Kevin O'Leary, the businessman and TV personality, has finally declared he is in the race to become leader of the federal Conservative Party.
Photo Credit: CP / Jonathan Hayward

Kevin O’Leary now in the Conservative leadership race

Kevin O’Leary made it official, the morning after the one French-language debate for the Conservative leadership candidates, he is entering the race.

“You know why? I listened to you,”

O’Leary, a Canadian businessman who’s success led him to a starring role on the Canadian reality business show ‘Dragon’s Den’ and then the American version known as ‘Shark’s Tank’, had been touted as a candidate for the last few months, with support growing stronger as he is became the ‘Trump-like’ possibility.

O’Leary’s brash tell-it-like-it-is TV style is sure to make the competition interesting, but will his lack of political experience be an asset or a liability for the Conservative party membership who’ll be voting on the new leader on May 26th, 2017.

O’Leary joins some very strong candidates in former ministers in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government. Lisa Raitt held three high-profile portfolios, Quebec’s Maxime Bernier has been preparing for this race for ages and is bilingual, Michael Chong is viewed as an honourable candidate with a multicultural appeal, and Kellie Leitch, one of the most financially supported candidates, is an arch-conservative who wants to test potential immigrants for “Canadian values” and dismantle the left-leaning national broadcaster, the CBC.

Last spring Kevin O’Leary began considering a run for the leadership when he took out a party membership for the first time, and began attending the party’s events.

This morning he employed a video on his facebook page to make the announcement.

“You know why? I listened to you,” he said in the video, thanking the “40,000” Canadians he said went to his website to encourage him to run.

In an interview with the CBC News Network’s Suhana Meharchand, O’Leary said, “I don’t have a money problem. I don’t have a name recognition problem. I want to do what’s right for the party: sell tens of thousands of memberships and then let them decide … who should carry the torch to Ottawa to perform the exorcism we need in this country in 2019 to rid the country of Justin Trudeau,” he said about Canada’s Liberal prime minister.

“What I’m talking about is beyond Trudeau. His entire caucus is incompetent,” he said. Even after last week’s cabinet shuffle, “it’s not working.”

Canadian who would like to cast a vote for the next Conservative leader on May 27th, must purchase a party membership before March 28th, 2017 

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