy, I think policies to please Ontario and Quebec. And that's

00:10:48.600 why polyev is not able to tell you that he will use the constitution and impose a pipeline on Quebec

00:10:54.440 and BC for, for, for the good of our country and the prosperity of our country and the unity of our

00:11:00.120 country. And, you know, I'm from Quebec. I can tell you that Quebecers, if you explain them, if you

00:11:05.880 explain to them that it's safer for the environment and for the, and for, and for the population to

00:11:13.640 transport oil and gas by pipelines, then by trains or trucks, they understand that. And we have a lot of

00:11:19.880 pipelines in Quebec, actually. All the gas that is going to the Trudeau airport in Montreal, coming from

00:11:26.280 the port of Montreal, it's by pipelines under the city. So we know that pipelines are safe and we need to

00:11:34.840 explain that. But these politicians are looking at the poll and they say, oh, can you, Quebecers are,

00:11:41.400 Quebecers right now don't want a pipeline, so I won't speak about that. That's not leadership.

00:11:46.680 They're, Quebecers right now, if you do a poll, they're against pipeline. Because for the last

00:11:53.240 15 years, politicians in Quebec were speaking against pipeline. You just have to go a little bit

00:11:58.200 further and explain that to the population. That's the way we are doing politics by conviction. And we

00:12:03.720 think that we have the best idea for this country, and that's why we will win the argument and we

00:12:09.080 will win the battle of ideas. So if you want a more autonomy in Alberta, I want to give you

00:12:16.600 control of your immigration. I want to give you control of your police force. I want to give you, 0.93

00:12:21.480 if you want a pension plan like Quebec, you must be able everything that Quebec has. It must be the

00:12:27.640 same for Alberta and every province. That's a radical decentralization. And if you want to know

00:12:34.280 more, people can go on our website, People's Party of Canada, and read the speech that delivered in 2019

00:12:41.000 on radical decentralization. So I believe that there's a bright future for Alberta inside this country.

00:12:49.720 If they vote for more autonomy at the provincial level, they must show to other Canadians that

00:12:55.560 they're serious. They vote for autonomy at the provincial level. And we are the only political

00:13:01.160 party at the national level that will do it. Yeah. So what's in your future for your tour in

00:13:07.000 the next few days? Oh, you know, I will meet a lot of people here. I'm very pleased. If they want to

00:13:12.200 know what I'm doing, they can go on the website peoplespartyofcanada.ca and look at the events.

00:13:17.560 I'll do a barbecue tonight and breakfast also here in Calgary tomorrow morning, meeting our people,

00:13:25.240 speaking about our values, promoting our vision, because I cannot come from the mainstream media to

00:13:30.600 give us some coverage. That's why I want to thank you for that opportunity for me to speak to your

00:13:36.600 viewers. I want to thank you for what you're doing as an independent media. You, True North,

00:13:42.120 it's important. We need you. And, you know, speaking about the mainstream media, I had a discussion with

00:13:49.320 Jordan Peterson and I asked Jordan, what can I do to be able to be more visible in the mainstream media

00:13:57.800 too, because they can, they are canceling us. And Jordan told me, Maxime, forget the mainstream media,

00:14:04.520 be on social media, speak to the alternative independent media. That's the future and you'll

00:14:11.000 be successful. So I'm very pleased that I'm here with you today. Well, thanks. I appreciate you coming

00:14:15.480 in and, and we are seeing more, I think people realizing that the legacy media is just sick to

00:14:20.200 its core and, but alternatives are coming up. So there's hope things can look positive. Well,

00:14:25.160 that's great. So you've got a barbecue and a breakfast and just maybe one more time, where's

00:14:28.440 your website? So that, you know, viewers, we got a lot of help.

00:14:30.200 People's part of Canada.ca, but also they can follow me on Twitter, Maxime Bernier on Twitter.

00:14:36.040 And, you know, I tweeted the information on that and I'll do that also tomorrow morning.

00:14:41.320 Excellent. Well, thanks for coming in to talk to us today and enjoy the rest of your visit in Alberta.

00:14:45.960 Thank you for giving me that opportunity and have a nice day.

00:14:48.360 Great. Thank you.

00:14:48.920 Thank you.

Western Standard - July 15, 2022

PPC leader Maxime Bernier on federal politics & Alberta sovereignty.

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