He might be known as the “tough guy” on Shark Tank but Kevin O’Leary shows his softer side during an emotional interview with ET Canada’s Cheryl Hickey.
Officially announcing his decision to run for Canada’s Conservative Party leadership in early January, “Mr. Wonderful” lets us in on the private conversations that happened with his loved ones before he made that decision.
“In this next election I have to make sure my daughter and son vote for me” O’Leary explains. “And I have to make sure they understand the vision for this country.”
O’Leary reveals his daughter told him, “You know dad, if I don’t like your policies, I’m not going to vote for you.”
The former Dragon’s Den venture capitalist, says he believes his “vision” for the country will not only make his daughter, Savannah, happy but “millions of people [her] age happy too.”
“I want her to be proud of me, I don’t want to do something that a 23-year-old woman who aspires to be an entrepreneur wouldn’t vote for me, that’s my standard on board and if I can’t do that then I don’t deserve to be Prime Minister,” he adds.
But O’Leary says it wasn’t until he discussed the matter with his wife, Linda, that he got what he needed. “She said to me ‘this is not what I would choose for us but if you want to do it, as I’ve done for you for all of these years, I’ll back you,’ and that’s all I needed to hear,” O’Leary shares, while tearing up.
The TV star’s decision has been met with skepticism, most publicly by his former Dragon’s Den co-star, Arlene Dickinson, who told CBC she doesn’t think he “should be a leader of our country.”
And Dickinson didn’t shy away from her opinion, writing an op-ed for CBC News, where she made it clear that what fans have seen on TV is what they’ll get in a political leader: “Kevin’s total lack of empathy toward these Canadians who put their heart and soul on the line, I can assure you, was genuine.”
O’Leary also joined ET Canada on Facebook Live on Friday, where the political hopeful shared details concerning his platforms on the legalization of marijuana, immigration, gun control and carbon tax.
