Portage-Lisgar by-election candidate and the Leader of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), Maxime Bernier, made his way to the Provincial Court of Manitoba on Tuesday to challenge his arrest and COVID-19 fines that he was ticketed with back in 2021.
Bernier had scheduled a number of rallies in southern Manitoba during the weekend of June 11, 2021, including stops in Niverville, St. Pierre and St. Malo. He was arrested near St. Pierre. At the time, RCMP confirmed that Bernier knew of the health orders and had already received a ticket. The continuation of the offense of violating the public health orders in Manitoba led to his arrest just outside of St. Pierre.
Bernier ended up admitting to two charges of breaking Public Health Orders that were in place in June 2021 when he held outdoor party rallies.
The Leader of the PPC had two other charges of entering Manitoba without self-isolating dropped after an agreement with the Crown attorney as Bernier agreed to admit to everything included in the Agreed Statement of Facts: that he did make a journey to Manitoba without quarantining and hosted public meetings in violation of the ongoing pandemic restrictions.
Bernier will have to pay roughly $2,000 in fines within the next 30 days.