Businessman and reality TV star Kevin O’Leary has launched a new committee and website that he says will help “identify a path to victory for his potential Conservative Leadership.”
O’Leary, who has spent the last several months dancing around the question of whether he will join the race to replace former prime minister Stephen Harper, appears to be taking more concrete steps as 2016 draws to a close.
O’Leary’s nine-member exploratory committee includes some big names, like former Ontario Premier Mike Harris and former Senator Marjory LeBreton. The group’s chair is conservative activist Mike Coates, who directed Harper’s debate preparation and strategy team for his leadership campaign and three successive elections.
“A key element of this plan will be to harness O’Leary’s broad appeal and unleash a national movement of supporters who know Kevin is the only one who can beat Justin Trudeau,” according to a release issued by O’Leary’s camp early Friday.
A website, OlearyforCanada.ca, is also being launched “to mobilize public support.” Visitors are asked whether they would support the businessman as the next Conservative leader, and whether they are currently members of the party or not.
O’Leary began floating the idea that he might run last winter, and has largely focused on economic issues in media interviews and public statements made since that time. In September, a poll revealed that he was an early favourite to win the race, in spite of the fact that he hasn’t even entered it.
WATCH: Plane Talk with Kevin O’Leary
There are currently 14 candidates officially in the race, and two debates have already taken place — one in English and the other in French. O’Leary does not speak French, something that Quebec contender Maxime Bernier says should disqualify him.
But O’Leary has said that young Quebecers are almost all bilingual, making it unnecessary for a Tory leader to speak French.
If the former Dragons’ Den judge wants to join the field, he must do so before Feb. 24. He’ll need to pay a $25,000 registration fee and a $50,000 compliance deposit immediately upon filing his papers, and he’ll also need 300 signatures of party members from at least 30 ridings in at least seven provinces or territories to enter the race.
According to Friday’s release, the committee will consult with Conservative Party members, the party’s caucus and voters, and will report back to O’Leary “early in 2017.”
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