Current Publisher and Editor
Am I the only person who thinks the Conservative Party’s search for a new leader has taking a decidedly weird twist with Kevin O’Leary’s entry into the race?
To watch the televised news programs you’d think it was business as usual on the campaign trail. No one is mentioning the superficial-but-eerie similarities between the Tories’ race and last year’s Republican nomination quest.
The Republicans fielded 16 candidates. Canadian Conservatives currrently have 13 candidates, down from 16. O’Leary’s entry will give them 14 candidates. It doesn’t quite exactly mirror last year’s Republican race, but it’s close.
The Republicans had a reality TV businessman — Donald Trump (The Apprentice). The Conservatives are about to gain one of their own — Kevin O’Leary (Shark Tank), who announced on Tuesday, January 17, that he would join the fray the very next day.
Trump is a demonstrably a loud-mouthed bully, an authoritarian and possibly — given the dissension he is seeding in the US — even a tool of the Russians. If the Soviets were still in charge, they’d likely describe him as “a useful idiot.”
Personally, I think O’Leary is probably smarter than Trump and there hasn’t been any evidence suggesting he’s one of Vladimir Putin’s pawns, but the superficial parallels are disturbing.
If I was Kevin O’Leary I wouldn’t enter the race to succeed Stephen Harper for all the tea in China. Who wants to go down in history as Mr. Mini-Trump?
