Red Deer-Mountain View MP Earl Dreeshen says Maxime Bernier had ample opportunity to advance his ideas prior to his dramatic exit from the Conservatives last week.
Dreeshen said he spoke to the Quebec MP many times when Bernier was his shadow innovation minister.
“He would assure me he was working in the best interests of the party and his colleagues,” said Dreeshen on Tuesday.
“In retrospect I think it’s kind of obvious that he had made the decision to leave our party when he lost the leadership.”
On Thursday, Bernier abruptly quit the Tory caucus, announcing plans for a new political movement and deriding his former leader and colleagues as “intellectually and morally corrupt” on the eve of the Conservative’s policy convention in Halifax.
Dreeshen said Bernier was waiting until he could get maximum exposure for himself and “unfortunately for his ego.”
He said Conservatives were frustrated by Bernier’s antics after the party worked so hard for well over a decade to come together.
“Absolutely he’s used and he manipulated the honest grassroots people that supported him, as evidence by many of his supporters at the convention. They were furious about it.”
But there was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm for Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, along with support from people like Doug Ford, Jason Kenney and Peter MacKay.
“These are people that understand what you need to do to represent the people.”
— With files from THE CANADIAN PRESS
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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