“Canadians need to reflect carefully on President Trump’s inauguration speech. The vision he laid out will have profound implications on the Canada-US relationship. Canada’s largest trading partner is now headed by a businessman with an aggressive protectionist strategy that could hurt the Canadian economy.
“Canada needs a Prime Minister that speaks the language of business, a Prime Minister who can stand up, and defend our national interests in negotiations with President Trump. Justin Trudeau is not that Prime Minister.
“While Justin Trudeau’s voice is nowhere to be heard in the United States, I stood up for Canada, and took a message directly to the American people. During the interview, I made the following key points:
For more information:
Kevin O’Leary Campaign
[email protected]
Dear Premier Wynne,
Thank you for your letter. I have been writing you for a while now and was getting worried you were never going to write back.
I’m getting involved in the Conservative leadership race because I can’t stand watching incompetent politicians destroy my country. You and Justin Trudeau are two of them. Rachel Notley would be the third.
Your policies have all but bankrupted a province that was once an economic powerhouse.
Look at Ontario, if this province were a company it would have been forced to declare bankruptcy ages ago. Because of your neglectful actions, Ontario is the world’s most in-debt jurisdiction. Do you understand how bad that is? You and your policies have all but bankrupted a province that was once an economic powerhouse in Canada. If you were the CEO of one of my companies, I would have fired you long ago.
Your complete disregard for the people of Ontario has caused hydro prices to become completely unaffordable for families, sometimes forcing them to choose between groceries and heat. I am sure you saw the video where one homeowner recently broke down in tears as she tried to explain the current situation to Justin Trudeau. His response was to pass the buck and to say this is an Ontario problem.
Premier, when you publicly took the blame and were forced to apologize to Ontarians because hydro prices have risen out of control, you admitted to “not paying close enough attention to some of the daily stresses facing Ontarians’ lives.”
What were you paying attention to? What exactly do you think your job is, if not to protect and support the people who elected you? How could you have let this happen?
Do you really think Ontario is going to be competitive with Michigan and other northern states after Trump eliminates regulations and lowers taxes? You’re dreaming. Admit it, you did not see him coming and now you are totally caught off guard.
Your answer to everything is to raise taxes, take money from businesses that employ Ontarians and then try and re-invest it yourself. I’m sorry, but you are a terrible investor of taxpayers’ money. That’s why Ontario is $308 billion in debt.
Premier, you are clearly out of touch.
Harsh words? Sure, but it’s the truth. Maybe you should consider leaving some money in the hands of Ontario business owners and entrepreneurs who can use it to grow our economy instead of taxing it all away.
Premier, you are clearly out of touch. But if you really think you are doing a good job, then prove it and call an election tomorrow. Unfortunately, we both know you won’t do that, though, when you are sitting with a 16 per cent approval rating in the polls.
But I promise it would be a very popular decision if you did.
Sincerely.
Kevin O’Leary
Conservative Party of Canada Leadership Candidate, Ontario taxpayer and your employer until the next election.
]]>When you think of an ego-driven business mogul turned reality TV star with designs on the highest office in the land, it used to be only a single name came to mind. Not anymore. Following in the footsteps of Donald Trump, Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary has decided to leverage his small screen fame for political gain, throwing his hat in the ring in the leadership contest of Canada’s Conservative Party earlier this week. In Canada’s parliamentary system, this means he’s competing to be the guy who acts as a thorn in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s side for the next several years. While this sounds like a thankless job, the self-proclaimed Mr. Wonderful has plenty of competition for the role.
It’s easy to draw parallels between O’Leary and Donald Trump. Both are tonsorially-challenged businessmen with a taste for self-aggrandizing who gained pop cultural prominence through star-making turns on reality TV hits (The Apprentice for Trump and Shark Tank for O’Leary) where they gleefully crush(ed) the dreams of ambitious contestants. While Trump is fond of calling perceived foes “haters” and “losers,” O’Leary has no qualms about dismissing entrepreneurs with untenable business ideas as “cockroaches” among other colorful terms. Both men claim to be killer deal-makers, but O’Leary, like Trump, has lowlights on his resume that are bound to come under renewed scrutiny now that he’s entering the political fray.
To dismiss Kevin O’Leary as Canada’s answer to Trump, however, is to do his carefully-cultivated persona a disservice. O’Leary knows he’s on Shark Tank to play the intimidating alpha with a cutting one-liner for every occasion and he relishes the role. He’ll claim to be a vampire. He’ll announce he’s wearing $900 underwear hand-sewn by Italian virgins. He’ll offer predatory deals that no one in their right mind would accept just to test the savviness of inexperienced entrepreneurs. The other Sharks defer to him and mock him in equal measure.
And while O’Leary isn’t shy about shouting down his fellow investors, he takes their ribbing of him in stride. Not an episode goes by where someone doesn’t call out his ego or bombast and he simply smiles or offers a chuckle. Unlike Trump and his Twitter tirades about critics, he doesn’t push back against shade, he embraces its ratings potential. It’s clear that O’Leary knows that his persona, however much it hews to or deviates from who he is off-screen, is good for business and you can see him frequently winking at this understanding.
Pro wrestling became one of the de facto metaphors for understanding the 2016 election season, with writers who likely hadn’t watched a match since childhood trying to paint Trump as a heel (wrestling parlance for the bad guy), without acknowledging that the era of pure heels and faces (the good guys) is largely over. The WWE roster is currently packed with characters who can’t easily be slotted into either camp, but who manage to blend a fairly complex (or complex for sports entertainment, anyway) combination of arrogance, athletic aptitude, sharp mic skills and occasional flashes of vulnerability to put themselves over with audiences — think of Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, etc. WCW’s NWO faction of the mid-to-late 90s deserves a lion’s share of the credit for creating the archetype of these neo-heels and their ability to bring smirking self-awareness and wit to the idea of stock bad guys and treat the crowd’s boos as if they were oxygen. If we’re sticking to pro wrestling as a political metaphor, O’Leary with his obvious glee in manipulating his Mr. Wonderful persona is much more of a modern heel than Donald Trump. When he films a Facebook video in which he brandishes a spatula and talks about scraping the “crap” out of Ottawa, he might as well be cutting an in-ring promo.
In addition to tweaking his public character like the veteran TV performer that he is, O’Leary is also able to show chinks in his armor. Can you imagine Donald Trump getting choked up remembering being fired from his first job at an ice cream parlor? Scratch that, can you imagine a teenage Trump scooping ice cream at all? Or dabbing away tears when hearing a story about a young entrepreneur trying to find business success so that he can finally bring his fiancee to America? Whether calculated or spontaneous, what keeps O’Leary’s bombast from becoming tedious are these tiny moments of seemingly genuine humanity in the midst of hubris.
Despite living in a golden tower bearing his name, Trump was somehow able to position himself as anti-elitist outsider who spoke up for the disenfranchised “average American” voter. By contrast, O’Leary’s sneering elitism is a core element of his character. The opening credits of Shark Tank show him swirling a glass of wine, of which he is a great connoisseur, as he never fails to mention on the show when the opportunity arises, frequently getting in a plug for his own winery. He does interviews wearing a fur-trimmed overcoat. He collects luxury watches, vintage guitars and art. His own photography has been the subject of professional shows. His is a performance of cultured, aristocratic wealth, while Trump’s performance is the ostentation of a hustling populist who made it big, despite their respective backgrounds being the opposite. While relatability and the the capacity to connect with voters as a person of the people is fundamental in the American political process, Canada repeatedly elected a prime minister who was roundly mocked for dropping his kids off at school with a firm handshake in lieu of a hug, so O’Leary’s lack of the common touch may not be a deal-breaker for voters. His inability to speak one of Canada’s two official languages, however, could be.
When it comes to a policy platform, O’Leary has Trump’s penchant for floating ludicrous trial balloons, but, in customarily Canadian fashion, doesn’t embrace the latter’s focus on law and order and/or building the country’s global reputation as a heavyweight not to be messed with. At present, he’s content to offer up “business knows best” platitudes and when asked about comparisons to Trump, he’s quick to tout his own background as the son of immigrants and dissociate himself from the idea of building walls and cracking down on who enters the country.
While Trump’s ascendance may have paved the way for Kevin O’Leary to take his own run at politics and while both boast pop cultural pedigrees that far dwarf their political experience, the two men aren’t necessarily cut from the same (very expensive) cloth. O’Leary’s sly self-awareness and more polished showmanship aside, there’s another reason he’s not Canada’s answer to Donald Trump — that role has already been filled by one of his leadership competitors, Kellie Leitch. Her attempt to latch on to the rhetoric that launched Trump to victory might have seemed like a smart move at the time, but, to date, has garnered nothing but mocking from the media and her political rivals. Kevin O’Leary, one suspects, is much too savvy and conscious of the merits of own brand to try peddling a cheap knock-off of someone else’s.
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The Conservative leadership race is finally attracting attention. Kevin O’Leary’s entrance into the campaign has finally achieved what has been missing to date, i.e., interest.
With fourteen in the race, is it time for a few to take “a walk in the snow?” Is it time for a number of the contenders to set aside egos and throw their support behind a serious candidate; of which there are some very good ones.
O’Leary was right on one point, why have a debate when the so called policy discussion is limited to 20 second sound bites. Debates of the size that we have seen to date virtually eliminate the need for anyone to defend their policies in detail. Once the debate thankfully comes to an end, neither the public nor party members have any further understanding of what a candidate is proposing or the implications of those policies.
Instead it is left up to the media to offer their explanation of a candidate’s position and after watching the mess in the United States, do party members really want to leave it to the media to explain Conservative policy positions?
If we use O’Leary’s entrance as an example, there have been media comments that the Conservatives might elect a reality TV star. This is supposed to be a major knock on O’Leary, but if we stop and think about it, Canadians elected a drama teacher and that drama teacher is now running the country. The media seem desperate to create another Donald Trump, but they are two different individuals in two different countries.
O’Leary gets knocked for being a business man with no political experience. Canadians elected a drama teacher whose only experience was managing a classroom and whose claim to fame was his hair and his father’s name. It will be policies that count and we need O’Leary, Raitt, O’Toole, Leitch, Chong, Bernier, Alexander, Scheer and Blaney to start putting them forward for both scrutiny and debate.
I have also seen mention that party members might fall into the trap of electing someone simply because they can win and beat Trudeau. One would hope they do just that as unfortunately politics is about winning. With few exceptions such as Pierre Trudeau’s implementation of wage and price controls (Anti-Inflation Act 1975), coming second in an election doesn’t see your policies implemented by the winner.
All of the above names have the potential to beat Trudeau and excluding O’Leary there is a lot of political experience in that group. Party members will have an opportunity to look and judge.
It is time now for all of the contenders to step up their game and show party members and the public what they stand for. It is also time to focus on constructive debate and leave the name calling and insults out of it. History has shown that more than one leadership vote has come down to who is everyone’s second choice. It pays to play nice if you want to win.
Let us remember that when this leadership race is over Conservatives have to unite to work together to win in 2019; otherwise it is four more years of Justin Trudeau. Can we really afford to let that happen?
]]>(CNN)Canada’s got its own reality TV star vying for the nation’s top job.
Kevin O’Leary, the business man-turned-reality TV star, announced Wednesday that he will stand in the now 14-person race to lead Canada’s Conservative party.
The winner will likely challenge current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the country’s 2019 federal elections.
“Canadians need a Prime Minister with a smart plan to kick start the economy; a Prime Minister who supports small businesses, who will fight for hard working Canadians and will stop wasting our money,” O’Leary said in a statement on why he’s running.
Canada’s Trump?
The similarities between Trump and O’Leary, who is now the chairman of O’Shares Exchange Traded Funds, are undeniable on the surface.
Both Trump and O’Leary are businessmen who starred in reality TV shows (produced by Mark Burnett). O’Leary is a judge on “Shark Tank,” a TV show in which entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to successful tycoons. If judges like the ideas, they’ll invest. It’s based on the British show “Dragon’s Den.”
Both are bombastic and plain-spoken — “Archie Bunker with an MBA,” as David Moscrop, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia, put it.
They’re both fiscal conservatives with no actual political experience, who each argue that an outsider with business acumen is needed to put their respective governments in order.
And both face (or faced, in Trump’s case) a large field of competitors.
But the similarities start to fade after that.
O’Leary and Trump are speaking to very different audiences and have very different policies outside of taxes and the economy, Moscrop says.
When Trump kicked off his campaign, he called Mexican immigrants “rapists” and “criminals.” Building a border wall was one of his signature policy proposals.
“I’m the son of an immigrant from Ireland and from Lebanon,” O’Leary told CTV News. “There are no walls in my world.”
O’Leary supports access to abortion, which Trump proposed punishing women for at one point on the campaign trail (though he walked it back) and marijuana legalization.
]]>Kevin O’Leary is telling Conservatives to give him the boot if he doesn’t win a majority mandate for the party in 2019.
He also wants to use drones instead of jets to patrol our borders to save money.
These are two of the interesting facts about his bid to become Conservative leader that came up in a no-holds-barred conversation I had with O’Leary on my radio show Thursday morning.
“What I’ve promised the Conservative caucus privately is that if I don’t deliver a majority mandate in 2019 you can fire me,” O’Leary explained.
The main issue O’Leary hammered Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on was the economy, and how the current level of growth is far lower than the 3% growth needed for Canada’s prosperity — which he believes he can deliver.
“The economy has ground to a halt. That is Justin Trudeau’s fault. His mandate and policies are failing.”
O’Leary, the chairman of O’Shares ETF, is also frustrated that the Canadian Forces use CP-140s for surveillance missions, which he says costs $38,500 per hour compared to an estimated $1,000 per hour for “off-the-shelf surveillance drones”.
“Surveillance and warfare is moving to more of a space initiative,” the businessman said. “And Canada should be moving in the same direction.”
He repeatedly side-stepped questions about how he’d fight ISIS, focusing more on the overall approach to Canada’s defence strategy and involvement with NATO.
“Everybody wants to eliminate ISIS. We have to keep pivoting,” he said. “Let’s see what (Donald Trump) comes up with.”
O’Leary rejected claims that he skipped Tuesday night’s French-language debate because of his lousy French skills.
“I’m learning French,” he said. “But that wasn’t the reason I stayed out of the debate. There was no debate.”
The TV star has frequently said he was waiting for candidates to drop out so he could deliver more than just 20-second statements among the crowded field. Hardly any have to date.
He was also dismissive about a scathing op-ed by former Dragons’ Den co-star Arlene Dickinson claiming that her fellow dragon is “genuinely unconcerned with the lives of others.”
“The economy has ground to a halt. That is Justin Trudeau’s fault. His mandate and policies are failing.”
O’Leary, the chairman of O’Shares ETF, is also frustrated that the Canadian Forces use CP-140s for surveillance missions, which he says costs $38,500 per hour compared to an estimated $1,000 per hour for “off-the-shelf surveillance drones”.
“Surveillance and warfare is moving to more of a space initiative,” the businessman said. “And Canada should be moving in the same direction.”
He repeatedly side-stepped questions about how he’d fight ISIS, focusing more on the overall approach to Canada’s defence strategy and involvement with NATO.
“Everybody wants to eliminate ISIS. We have to keep pivoting,” he said. “Let’s see what (Donald Trump) comes up with.”
O’Leary rejected claims that he skipped Tuesday night’s French-language debate because of his lousy French skills.
“I’m learning French,” he said. “But that wasn’t the reason I stayed out of the debate. There was no debate.”
The TV star has frequently said he was waiting for candidates to drop out so he could deliver more than just 20-second statements among the crowded field. Hardly any have to date.
He was also dismissive about a scathing op-ed by former Dragons’ Den co-star Arlene Dickinson claiming that her fellow dragon is “genuinely unconcerned with the lives of others.”
]]>Businessman Kevin O’Leary took his pitch to be leader of the Conservative Party south of the border this week in an interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America where he touted his lack of political experience and Canadian bilingualism.
During his chat with host Robin Roberts, O’Leary — whose reality TV show Shark Tank is broadcast by ABC News — was asked about similarities between himself and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to be sworn in tomorrow. In his response, O’Leary branded himself as someone who is going to take on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for going in the opposite direction of Trump when it comes to deregulation and energy policies.
“There’s some similarities but really it’s quite a difference. Canada’s a completely different society because we actually have two cultures, we have a French and we have an English. There’s two official languages, français et l’anglais, they’re different,” said the unilingual candidate, who refused to declare his candidacy until after Tuesday’s French-language debates were over.
“At the same time we’ve enjoyed a relationship with the U.S. for 150 years, but that’s about to change in some ways because when Trump becomes president tomorrow he is talking about putting some policies in place that have many Canadians concerned because he’s going to lower taxes, he’s going to deregulate oil and gas, he may put border taxes in place, and Trudeau’s going the other direction.”
After months of speculation, O’Leary announced his candidacy in a tweet and Facebook post Wednesday morning in which he appeared to copy and paste one of Trump’s signature policy pitches to “bring back jobs.”
He has yet to announce any major policy platforms, but is already telling Canadians not to take the things he has said during his years on the CBC business news program The Lang and O’Leary Exchange or Dragons’ Den seriously.
During the interview with Good Morning America, also said his time on Shark Tank means people have been able to get to know him.
“After eight years, people know me quite well from Shark Tank,” he said.
O’Leary also took another line from Trump’s playbook, bragging about his zero sum level of political experience and suggesting experience managing businesses will be enough to manage a country.
“You know, I’m not a politician. I don’t owe anybody any favours. I’ve never been involved in politics and if you’re watching what’s happening all around the world, it’s not politics as usual anymore. People want different kind of leadership. They want someone whose actually got a track record in managing something, not just the same old politicians.”
]]>Now that the mainstream media seems to finally be taking Kevin O’Leary’s potential run for the Conservative Party of Canada’s leadership seriously, I think it’s time for Canadian voters to do the same.
With less than six months to go before the leadership convention, things seem to finally be getting interesting in the race to replace Stephen Harper.
Even though there have already been three debates and multiple candidates running since last April, nothing remotely exciting has occurred in the race.
This will all change, however, if O’Leary decides to jump in after the all-French debate on Jan. 17. It will be that moment the race will draw substantially more attention from Canadians and the media, just like it did in the U.S. when Donald Trump decided to join the race for the presidency.
The Conservative party needs to realize the only way they will ever dream of reaching a majority government again in 2019 is with someone like O’Leary leading the party.
They desperately need someone to bring fresh ideas and energy to the Canadian political landscape. They can’t do it with any of the people currently running, because, quite frankly, the current debates are almost as boring and unwatchable as a Liberal leadership debate.
The lack of ratings and media attention after these debates speaks for itself.
I guarantee that if O’Leary is in the next English debate in February, the amount of attention and viewers it will generate will increase at least 10-fold. Furthermore, O’Leary would attract voters the party desperately needs to add or win back in the next election.
Take me as an example, who voted Liberal in the last election on the basis of issues, such the legalization of marijuana and medically assisted-suicide. Even though O’Leary agrees with those positions, it’s going to go beyond that with myself and many other Canadians.
His in-depth business experience and ability to speak honestly gives him an unmatched advantage compared to the many career politicians and lawyers he is going to run against.
I am part of a growing demographic in this country of twenty-somethings, who feel that we’ve been left behind. Many of us can’t find respectable jobs, even with a degree or diploma, can’t afford to buy a home in our communities and can’t seem to make enough money to get anywhere financially.
We, as I like to say, are becoming a “lost generation” and are looking for hope. We are desperate for someone to start talking to us on a personal level about our struggles, unlike the condescending and out-of-touch prime minister we have.
We need someone who will finally take on the political class that has been as self-serving as they have been ignorant towards to the real issues facing ordinary Canadians.
It’s easy to sit there and blame the Liberal party for this, but the truth is that it’s the fault of both parties who have governed this country for decades. That is why we need an outsider like O’Leary to run and actually try to change the Conservative party for the better.
We need to have new ideas and new people entering the Conservative party and not rely on the status-quo for success. If recent elections in the U.K., U.S., and Italy have taught us anything, it’s that the frustration and angst being felt is real and people are fed up and looking for a massive change in their government.
]]>The team formed by Kevin O’Leary to explore a potential bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada has reported back, urging him to run.
While that may not be a surprise, the supporters that the businessman and TV personality is being advised to target represents a departure from the party’s perceived base: millennials.
“There is a clear path to victory for you to win,” said Mike Coates, chair of O’Leary’s exploratory committee, in a letter released Thursday that describes O’Leary’s ability to recruit new members, finance a campaign and attract existing party members to his candidacy.
“We were particularly surprised by the high levels of support from those in the 18 to 24 age groups,” the veteran Conservative organizer wrote. “This is an important voter group for the Conservative Party of Canada, and their passion for your candidacy is promising.
“Your many fans are eager to support you and will join the party to do so,” Coates’ letter said, adding that a “vast number” of existing party members would also support him, because he offers “the most compelling chance at winning the next election.”
Coates chaired the nine-member exploratory committee that included former Ontario premier Mike Harris and retired senator Marjory LeBreton, as well as former MPs, staffers and party activists.
The Conservative Party has traditionally polled much stronger among older Canadians than young voters.
The party’s grassroots party members — which may be changing as 13 leadership campaigns sign up new supporters — have also traditionally skewed older than the Canadian population in general.
But the party’s convention in Vancouver last May was noticeably younger and featured what the party said was a record number of youth delegates.
At the Conservative caucus retreat in Halifax last September, a pollster spoke to MPs about what Conservatives need to do to reach millennial voters — loosely defined as those reaching adulthood early in the 21st century — who are pegged as having different values and priorities than previous generations.
O’Leary’s exploratory committee’s advice appears consistent with that growth strategy.
And it differs from the leadership campaigns being pursued by other candidates in the race, who are pitching positions more closely associated with a socially conservative or immigration-skeptic base of support.
Thursday’s statement also sought to explain why O’Leary isn’t joining the race in time for the French debate taking place next Tuesday in Quebec City. No translation will be provided, making it difficult for any contender who does not speak the language reasonably well.
Because the Conservative leadership race will be decided based on a system that balances votes across all of Canada’s 338 ridings, appealing to French-speaking voters, particularly from the 78 constituencies in Quebec, really counts.
“When I do something, I bring my A game and I don’t like wasting anyone’s time,” O’Leary said in the statement.
While he attended the first party-organized debate in Saskatoon — and sat right behind the moderator, putting himself frequently in a camera shot — he’s expressed distaste for the large number of candidates still crowding the race and the inability of debate formats to showcase would-be leaders in detail.
O’Leary, who grew up in Montreal, says he’s committed to “learning French again.” In the meantime, “out of respect for Quebec and French-Canadians, I feel it makes more sense to abstain from the French debate until I am more proficient.”
O’Leary must file his papers and deposit by Feb. 24 in order to be a candidate in the May 27 vote.
Andrew Scheer held a news conference Thursday in Quebec City to announce that four Conservative MPs — Luc Berthold, Alain Rayes, Pierre Paul-Hus and Sylvie Boucher — are now supporting his bid.
The former Speaker of the House of Commons, who represents a Saskatchewan riding but grew up in Ottawa, speaks serviceable French with a proficiency he credits to his French-immersion education.
Scheer now has the most endorsements from current Conservative MPs, with 23, representing every province where the party holds a seat.
Fellow Conservative MP Erin O’Toole also announced an endorsement Thursday from a former rival. Winnipeg doctor Dan Lindsay was a leadership candidate until a few weeks ago, participating in the first two debates before withdrawing prior to a Dec.31 deadline for paying the required $50,000 compliance deposit.
Lindsay has worked with O’Toole on his health care reform platform.
]]>Kevin O’Leary told a group of wealthy Canadians wintering in Florida last week that he will run for the Conservative leadership and enter the race as early as Jan. 19, CBC News has learned.
The businessman and television personality denied suggesting such a date during an interview on CBC’s Power & Politics Monday, but acknowledged a meeting took place while he was in Florida on business.
“I’m meeting with anybody that wants to talk about Canada. As you know, down in Florida, this time of the year, there’s a lot of Canadians there, so it’s easy to get a quorum. And we talked a lot about what’s going to happen to the country on its current path,” he said.
“I never asked them for money. I just asked them to listen to some ideas.”
Multiple sources who requested they not be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly told CBC News the exploratory committee advising O’Leary will provide him with an assessment of his candidacy and a possible path to victory this week.
That committee includes former Ontario premier Mike Harris and Mike Coates, who helped Stephen Harper prepare for election debates in 2004, 2006 and 2008.
French tutor
The report will include recommendations for possible launch dates for his candidacy. One of those dates is Jan. 19, the day before Donald Trump will be inaugurated president of the United States.
According to sources, O’Leary is working with a French tutor and will commit to becoming bilingual.
But he seems unlikely to enter the race before next week’s leadership debate in Quebec City, an event that will be conducted entirely in French.
Candidate Andrew Scheer has challenged O’Leary to participate in that debate.
Speaking with Power & Politics, O’Leary said the leadership field of 14 candidates is still too crowded for a proper debate.
“You tell me when the herd will be culled … and I’ll tell you when I’m joining,” he said. “Please tell me when we’re down to, let’s say, four or five. Then we’ll talk turkey.”
But O’Leary says he’s “very encouraged” by what he’s heard since his exploratory committee was launched two weeks ago.
O’Leary’s advisers are said to realize he trails other candidates in terms of organization, but they believe his superior name recognition will make up for that.
Asked Monday about his ability to mount a ground game, O’Leary pointed to his reach on social media.
“It’s a whole new ball game,” he said. “I talk directly to Canadians every day.”
If he wishes to enter the race, O’Leary must declare his candidacy by Feb. 24. The results of the leadership vote will be announced May 27.
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