With the number of crazy things that continue to happen across the border and the political unrest we’re constantly hearing about, Canadians couldn’t possibly elect someone like
Donald Trump as the leader of our country, could we?
A lot of people believe the newest candidate for the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is Kevin O’Leary.
According to thesquander.com, the cofounder of O’Leary Funds and SoftKey is worth over $300 million through his career as an investor. But is he really Canada’s version of Trump?
Possibly, according to one of his former co-stars on the popular Dragon’s Den. For those unfamiliar with the show, Canadians bring their business and product ideas to four investors including Kevin O’Leary and Arlene Dickinson, who’s most notable for being the CEO of Venture Communications among other things.
Investors listen to the pitches, and discuss possibly investing in the company to get them off the ground. Often times on the show, entrepreneurs share stories of personal hardship as part of their pitch and O’Leary often seems cold and distant towards the issue, only concerned with whether or not the idea would bring him a profit.
It is often questioned if O’Leary’s attitude is genuine, but that question was answered by Dickinson shortly after O’Leary’s race announcement.
“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 is known for being a businessman and it’s done him well, but there’s one major issue right now where the Trump and O’Leary comparison is clear–immigration. While still dealing with the effects of Trump’s ban on immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, O’Leary went on a Twitter rant this Monday about immigration in Canada.
O’Leary says a loophole in Canada’s immigration system makes it too easy for illegal immigrants from the US to walk into Canada without going through a regulated crossing point and applying for refugee status to start collecting welfare. He comes from a family of immigrants that didn’t have a lot of wealth to begin with, unlike someone with his small loan of $1 million, so O’Leary has compassion for people immigrating to start a new life.
“Canada’s generosity and compassion can’t be misconstrued as an invitation to abuse or undermine our immigration and refugee system,” said O’Leary in a tweet.
To break down O’Leary, he’s a self-made multimillionaire with a lot of business sense, who keeps a slightly opinionated, yet clean presence on social media.
It’s unclear what that could mean, but if a comparison to someone in American politics had to be made, it would be Mitt Romney from the presidential race of 2012. He’s another smart business man who’s made a great living for himself, while making people a little uncomfortable.
While O’Leary may be the leading candidate of his party, the public may not agree with the fact that running a country is just like running a successful business. His personality may cause votes to be pulled in a Liberal direction.
