Maxime Bernier admits to breaking COVID-19 public health orders in Manitoba

Maxime Bernier has been ordered to pay more than $2,000 in fines after admitting in a Winnipeg court on Tuesday to two violations of public health orders in Manitoba.

The People's Party of Canada leader was charged in June 2021 for attending rallies with more people than allowed at the time under COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in Manitoba.

Bernier, the PPC leader since the party's inception in 2018, travelled to Manitoba during the height of the province's third wave of COVID-19.

In an agreed statement of facts, Bernier's lawyer and the Crown said the politician planned to attend 10 public events in Manitoba, both to campaign ahead of the 2021 federal election and to speak out against public health restrictions.

On June 11, 2021, Bernier was slated to speak in Niverville, St-Pierre-Jolys, St. Malo, Morden and Winkler. Court was told provincial officials warned Bernier he could face fines if he made those appearances.

Bernier nonetheless travelled to Niverville, where he was observed by Manitoba public health officers and RCMP. Police issued him one ticket for violating the rule against gathering and a second ticket for failing to isolate after entering the province without being vaccinated, court was told.

In Niverville, Bernier was warned he could receive more fines if he attended another gathering. He continued to St-Pierre-Jolys, where police arrested him, placed him in custody for 12 hours and charged him with two counts of failing to comply with public health orders.

Two more counts followed in January, replacing the tickets Bernier received in Niverville. 

Two of the four charges were stayed earlier this spring.

Crown attorney Shaun Sass asked provincial court Judge Anne Krahn to issue Bernier $3,300 in fines, arguing the penalties should serve as a deterrent against violations of provincial rules and not just licensing fees for breaking the law.

Sass also commended Bernier for admitting the violations and thus saving taxpayers the expense of a three-day trial.

Alex Stiegerwald, Bernier's lawyer, asked Krahn to simply issue reprimands, arguing the pending federal election constituted an exceptional and unique circumstance for the pandemic public health violation.

Krahn disagreed. Societies have rules and if citizens wish to challenge them, they ought to do so in court, she said.

"Otherwise we end up in chaos: everyone can decide for themselves, 'I don't think the law is constitutional. I don't have to follow it,'" she said.

Krahn issued a reprimand for the first violation and fined Bernier $1,296 — the ticket value — for the second one. Court costs and surcharges brought the total fine to $2,008.30. 

Steigerwald requested the fines be a donation to the Manitoba Association of Women's Shelters, but Krahn declined. It should not be up to the court to choose what charities are beneficiaries, she said, and she did not wish to allow Bernier one more opportunity to appear to protest.

Bernier has 30 days to pay.

In the courtroom, Bernier complained he was a victim of "political repression" and repeated misinformation about the lethality of COVID-19 and the efficacy of vaccines.

"For me, it was important to do what I did. I'm not guilty of any crimes," he said. "It's too sad what happened in our country at that time. Censorship was everywhere."

Bernier told reporters outside the courthouse that his time in jail was a "big punishment for a non-criminal crime and for fighting for freedom of choice and freedom of assembly in a free country."

Steigerwald, who clutched at his tie when Bernier spoke inside the court, called the outcome of the trial a success because 50 per cent of the charges against his client were dropped.

Bernier said he saved Manitoba taxpayers money by admitting to two charges, thereby cutting short the court time that would have been required to fight them.

Last week Bernier announced his intention to run in the federal riding of Portage-Lisgar in an upcoming byelection.

The Manitoba riding was held previously by longtime Conservative MP Candice Bergen, who served as the party's interim leader last year and stepped down in February.

Bernier is a former Conservative cabinet minister who quit the caucus in 2018 to found the PPC.

He told reporters he believes the court appearance will help his bid for the federal seat.

"I believe people in Portage-Lisgar will look at that saying that, 'Maxime Bernier's a politician that is standing up for us, for freedom, for our Constitution, for our values,'" he said.

The Portage-Lisgar byelection is one of four that will be held June 19.

Earlier this month, Conservative Party of Canada members nominated Branden Leslie, a former Conservative campaign manager in the riding, as their candidate.

Asked what differentiates him from his Conservative rival, who also stands against vaccine mandates and COVID-related lockdowns, Bernier accused Leslie of only appealing to that base now.

"I was the only national politician, the only one, who spoke against these measures during that time, when it was happening. And I paid the price," Bernier said.

He also spoke out against "all that idea of transition and gender ideology," which he says the Conservatives are too afraid to speak against.

Bernier said "there's only two sexes. That's based on biology and science."

Asked what he thought of the push by some people to ban a few children's sexual education books from the southern Manitoba library system, Bernier said he was in full support of the effort.

"Why [are we] pushing the sexualization of our children in our society? We don't need that," he said, adding he met on Monday with some of the parents who are leading the charge for the ban.