People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier speaks to reporters during an election-night rally at the Saskatoon Inn on Sept. 20, 2021. (650 CKOM file photo)

By CKOM News

MAD MAX SASKATCHEWAN TOUR

Maxime Bernier guilty of violating health orders in Sask.

Dec 21, 2023 | 3:47 PM

The leader of a fringe political party in Canada has been found guilty of violating public health orders in Saskatchewan.

Maxime Bernier, a former MP and current leader of the People’s Party of Canada held a rally in Saskatoon in May of 2021 as part of his “Mad Max Saskatchewan Tour.”

At the time, the COVID-19 pandemic was still underway, and a public health order in the province limited gatherings to a maximum of 10 attendees.

More than 40 people ended up with fines after the rally.

In a decision issued last week, which followed a trial held last year, Judge Quentin Douglas Agnew found all but seven of them guilty, including Bernier.

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The maximum fines for violating public health orders in the province are $7,500 for individuals and $100,000 for corporations. The fines previously sat at $2,000 for individuals and $10,000 for corporations but were hiked in December of 2020 during the pandemic.

Despite the unlawfully large rally in Saskatoon and another 2021 rally in Regina that saw Bernier handed a ticket for violating a health order, his party failed to win a single seat in the 2021 election.

– With files from The Canadian Press