GATINEAU, Quebec (LifeSiteNews) – Maxime Bernier, the leader of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), has blasted Quebec Premier François Legault’s plan to hit the COVID vaccine-free with “health contribution” tax, saying the province is trying “to persecute a minority.”
“The @francoislegault government is responsible for the death of thousands of elderly Quebecers in nursing homes. Now it wants to force the unvaccinated to pay for its abysmal management of the pandemic and the health care system,” tweeted Bernier last Tuesday with a link to a video message.
The @francoislegault government is responsible for the death of thousands of elderly Quebecers in nursing homes. Now it wants to force the unvaccinated to pay for its abysmal management of the pandemic and the health care system. pic.twitter.com/o6OhVh1WfS
— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) January 11, 2022
Quebec Premier François Legault recently mandated COVID jabs, in effect, after announcing last week that those who do not take it will be subject to monetary fines.
Legault said that the vaccine-free in his province would be hit with a “health contribution” tax.
Bernier, who is from Quebec and has chosen to not get the COVID shots, blasted Legault for his targeting of the vaccine-free.
“It is a sad day today for unvaccinated Quebeckers and vaccinated Quebeckers who have decided not to take the third shot because, at that time, their vaccine passport will no longer be valid,” said Bernier in his video message.
“So, in Quebec, for the first time in history, vaccination is mandatory.”
Bernier said that Legault’s government has decided to “scapegoat a minority of the unvaccinated for problems for which it is itself responsible.”
“That authoritarian government did not do the necessary reforms to our health care system. We have a socialist health care system that is inefficient,” said Bernier, adding “Legault is ready to persecute a minority.”
Bernier recounted how the targeting of the vaccine-free started with the government imposing a vaccine passport, and then “denying access to certain public areas for unvaccinated people.”
“Now Quebec is willing to go much further and impose what is essentially a costly fine to peaceful citizens who refuse a health intervention,” said Bernier.
“It is extremely disturbing …. based on mass hysteria that they have created.”
The Quebec government recently announced that they will be lifting their COVID curfew starting tonight. However, stores over 1500 square feet will now fall under the province’s vaccine passport scheme starting January 24. Only grocery stores and pharmacies are exempt.
In recent days Bernier has come out in full force as one of the few Canadian politicians willing to stand up for those who have chosen to not get the experimental COVID injections.
This past Sunday, Bernier tweeted that politicians and the media “have been dehumanizing the unvaccinated for months now.”
“It’s become so normal that some people are openly calling for the persecution or even the death of their peaceful fellow citizens, and they don’t even realize they’ve turned into monsters,” he added.
Politicians and the media have been dehumanizing the unvaccinated for months now. It’s become so normal that some people are openly calling for the persecution or even the death of their peaceful fellow citizens, and they don’t even realize they’ve turned into monsters.
— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) January 17, 2022
Last Thursday, Bernier tweeted that the COVID crisis has “given our authoritarian governments an ideal opportunity to persecute, segregate, marginalize and demonize their citizens who most deeply believe in personal autonomy and fundamental rights.”
“It will make government overreach so much easier in the future,” he added.
The pandemic has given our authoritarian governments an ideal opportunity to persecute, segregate, marginalize and demonize their citizens who most deeply believe in personal autonomy and fundamental rights. It will make government overreach so much easier in the future.
— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) January 13, 2022
Last Wednesday, Bernier blasted a poll claiming that most Canadians would back a tax for the un-jabbed.
“Fundamental rights don’t depend on majority opinion. Even if a majority approve of an immoral policy put forward by demagogues, it doesn’t make it right. That’s a basic tenet of a free society based on the rule of law,” he tweeted.
After news broke almost two weeks ago that Canada’s Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said that provincial governments might soon introduce mandatory vaccination policies, Bernier wasted no time in blasting this idea.
“Fascist Liberal minister is preparing the ground for draconian violation of our fundamental rights and bodily autonomy,” tweeted Bernier last Friday, adding, “MY BODY DOES NOT BELONG TO THE STATE.”
Fascist Liberal minister is preparing the ground for draconian violation of our fundamental rights and bodily autonomy.
MY BODY DOES NOT BELONG TO THE STATEhttps://t.co/yFD5TbTQe7
— Maxime Bernier (@MaximeBernier) January 7, 2022
In September, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, during a TV interview that has since gone viral, called Canadians who have chosen to not get the experimental COVID-19 jabs “extremists,” “racists,” and “misogynists” who deny science.
Three Canadian Premiers, Alberta’s Jason Kenney, Scott Moe of Saskatchewan, and Doug Ford of Ontario, said their provinces would not be mandating any vaccines in response to Duclos’s mandatory jab comments.
Data from Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec also shows that most people in hospitals from COVID are “fully vaccinated.”
Many consider jab mandates a gross assault on individual freedoms that’s unnecessary given COVID-19’s high survivability among most groups, its now-understood minimal risk of asymptomatic spread, and research indicating that post-infection natural immunity is far superior to vaccine-induced immunity which dramatically decreases starting around four months post-vaccination and soon completely disappears.
Bernier, who was once a minister under the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Government of Stephen Harper, almost won the leadership in 2017 before leaving the CPC to start the PPC in 2018.