Maxime Bernier, PPC leader, pushes for radical decentralization and a $30B cut to equalization payments while criticizing Pierre Poilievre’s leftward shift. He accuses CBC/Radio Canada of censorship by excluding his party from debates, citing legal battles over polling thresholds. Bernier advocates zero-tariff deals with the U.S., ending supply management, and balancing Canada’s budget in one year, targeting zero inflation. Allegations against Mark Carney—$250M Chinese loans and Epstein ties—undermine trust in mainstream media polls, which he calls unreliable. The PPC’s grassroots momentum contrasts with Rebel News’ call for financial support to counter perceived bias, framing elections as a battle between transparency and establishment control. [Automatically generated summary]
We've invited all of the federal party leaders to come on the show to be interviewed.
And the first to accept, and hopefully not the last, is Maxime Bernier of the People's Party of Canada.
He's our guest today.
And also, I'll show you some of the new ads made by 4Canada.c.
And that's my point.
If you're just listening to the audio version of this, you can't see the ads.
And let me tell you, there are feasts for the eyes.
So go to RebelNewsPlus.com.
That's the video version of these podcasts.
It's eight bucks a month.
And I know that might not sound like a lot of dough to you, but boy, it sure adds up for us.
That's how we pay the bills because we take no money from Trudeau and it shows.
It's RebelNewsPlus.com.
Tonight, a feature interview with Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People's Party of Canada.
It's March 28th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
shame on you you censorious bug well we have extended invitations to all of the major party leaders for interviews And the first leader to accept our invitation is my old friend Maxime Bernier.
He's the leader of the People's Party of Canada, and we have caught him mid-campaign.
He joins us from the road.
Maxime Bernier, what a pleasure to have you back on the show.
Maxime Bernier's Campaign Update00:13:15
Nice to see you.
And where are you right now?
I'm in Jean-Kierre tuel, Jean-Kierre, Quebec.
And, you know, I was visiting businesses here on the road.
I did a press conference, and it's going well.
We are speaking about radical decentralization to be sure that the federal government will respect provincial autonomy.
Now, tell me the state of the PPC party.
How many candidates have you nominated?
How many do you expect to run throughout the country?
Yeah, up to now, we have 310 candidates selected and approved, ready to run.
This week, my team is telling me that we may be near a full slate of candidates, so 343.
We still have six days.
You know, we're doing some interviews right now, so it's going well.
We may be there at 343.
But answering your question, now 310.
And how is fundraising going?
We have set up a, or I have set up a third-party campaign group, and there seems to be a lot of interest in Canadians because it's such a tense political moment.
How is the People's Party doing?
Are you being met with enthusiasm?
And one of the measures is how many people show up at events, and one of the measures is how many people chip into your campaign fundraising.
Can you give me a report or an estimate on either of those?
Yes, actually, we didn't do bigs right now.
We will be, I'll be in Ontario next week, and we will have our first rally over there.
So I will be able to let you know when that will happen.
But that being said, about raising money, we were able to raise good money when the election started.
Our people understand that we need to have money because we want to be sure to spend the money that we are raising.
We don't want to have any deficit.
We want to be sure last year, not last year, sorry, at the last election, we were able to spend about $1.4 million.
I know that if you compare that with the Conservative and the Liberals, they're spending $30 million.
This election, if we can spend $2 million during the campaign on advertising, that would be great.
And up to now, the fundraising is there.
Our people out there, our donors are very generous.
So I'm very happy.
And of course, these days, things can go viral for free.
So if you have a very enthusiastic and engaged membership, that really can give you extra punch for the dollar.
That's how Donald Trump won in 2016, I think.
He didn't spend more money, but he had a very active base.
Now, tell me, the last time we spoke, I asked you about the challenge of Pierre Polyev being so far ahead.
And you and others in the PPC had suggested that given Polyev was so far ahead, it gave some comfort to people to vote for the PPC with the idea that you're not going to jeopardize throwing the election to the Liberals, and the PPC could hold the Conservatives to account from the right.
What's your proposition to voters now that things are extremely close between the Conservatives and the Liberals?
And some of your PPC voters might say, I don't have the luxury of voting PPC because I need to ensure that Mark Carney doesn't slip through.
Make your case to that kind of a voter, someone who's affectionate towards the PPC, but says, look, I've got to vote strategically for Polyev.
Yes, you're right about that.
You know, for Polyev right now, it's not going so well.
The media are just speaking about Carney, and we know that the media, the mainstream media, wants Carney to be the next prime minister.
That being said, that being said, you know, I understand why people may not be able to support Polyev right now, because, you know, Polyev is going to the left, and, you know, his policies are a little bit like the liberals.
So there's no big difference.
What I'm telling to people, yes, I don't know what will be the result of the election now.
It's very tight, but we still have four weeks.
You still have time to decide.
But the most important for us, I hope that if they like our policies and we can have more support and more vote, we will be more influential.
And that will push the conservative and Polyev is if he is in government in the right direction.
So, you know, on the most important issues for Albertans, for example, you know, equalization.
I just did a press conference today here in Jong-Quier, and I said we need to reduce the equalization payments by half.
$30 billion that, you know, we can save instead of giving $26 billion.
That's something that is very important for Albertans.
The fact that Polyev is not so high in the polls right now, I believe it's because he's not a real conservative.
And people are looking at him, you know, you like the liberals, so I may vote liberals.
You're just at Paris on the equalization, on the war with the U.S., a trade war.
So that's an on mass immigration.
I don't know, but I don't want to give any advice to Pierre Polyev.
But be a real conservative and maybe you'll have more support.
Well, I think if Polyev or his team was here, they would say, hang on, they have always been fiscally conservative.
They're talking about cultural things too, like defunding the CBC is both.
It's saving a lot of money and it's getting the government smaller and it's pushing back the woke culture.
And I think that Pierre Polyev has slowly started to talk about immigration.
A year ago, he didn't.
But now he talks about reducing the numbers, not to zero, but reducing them greatly from what Trudeau has done.
So when you say that he's moving to the left, what are you referring to in particular?
Yeah, you know, Anat telling us, he said yesterday that he will save for Canadians 14 billion dollars in tax cut, and we don't know where he will take that money.
We don't have any ideas which cuts he will do.
Today, I just announced that you can balance the budget in one year.
You can save $60 billion.
He said that he will cut foreign aid, but you know, is it the full amount?
$10 billion?
For us, it's $10 billion.
He said that he will cut corporate welfare.
Is it the real amount of subsidies to businesses?
It's $25 billion.
We will cut $25 billion.
So he's speaking like Liberals is afraid to put numbers to be sure that he will be able to balance the budget.
We can do that.
We can balance the budget in one year.
And if you're serious about it, you know, just say the truth to Canadians.
But right now, both the Liberals and the Conservatives will finance their tax cut with a bigger deficit.
And when you have a deficit, we know that it is the taxes of today or the inflations of tomorrow.
Now, you've run in several elections, and the party has not broken through in any one district.
I mean, you get a certain number of votes, but it's spread out in our first past-the-post system.
I personally really regret that you were not allowed to participate in the leaders' debate in 2021 because you were the only party leader at the time that had a contrary view to the lockdowns and the no-fly list and the mandate for vaccines.
And I think the country would have benefited tremendously from hearing the other point of view.
I think there was collusion amongst all five parties to keep you out.
Now, I see this year that the leaders' debates plans to have the tiny Green Party participating, plus the, I'll call them more major parties.
And it looks like, and correct me if I'm wrong, you will be kept out again.
Can you, first of all, confirm for me: are the current rules such that you will be not allowed to participate?
And here's, to me, the more important question: what are you going to do about it?
We're probably going to be kept out.
Rebel news, twice in 2019 and 2021, we were kept out, but we sued.
We went to federal court, and on the last day, we got ordered accredited.
So, Trudeau tried to block us, but twice the federal court let us in.
Have you been blocked?
And if so, will you sue?
We are not supposed to be blocked from participating to these debates because the decision, the leaders' debates commissions told us that the decision will be next week.
But as you know, CBC and Radio Canada are the producer of these debates.
And Radio Canada in French just said two days ago that I won't participate in the national debates.
So, what I'm telling you is the process is a fake process just to be sure that it will exclude the People's Party.
They had the two conditions, and you know, at every election, they are coming with new conditions to be sure that we won't participate.
Now, they said we need to have 310 candidates, that's done, we'll have more than that.
But there's a survey, you know, 4% 28 days before the election.
It's crazy.
What we will do, yes, I'm speaking with our lawyers.
We'll see what we can do.
But at the end, it's a censorship.
It's so weird, like you said, the Green Party of Canada had 2% of the vote at the last election because of their votes is concentrated in BC on the island of Vancouver.
And our vote is all across the country.
You know, we are a real national party.
We had 5%.
But now the Green Party will be there.
And actually, the mainstream media also is pushing and giving visibility to the Green Party and not to us.
So that being said, they said that we need to have 4% in the polls 28 days before the debate.
But if you look at the polls that are on there, the public polls, we are not there.
They don't put our name, People's Party of Canada.
So for me, you know, that commission, I know that at the head of that commission, on the board of that commission, there are former Liberals MPs and former Conservative MPs.
So that's not in their advantage to have us and to debate against the Liberals and the Conservative.
They don't want to hear what we have to say.
I think they're afraid of our ideas.
The more coverage and the more visibility we'll have, I can tell you, Ezra, we will grow faster.
So now, what will be our position if they're saying officially no next week?
We'll have to look at it.
But it's very disappointing.
I was calling on that commission to be neutral, and they are not.
We will do a campaign.
We will be active.
Actually, you know, every day at 1 o'clock Eastern Time, we're doing a press conference, answering questions with journalists.
But, you know, they won't put that on newspaper or on TV.
For them, it's like we don't exist.
But we are.
We created that party six years ago.
We are growing.
I can tell you, I can feel a momentum on the ground.
So we'll see what will happen.
I hope.
I hope that maybe we'll be able to participate.
If not, we'll see what we can do.
We'll see what will be our options.
Well, if a CBC reporter is already announcing that you're banned, it shows that it's a stitch-up.
It's an inside job.
It's a preordained conclusion.
And that would certainly be something that if I were your lawyer, I would bring to the attention of the federal court.
I can't emphasize enough how critically important that is in my view.
And I know this is an interview where I'm asking you questions and you're giving me your point of view.
But if I can give you my advice, we were shut out twice.
We went to court twice.
We won twice.
And it made all the difference in the world.
And I can't think of any other occasion in this campaign that would give you a chance to have such a large forum to go toe-to-toe.
Like there's no way that any other debate would allow you to come into contact with Mark Carney.
And so I think it's an essential act, if I may.
But listen, you're the leader of the party.
I'm just a pundit.
Putting It All On The Table00:04:04
My advice is worth exactly what I'm charging you for it, which is free.
Let me ask you one last question while we, and I appreciate, I can see that you're on your way to an event, so I won't take up too much time.
Let me ask you one last question.
I think that a lot of freedom-oriented or conservative-oriented Canadians admire Donald Trump in a number of ways, that he fought the media, that he's for a stronger nationalism, that he's anti-woke.
There's a lot of reasons to like him.
But that's become very difficult over the last three months as he's taken pot shots at Canada, not just verbally, but putting tariffs on Canada, which will actually cost jobs.
And, you know, blood is thicker than water.
We do have a sense of nationhood and it's, you know, it's a bit of an indecent proposal for some people to, it's a very challenging time for people who love Donald Trump as a symbol of freedom, but are now being subject to his tariffs.
What would your advice be for the government?
I mean, Pierre Polyev is trying, I don't think, to be as bitter towards Trump as the Liberals, but he's critical of Trump.
What would you say if you had Donald Trump's attention?
What would you say in response to his tariffs?
I'll tell him, you know, what you're doing, Mr. President.
It is hurting your consumers and your businesses.
I know that you want to have a new deal with Canada, and I know that you don't want to wait until 2026 for that new deal.
I can tell you that we will be ready for you with you to sit at the table and have a deal right now by putting everything on the table, including what you don't like, Mr. President, the supply management, the cartel in dairy, milk, and poultry.
I'm the only leader, Mr. President, that will put that on the table.
Polyev and Carney won't.
And if they don't do that, we won't be able to have a deal with President Trump.
Let's do it.
Let's put the automobile industry in Ontario on the table, the dairy cartel on the table.
And also, Mr. President, you said that you want reciprocal tariffs.
I'm okay with that.
If we impose zero tariffs, you may do the same.
You will do the same.
So be on the table.
No, you know, counter tariffs like we did dollar for dollar.
It is hurting our own economy more than the U.S. Trump and Carney are saying, we love you so much, Canadians.
We want to defend our sovereignty against Trump.
And so we are ready to tax you more with 25% tariffs.
It's crazy.
Canadians are paying for that.
We must not participate in that trade war and put everything on the table to have a deal.
That's the only, the only thing that we must do, but also to add to have a better and more productive economy, you know, balancing our budget in one year, having a zero inflation target with the Bank of Canada.
And after that, lowering the second year, lowering taxes for everybody, cutting the corporate tax, not the corporate tax already, capital gains tax, a flat tax on corporation, real tax cut, because if you do that, when you have a surplus, that's cut that people will be able, that will be for a long term because you won't have inflation with that because it will come from surplus.
So you need to do that and to work with provinces for having a real free trade.
And it's so important, and I will end with that.
It's so important to put supply management on the table because Carney and Polyev are saying, yeah, we did sign a lot of free trade agreements with other countries and we must do that.
What they don't tell you is we were not able to have a free trade agreement with the UK last year because of supply management.
We need to end that.
We need to put that on the table to be able to have a free trade with the US and other countries.
Supply Management on the Table00:13:09
So let's be serious about that.
Tell the truth to these dairy producers.
That will help Canada.
That will help them.
And that will help our Canadian consumers.
Maxime Bernier, great to catch up with you.
Thanks for fitting us in your busy campaign schedule.
Good luck.
Thank you, Ezra.
Have a nice day.
Thank you, you two.
There it is.
Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People's Party of Canada, coming to us from his campaign trail.
Stay with us.
More ahead.
Hey, as you know, we've set up a third-party campaign group.
It's separate from Rebel News.
I'm the registrant.
It's a separate bank account, and we're doing it so we comply with election law.
I didn't want to do it, but I was compelled to do it.
The government basically said they would prosecute me if I didn't.
I think it's a violation of my freedom of speech, but I'm trying to make the most of it.
And I got to say, I'm having a bit of fun with it.
We're running some tough ads.
I mean, that's what a third-party group does.
That's what the government said we had to do.
All right.
All right.
I'll do it.
Let me close today by showing you some of our spicy ads.
Now, I've got some feedback that these are too spicy.
By the way, you're going to see these ads popping up not just on Rebel News, but at TrueNorth's Juno.com or Juno News and Counter Signal and Western Standard.
And there's a radio station we're going to have radio ads.
So you're going to see these ads popping up around other media in the country.
Anyways, let me show you the good stuff right now.
And let me know, do you think these are too spicy or do you think they're okay?
Let me show you some of our work right now.
Mark Carney, Trudeau's moneyman, globalist, China's pal.
Weeks in, he jets to Beijing, scores a $250 million loan from their state bank.
11 MPs tied to Beijing.
Carney's crew says nothing.
Selling us out foreign cash.
Secret deals.
Carney's Canada.
Would you let Jeffrey Epstein watch your kids?
Didn't think so.
What about his accomplice, Guy Lane Maxwell?
Hard pass.
So why trust him?
Mark Carney, Maxwell's friend, not yours.
On day one, Biden axes keystone, $20 billion, and Alberta jobs smoked.
Trudeau shrugged.
Who had his ear?
Mark Carney pushed the West under for Biden.
He's not for us.
This is who Rod Loyola praised.
Fidel Castro, a brutal communist dictator.
Now, Loyola's jumping ship from the radical NDP to run federally for Mark Carney's liberals.
Mark Carney, embracing hard-left radicals who celebrate anti-capitalist tyranny.
Which leads the critical mass to surpass the imbalance of the capitalists to the oppressed working class.
If this is Carney's team, imagine his Canada.
Well, what do you think?
If you're interested, go to 4Canada.ca.
I say again, that is a different corporate entity than Rebel News.
Rebel News is doing the journalism.
4Canada is having the fun, although I'm having some fun too.
Well, that's our show for today.
Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, see you at home.
Good night.
And keep fighting for freedom.
Oh, I'm here to vote for Pierre.
The only one that's going to change Canada.
It's going to be a blowout.
I have a hard time believing the polls.
People don't realize how historic this is right now.
I think the Blaine Maxwell photo is probably my favorite.
He's there with Gislane Maxwell.
So he was in Hamilton tonight?
Yes.
60 people, eh?
Yes.
I think there was about 3,500 at least here tonight.
I think you know that a liberal is lying when he opens his mouth.
We have to be careful.
We cannot let the liberals distract us.
Three, 4,000 people in there.
Really?
It's insane.
Your votes matters.
Your votes count.
David Menzies for Rebel News here in Hamilton, Ontario.
And folks, I'm at another Pierre Polyev Canada first rally.
And my cameraman Efren and I, we have never seen anything like this.
As far as the eye can see in both directions, there are cars packed like sardines everywhere.
Some of these motors are going to have a little bad surprise.
There's bylaw enforcement handing out no stopping tickets.
That's an $80 hit, but I'm sure some of the people getting those tickets will say it was worth it.
Now, we were late to this rally because at the exact same time there was a Jug Meet Sing rally taking place on the other side of town.
And folks, I'm not exaggerating.
I estimate maybe 60 people aside from the staff and the mainstream media that got to go on the bus.
We've already talked to some passersby.
Some are estimating the crowd here to be 5,000 people.
Can you imagine that?
So standing room only, yet again, just like it was in North Toronto on Sunday when Pierre Polyev had a rally at the Pan Pacific Hotel.
We're seeing thousands and thousands of people coming out to Pierre Polyev rally.
What does Mark Carney get?
Well, when we saw him at that bakery in Brantford, I think he had 45, 48 people.
So when it comes to the validity of these polls, I'm taking that information with a shovel full of salt.
In any event, let's see what folks had to say who are exiting the Canada First Polyev Rally right now.
Sir, why are you wearing such a shirt?
Oh, I'm here to vote for Pierre.
The only one that's going to change Canada.
Driving up here and seeing all the cars and being in the traffic.
This is great.
This is what we need.
Jug Meet Sings rally.
It was happening at the same time.
I'm not making this up.
There was maybe 60 people there.
I take it more than 60 here tonight.
So he was in Hamilton tonight?
Yes.
60 people, eh?
Yes.
I think there was about 3,500 at least here tonight.
Wow.
Probably could hear pin drops over there.
You can't hear yourself think here.
Only 60?
Yes.
Man.
It's sad.
Much more than 60 people.
I can attest to the NDP probably selling out Canada as to why there's probably 60 people in attendance.
But great presence in there, a lot of good energy, and a lot of good folks for sure.
Yeah, I'd say a few thousand people here.
Full house.
Yeah, definitely.
Definitely.
What do you make of our Jumbotron truck messaging tonight?
It's awesome.
I love it.
Okay, man.
Thanks to Parker too.
Thanks.
Thank you.
I think the Glene Maxwell photo is probably my favorite.
You know, they're all buddies.
They're all hanging out with each other.
And that's probably the reason why this guy wanted an election so soon.
He's there with Gislaine Maxwell.
She's in the NYC maximum security prison for violating children.
It's the truth.
It's the truth.
You can just read my shirt.
All right.
And that's my answer right there.
That guy's useless.
I think it needs to move around to a lot of places.
Yes.
Maybe we need to buy some new trucks.
That's a great idea.
Yes, okay.
We'll help you out.
I love it.
I walked through the parking lot.
I said Rebel News is here.
I was wondering if anybody was going to talk about the Delaine Maxwell and Mark Carney thing.
It's unbelievable that mainstream media has not covered it at all.
Do you know, I think you raise a great point.
If those photos were Pierre Polyev with Miss Maxwell, maybe on the front page?
All over, everywhere.
Yeah.
Wouldn't stop.
Stop hearing about it.
Why the double standard, man?
Well, it's because we're the right and they're the wrong.
He's not been honest for one second that he's actually been selected as PM.
I don't care.
Oh, absolutely.
For everything you do.
Thank you.
Me and my wife watch you all the time, man, at night.
Do you think the polls are indeed correct?
I don't.
I don't believe it at all.
They're going to think it's closer than it is.
It's going to be a blowout.
No, it was such a quick change.
It was too quick almost.
And everybody we talk to, no one's voting liberal.
I think if you poll 100 liberals, they're going to say that the polls look like what you're seeing now.
I don't think that's anywhere near representing reality.
Like, I don't believe a thing that comes out of that.
I have a hard time believing the polls.
So, yeah, we saw what happened in the States.
The polls lied.
Same thing is going to come up here, so I don't believe the liberal media for one bit.
I think there's some money involved in there through government-funded media.
It's objective.
Depot is subjective because the poor might consider so many things.
I've been to the States, I've talked to people in the States, and it's the same as up here.
You see one thing on the news and you hear a completely different story from the people you talk to.
I don't believe them either.
No, David.
Actually, we don't believe anything we read on the news except for maybe Rebel.
Thank you, man.
Real news.
Appreciate it.
Thanks, man.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Oh, absolutely.
Thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you for everything you do.
You're modern-day Canadian heroes.
Well, I'm embarrassed to say I did watch some CBC today, and all they did was push the Carney liberal narrative.
So I'm pretty certain that if they're only talking about Carney liberals, that the polls will also be only pushing that.
I think the media is definitely controlled and funded by the Liberal Party.
And the government is spending so much money on these media outlets, like yourself and a few other small independents, are the only ones that are actually telling you the truth.
Canada First is a grassroots movement that supports Pierre.
Okay, then.
Right?
Mark Carney, he's a bureaucracy.
The bureaucracy supports him.
Some in the left-wing media are saying the term Canada First, and I'm not making this up, it's racist and codespeak for white supremacy.
Are you a white supremacist?
I highly doubt that.
I highly doubt that.
But what I believe in is our freedom, our freedom to speak, our freedom to have our and make our own decisions and not be forced with garbage shoved down our throats.
You know, you don't look like a white supremacist to me, certified.
I don't think so.
What are they talking about?
Well, they're trying to, you know, they're trying to divide people more and more, right?
If you disagree with the narrative, their narratives, they label you as a racist.
They label you as right-wing extremist, right?
And they've been doing it ever since COVID.
He's world like an economic forum and he's net zero carney and that's all he'll be.
You have a new scam every time you hear about more that people are digging into it.
Now he doesn't participate in a French debate with Tollyev.
Well, his excuses are changing from day to day.
Mark Carney says he doesn't want to debate because there's a fee.
Well, I'll pay the fee.
I would participate in that crowdfund, even though Pierre's volunteered to pay for the whole thing himself.
How important is this election to you, ma'am?
The most important, like, people don't realize how historic this is right now.
My father came from Punjab.
We established businesses here.
We wanted to take home a check, achieve the Canadian dream, be contributing members of society.
Yes.
Right?
And that's what Pierre's platform is about.
That's what the conservatives are about.
Whereas the NDP, the liberal, they're all about handouts.
If he doesn't win, that's my next choice.
Make Canada the 51st state.
If Holy Ev loses, we're done.
We're done.
And I want to use this opportunity to encourage Canadians to come out and vote.
Your vote matters.
Your votes count.
And through your votes, you can determine your leader.
Thank you.
Thanks so much.
Love your work.
You go to these Hamas rallies, right?
And you just ask questions.
You walk around with your camera crew and everything, and that's awesome.
Yes.
And the violence and the vitriol and the hatred towards it.
Somebody that's just asking questions.
I know.
Hey, folks, I know you love it when Rebel News tells you the other side of the story, but the fact is we need your help.
Unlike the mainstream media, we're not taking checks from Mark Carney.