It wasn't just the farmers who stole the leadership from Bernier.  The media played a part also.  For example, on one rare occasion I tuned into the CBC PoP and Bernier was front-and-centre:  Barton explained she had brought him on to talk about provincial borders vis-a-vis Maple Syrup, but instead hit him with some breaking news about some trivial CPC issue.  Bernier's explanation of this trivial nonsense was reasonable, succinct, intelligent and to the point, but . . . To address gadabout1's reference to breweries, the same barriers apply to beer, wine, etc, as do Maple Syrup.