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Who’s afraid of Maxime Bernier? Plenty of people, judging from some of the over-the-top reaction to the decision to let him into the leaders’ debates.
They shouldn’t be. Objectionable as many of Bernier’s views on issues like immigration and multiculturalism are, they can’t be wished away. They need to be confronted, as no doubt they will be in the two “official” debates set for Oct. 7 and 10.
The decision to include Bernier was made by David Johnston, the former governor general who is as near to being a straight shooter as anyone in Canadian public life. He now heads the Leaders’ Debates Commission set up last year by the Trudeau government after the great debates debacle of 2015.
Johnston was, after all, appointed GG by a Conservative prime minister, Stephen Harper. At the time, some warned darkly that his previous record suggested he might be a Tory tool if he had to make crucial decisions in a minority Parliament.
That never happened, and now the same man is being effectively accused of being a Liberal tool. A spokesman for Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer blamed the decision to let Bernier into the debates on “Justin Trudeau’s hand-picked debate panel” that leaned on evidence from a “Liberal-friendly” pollster.
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