Maxime Bernier takes nothing for granted in Beauce | Elections Canada 2019

Maxime Bernier gave a speech Sunday morning in front of a few hundred supporters gathered at Sainte-Marie.

He presented himself as the long-awaited alternative to the old federal parties, just more of the same according to him.

The member for Beauce, who slammed the doors of the Conservative Party of Canada last year, shot his first arrows against his former political party, with which he was elected for the first time in 2006.

He called the Conservative Party morally and intellectually corrupt. We do not need to name it anymore, people know what is the party, he added.

When he resigned a year after his defeat in the party leadership race, Bernier denounced a cautious Conservative Party, too close to Liberal policies.

Mr. Bernier believes that the People's Party of Canada, which will nominate candidates in every constituency in the country, proposes clear principles and bold policies.

After traveling the country and meeting thousands of Canadians, I can tell you that there is an appetite for our alternative

Opponent of size

Maxime Bernier, from Saint-Georges, will face a tough opponent if he wants to maintain his seat in the House of Commons in Ottawa.

Andrew Scheer's Conservatives call Richard Lehoux, who was the leader of the Quebec Federation of Municipalities. Mr. Lehoux is also a former dairy farmer and has been Mayor of Saint-Elzéar for 19 years.

One of Maxime Bernier's challenges will be to ensure a grassroots presence in his riding, even though he will travel across the country to support candidates.

I can walk and chew gum at the same timehe said, admitting that he would not be in Beauce for the 35 days of the election campaign.

I will spend a lot of time in Beauce because I do not take anything for granted

Torn beaucerons

According to Richard Lehoux, met Sunday, Maxime Bernier remains a politician recognized for the Beaucerons, but he believes that they are questioning today about the values ​​conveyed by his new party.

I always thought Beaucerons were more conservative, they were more to the right. But I do not believe that the people of Beauce recognize the extreme righthe said about the People's Party.

Mr. Lehoux thinks that the Beaucerons will have to make a choice between the Conservative Party and the Bernier family, known to the Beaucerons since Gilles Bernier, father of Maxime, who was a Conservative and independent MP, from 1984 to 1997.

People are torn between the Bernier family and conservative membershiphe observed in the field. Richard Lehoux is positioned as the bearer of the conservative tradition in Beauce.

With information from Pierre-Alexandre Bolduc