He served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1966 to 1987, and was a cabinet minister in the governments of Bill Davis and Frank Miller.
He worked as a bush pilot and became the general manager of Bernier & Sons Contractors, and served as president of the local Chamber of Commerce.
He ran for the Ontario legislature in the 1963 provincial election, and lost to Liberal-Labour candidate Robert Gibson by 840 votes in Kenora.
When Bill Davis succeeded Roberts as premier on March 1, 1971, he appointed Bernier as his Minister of Mines and Northern Affairs.
[11] Bernier was the most powerful minister for Northern Ontario in the Bill Davis government, and was sometimes called the "Emperor of the North".
[13] He served as chair of the Boreal West Round Table in the 1990s, and remained active in the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party until his death.