It would seem that Maxime Bernier has a lot to answer for, again.

Maxime Bernier is building a mansion in Florida when most Canadians can't afford food

PPC leader Maxime Bernier on the Portage-Lisgar campaign trail (Source: The Canadian Press)

The prolific and very divisive People's Party of Canada (PPC) has been the subject of ridicule for quite some time now. Since it's creation in 2018, the PPC has been notorious for having a horrendously bad vetting process, with candidates ranging anywhere from die hard extremists to former candidates who were mediocre and didn't cut it in the other parties for one reason or another.

Right now their leader and founder, Maxime Bernier may have finally pushed the PPC into permanent irrelevance due to aspects of his lavish lifestyle proving that he isn't the “man of the people” he wants you to believe he is.

According to a report by the Counter Signal on Monday, Maxime Bernier was caught building a mansion in Florida.

Source: Keean Bexte, Counter Signal

“Maxime Bernier has purchased land and begun construction on a waterfront villa on Sanibel Island, Florida, according to an official deed and construction permits exclusively obtained by The Counter Signal. 

The island property was purchased just months before the populist leader launched his most recent bid for office in a rural Manitoba riding, with serious construction and upgrades to the tropical oasis beginning only recently.” Keean Bexte wrote.

The PPC's prime was in 2021, where they were able to enchant some of the Conservative voters disenfranchised by Erin O'Toole due to him turn coating on issues they found important, including lifting the ban on select hunting rifles, and vaccine mandates. Despite the fact their support had tripled in the 2021 election it wasn’t enough for proper change. When the dust settled, the PPC was never been able to get the support of more than 3% of Canadians, nor were they able to get a single seat in parliament. (Source: CTV News)

Maxime Bernier running rural Manitoba, in a riding that he ultimately has no business isn’t even the first time he has done something like this. As he previously ran in the Portage-Lisgar federal by-election in 2023 as a parachute candidate, during which he campaigned on “cultural issues” that literally nobody in Portage actually cared about in the first place, such as the supposed "toxic transgender ideology" and "globalist elite," both of which are things Maxime is unable to define unambiguously or explain why they should be top issues.

Source: Maxime Bernier, X/Formerly Twitter

Unsurprisingly, Bernier lost to CPC MP Branden Leslie, winning with 20,250 votes. Whereas Maxime Bernier lost hard with an abysmal 5,352 votes. (source: Elections Canada)

The PPC doesn’t just prove to be out of touch with Maxime, either. It is a systemic issue with the party. For example, during the Durham by-election on March 4th, 2023, the PPC ran Patricia Conlin as the candidate. She had previously ran in 2021, but lost to Erin O’Toole. The by-election to fill O’Toole’s vacant seat featured a lot of candidates. All campaigning on various things, some focusing on the issues those in Durham care about while others not so much.

Patricia Conlin campaign flyer 2024, Source: Will Adams

Patricia Conlin campaigned on protecting “parental rights,” and keeping trans women out of women’s spaces, stopping mass immigration, repealing net zero carbon mandates, and removing red tape preventing healthcare options.

This was a small by-election, not a federal election. Most of what Patricia Conlin was campaigning on was not really applicable to Durham. The rest was stuff that was either the priorities of a federal election, or just random kitchen table issues that wastes time that could be better spent on helping those in Durham affected by the opioid or homelessness crisis.

The Durham by-election came and went, and Jamil Jivani (CPC) won the seat with the lowest voter turnout in Durham’s history. Patricia Conlin got 4.4% of the vote, which may not sound too bad for a smaller candidate, until you realise that she got 2,299 less votes than she did in 2021. Although getting more votes than independent candidates like Pranay Gunti and beating out the Green Party and Centrist Party, the PPC was unable to make even a dent in the votes for Chris Borgia (NDP), Robert Rock (Liberal), and especially Jamil Jivani, who got 18,618 votes. (Source: Elections Canada)

Is the PPC even a legitimate party?

More and more Canadians are questioning whether the PPC is even a legitimate party, or if it is just a grifting operation from Bernier to fund his lavish lifestyle. Let’s look at the data: According to the PPC’s financial statement in 2022, the party received $1,588,796 in donations alone, membership fees adding $182,250 to the money pool, as well as receiving $707,018 in reimbursement from Elections Canada for expenses made during the 2021 federal election, and the total expenses were $419,856, adding an additional $287,162 of profit from the reimbursement.

“After adding transfers, interest income, and revenues from promotional material, total revenues for 2022 amounted to $2,563,972.”

When adding the extra money they got from Elections Canada, the total amount was $2,851,134. The PPC has never had a seat in parliament, and looking at the way they campaign in by-elections it is very clear why. The party only talks about issues that are more myth than fact, attempting to make the conversation solely about restricting the rights of trans people, who are a fraction of a fraction of Canada’s population only serves to divide Canadians into party colours.

The PPC doesn’t campaign on any serious issues, and Maxime Bernier has been a parachute candidate in several ridings he doesn’t belong in. While there is currently no evidence that proves that Maxime Bernier used campaign money to pay for the waterfront villa property, when you take into consideration Maxime’s very lavish lifestyle, the optics don’t look good.

If Maxime Bernier truly believes in his mission, he should step down and let the PPC hold a leadership race so that way someone better can lead the PPC forward, but he seems more comfortable not contributing anything meaningful to Canada and instead asking for donations once every six month so he can continue to live an expensive life when most Canadian cannot afford food.