Maxime Bernier, a member of Parliament from the French-speaking province of Quebec, launched a new federal party today called the People’s Party of Canada.

He also unveiled the party’s mandate, and said it will have 338 candidates running in next year’s federal election.

“We don’t believe that government intervention is a solution for everything”

That’s a candidate in every riding in the country.

“For too long Canadian politics has been hijacked by interest groups, cartels, lobbies, international groups, corporate or union interests of politicians and bureaucrats in Ottawa who are disconnected from ordinary citizens,” Bernier told reporters at the press conference in Ottawa.

“We don’t believe that government intervention is a solution for everything. Government should not intervene to solve each and every problem on the road to a Utopian and unrealistic vision of society. ”

​Bernier was formerly a member of the federal Conservative Party of Canada, the official opposition.

In May of 2017, he narrowly lost the party’s leadership race to Andrew Scheer. Since that time, Bernier became increasingly defiant and expressed views that did not sit well with Andrew Scheer, and several party colleagues. Many viewed Bernier’s comments as anti-immigration.

Bernier tweeted about Canada’s “extreme multiculturalism,” and warned that “the cult of diversity will divide us into little tribes that have less and less in common, apart from their dependence on government in Ottawa.”

Bernier says he wants to start a conversation about diversity and multiculturalism.

Less than a month ago he announced he was leaving what he described as the “intellectually and morally corrupt” Conservative Party, to start his own movement.

Maxime Bernier announces he will leave the Conservative party during a news conference in Ottawa, August 23, 2018. (C P/Adrian Wyld)

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, said Bernier, a former cabinet minister in Stephen Harper’s government, was more occupied with advancing his own profile than the needs of the party.

Maxime Bernier and Andrew Scheer will meet again on Monday, when the House of Commons resumes following the summer break.

The People’s Party of Canada though not formally registered yet, will be based across the Ottawa River from the national capital, in Gatineau, Quebec.

Meanwhile, a divided right in Canada is good news for Justin’s Trudeau’s ruling left-leaning Liberal Party, as they prepare for next year’s election.