People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier was arrested after appearing at a sparsely attended rally against COVID-19 restrictions in a southern Manitoba village on Friday afternoon.

Radio-Canada’s Laïssa Pamou, who was covering the event, said the rally in St-Pierre-Jolys, which is about 57 kilometres south of Winnipeg, saw no more than 15 people in attendance. After the event ended, Bernier got into a vehicle to head to a rally in nearby St. Malo, another small, rural community.

That’s when he was pulled out of the vehicle by Mounties who handcuffed him and put him in the back seat of an RCMP vehicle. 

Bernier spoke to Radio-Canada shortly