Bernier not returning to Manitoba for court date
But vows to return next year, even if he has to drive
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$19 $0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then billed as $19 every four weeks (new subscribers and qualified returning subscribers only). Cancel anytime.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/12/2021 (1061 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
OTTAWA — Maxime Bernier is planning to return to Manitoba, but not anytime soon.
The leader of the right-wing People’s Party of Canada will have his lawyer attend a St. Pierre Jolys court this Tuesday in the matter of his June 11 arrest in that community.
The RCMP arrested Bernier for contravening public-health orders that capped outdoor gatherings and required unvaccinated people from eastern Canada to isolate, during a set of rallies across southern Manitoba calling for an end to COVID-19 restrictions.
None of the charges have been tested in court.
“I was handcuffed, arrested and put in jail for a non-crime after a political gathering in a park,” he told the Free Press during a press conference last Friday.
He argued that gathering and travel are constitutional rights, though courts have previously ruled that some COVID-19 measures are reasonable restrictions on such rights if they can demonstrably lower the risk of serious health outcomes.
Bernier made another stop to Manitoba in September, attending an election campaign event, during which he was not fined.
Last week, Bernier suggested he’d return to Manitoba next year, even if federal restrictions that currently bar people who aren’t vaccinated from flying remain in place.
“I hope I’ll be able to be on the road in 2022. If I cannot fly I will use my car and be on the road to speak with Canadians.”
Two southern Manitoba ridings were the only ones where the People’s Party gained more than 15 per cent of votes in September’s election, other than in Bernier’s own Quebec riding.
The People’s Party candidates in the ridings of Portage—Lisgar and Provencher insisted the strong results were the result of various platform commitments, though a Free Press analysis of polling-station results show a strong correlation between rural municipalities with low vaccination rates and votes for Bernier’s party.
Some of those areas have illegal church gatherings in barns, which has put pressure on the PC government to ramp up enforcement. Bernier argued doing so would be a mistake.
“People have a right to gather together; that’s their constitutional right,” he argued. “People must be free to do what they want to do in this country.”
dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
