Bernier pulls book that accuses Scheer of using 'fake Conservatives' to win leadership

Maxime Bernier has agreed to pull from distribution his controversial book accusing Andrew Scheer of winning the Conservative party leadership with the help of "fake Conservatives," CBC News has learned.

Sources within the Conservative caucus confirmed Bernier's decision on Wednesday.

Bernier, who narrowly lost the leadership to Scheer in the 13th round of voting in May, 2017, angered many members of the party when he released a chapter of his book, Doing Politics Differently: My Vision for Canada, that dissected his defeat. In it, Bernier claims that Scheer's victory was due in part to his support for supply management.

Bernier vowed during the leadership campaign to do away with the supply management system that maintains higher prices for dairy products. He claims in his book that Quebec dairy farmers signed up large numbers of "fake Conservatives" who put Scheer over the top.

He also wrote that while he had promised Scheer he would "keep quiet" on his views on supply management after the leadership race, he had since changed his mind.

"I will never again say the opposite of what I believe and pretend this is a good system just for the sake of party unity," he wrote.

Bernier first told CBC News last fall of his plans to release the book, which he said would include the victory speech he never got to give. The book was scheduled for release in the fall of 2018.

Neither Bernier nor his publisher returned immediate requests for comment.