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[IAmAnAgnostic]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38659147

He has drawn comparisons to Donald Trump for both his TV and business background and his boastful tendencies. Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper stepped down as party leader in November 2015 after losing the federal election to the Trudeau Liberals. Conservatives pick their new leader on 27 May. Mr O'Leary, a Montreal-born investor and entrepreneur, is pitching himself as the business-minded, fiscally conservative candidate in the packed field of hopefuls.

"I am a successful Canadian businessman with a great deal of international experience," Mr O'Leary said in a media statement. "I am the only candidate who can beat Justin Trudeau."

 

[Septimus Prime]

Watch him win, too.

 

[excelsiorlef]

He's a bad man.

 

[Professor Renegade]

I like to think that the Conservatives are smart enough to not let this guy win leadership.

 

[Voysa Reezun]

Question for Canadian political junkies: How did Stephen Harper and the Conservatives hold onto power for so long? Like, how tenuous is the Liberal Party's hold on Canadian voters?

And is this the Boston's Pizza dude who is a real asshole on Shark Tank?

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

No hairpiece.
Fatal mistake.

 

[Viewt]

Not Canadian, so I'm not super familiar with this guy, but doesn't he not speak French? Can you win an election without Quebec? Seems like that'd be pretty difficult.

EDIT: Ah, I see it says as much in the article. Seems ill-advised to get into it with such a huge disadvantage.

 

[Zips]

Canada really does not need dumbass Conservatives trying to imitate Trump while seeking to regain power.

Trudeau is really going to screw the country by not going through with the electoral reform, which would help keep guys like this out of dominance.

 

[Divvy]

It takes real courage to join in the day after the French debate because you do not speak any French.

 

[Professor Renegade]

Question for Canadian political junkies: How did Stephen Harper and the Conservatives hold onto power for so long? Like, how tenuous is the Liberal Party's hold on Canadian voters?

I was too young to vote during Harper's prime, but from what I understand the Liberal party didn't have the best candidates until Trudeau came along. Stephan Dion being the more memorable one.

 

[Kilvin]

Not Canadian, so I'm not super familiar with this guy, but doesn't he not speak French? Can you win an election without Quebec? Seems like that'd be pretty difficult.

He was born in Montreal, actually. So despite him being unable to speak french, who knows.

 

[Samara]

Not Canadian, so I'm not super familiar with this guy, but doesn't he not speak French? Can you win an election without Quebec? Seems like that'd be pretty difficult.

I watched him on Dragon Den (Shark Tank) and I remembered that he spoke a little french.

 

[LookAtMeGo]

Fuck this clown. Buuut the rest of the world is going to shit. We might as well join in. I like to think my fellow Canadians are smarter than this but I dont have much faith in humanity in general at this point.

*takes a shot of scotch*

 

[Perfect Blue]

He's not really anything like Trump and probably better than most of the other candidates. I'll take him over Kellie Leitch any day of the week.

 

[Riptwo]

I think that every thread discussing O'Leary should link to this Globe and Mail article from 2012: Kevin O'Leary: He's not a billionaire, he just plays one on TV.

 

[John Kowalski]

Canadoes what Ameri

Spoiler

does

 

[excelsiorlef]

Question for Canadian political junkies: How did Stephen Harper and the Conservatives hold onto power for so long? Like, how tenuous is the Liberal Party's hold on Canadian voters?

And is this the Boston's Pizza dude who is a real asshole on Shark Tank?

Liberals were in a massive down swing and the NDP will never win an election.

 

[CreeperBlocks]

Question for Canadian political junkies: How did Stephen Harper and the Conservatives hold onto power for so long? Like, how tenuous is the Liberal Party's hold on Canadian voters?

And is this the Boston's Pizza dude who is a real asshole on Shark Tank?

The Liberal party had really really poor leaders before Trudeau came in that's why Harper lasted as long as he did. Also this is NOT the guy who owns Boston Pizza that was another guy on Dragons Den

 

[KrellRell]

I think he has a good shot.

Hydro prices are the #1 political issue by far right now (in Ontario), and people are looking for alternatives.

 

[farisr]

Question for Canadian political junkies: How did Stephen Harper and the Conservatives hold onto power for so long? Like, how tenuous is the Liberal Party's hold on Canadian voters?

The problem is left leaning voters have two big parties to choose from, the Liberals and NDP, so the vote gets split. This last election there was a "strategic voting" initiative that took off to prevent Harper from serving another term, and many people who would've voted NDP normally voted liberal or vice versa depending on the area they lived in so the votes didn't get split as much,

 

[Silexx]

Question for Canadian political junkies: How did Stephen Harper and the Conservatives hold onto power for so long? Like, how tenuous is the Liberal Party's hold on Canadian voters?

And is this the Boston's Pizza dude who is a real asshole on Shark Tank?

Essentially: A sponsorship scandal followed by a succession of underwhelming and lackluster Liberal leaders allowed the CPC to wins elections. The Liberals' hold on voter is by no means guaranteed, but it some ways, it was also a return to the mean.

 

[PeskyToaster]

what a chump this guy will never win right guys hahahahahahahahaha god dammit i hate everything.

 

[Entropia]

Question for Canadian political junkies: How did Stephen Harper and the Conservatives hold onto power for so long? Like, how tenuous is the Liberal Party's hold on Canadian voters?

And is this the Boston's Pizza dude who is a real asshole on Shark Tank?

1) The problem is the vote between the more left leaning citizens voted for either Liberal or NDP... people who typically voted conservative still voted conservative. So we basically ended up with Conservative > (Liberal + NDP)

2) No, that's Jim Treliving. Kevin O'Leary had some software company that he sold to Mattel in the late 90's and made millions.

 

[Gorillaz]

Trump opened the door to this fuckery

We ain't coming back from this politically lol

 

[excelsiorlef]

The problem is left leaning voters have two big parties to choose from, the Liberals and NDP, so the vote gets split. This last election there was a "strategic voting" initiative that took off to prevent Harper from serving another term, and many people who would've voted NDP normally voted liberal or vice versa depending on the area they lived in so the votes didn't get split as much,

Nah it wasn't just that. The NDP replaced once in a lifetime Jack Layton with never should have even been once in a lifetime Tom Mulcair

 

[mo60]

Not Canadian, so I'm not super familiar with this guy, but doesn't he not speak French? Can you win an election without Quebec? Seems like that'd be pretty difficult.

EDIT: Ah, I see it says as much in the article. Seems ill-advised to get into it with such a huge disadvantage.

Yeah. It's possible to win an election without Quebec but the party who won the election would be capped at a minority government.unless whoever won that election obliterated the other poliitcal parties in the West, Atlantic Canada and Ontario which I don't think has happened since 1984. The conservatives would need the NDP to be revived in order to win an election without Quebec.

 

[Voysa Reezun]

The problem is left leaning voters have two big parties to choose from, the Liberals and NDP, so the vote gets split. This last election there was a "strategic voting" initiative that took off to prevent Harper from serving another term, and many people who would've voted NDP normally voted liberal or vice versa depending on the area they lived in so the votes didn't get split as much,

I vaguely remember this from the elections thread.

Thanks to everyone else who responded. So it's just a case where the Liberals needed to replenish their bench, and they finally got a talented candidate to run against Harper. Let's hope Trudeau is able to hold power there for a long while.

Spoiler

Especially because I want to move there, and not in the typical "Americans say they want to move to Canada after an election goes wrong" sort of way.

 

[Nester99]

Time to sign up as a Conservative so I can vote in the leadership campaign.

 

[Kilvin]

The problem is left leaning voters have two big parties to choose from, the Liberals and NDP, so the vote gets split. This last election there was a "strategic voting" initiative that took off to prevent Harper from serving another term, and many people who would've voted NDP normally voted liberal or vice versa depending on the area they lived in so the votes didn't get split as much,

I was one of those people. I occasionally catch flak for it, but I couldn't handle another term under a Harper Government.

 

[smokeymicpot]

Hope he still does Shark Tank.

 

[Silexx]

He's not really anything like Trump and probably better than most of the other candidates. I'll take him over Kellie Leitch any day of the week.

O'Leary is definitely not a guy we want anywhere near a position in government, but he's shown no inclination to employing the dog whistle politics that Trump used during his campaign.

 

[darscot]

This is really old news and he has no shot.

 

[Jeffolation]

He's an ignorant bag of shit.

 

[Nester99]

This is really old news and he has no shot.

He announced it officially today,

That's what they said about trump and brexit....

 

[Trace]

I like to think that us in Canada are smart enough not to elect someone like him but then again I thought the same of Trump in the States. What a world.

 

[Ziltoidia 9]

If he wins, trump and him will turn NAFTA re-negotiation into a reality show. Like, on TV. Literally.

 

[Fixed1979]

This is really old news and he has no shot.

How is this old news when he just confirmed his intention to run less than 24 hours ago? Also never say "no shot"...

There's not really a shoe-in for party leadership so anything can happen. Nothing would surprise me at this point.

 

[Razorskin]

Let's vote for him in the conservative leadership race and tank the party folks!

 

[Kilvin]

This is really old news and he has no shot.

I'd like to think we learned that lesson with Trump. Never say never.

 

[Moppeh]

I've said this before but everyone needs to take O'Leary seriously. He's a lot more palatable than many other conservatives who are running. And most of the conservatives I know are very excited about him potentially being the leader.

 

[Dr.Acula]

Question for Canadian political junkies: How did Stephen Harper and the Conservatives hold onto power for so long? Like, how tenuous is the Liberal Party's hold on Canadian voters?

And is this the Boston's Pizza dude who is a real asshole on Shark Tank?

Boston Pizza is the other guy.

Basically, after a protracted period of leadership, scandals always occur, and the Liberal party was defeated, and Harper assumed power to the tune of two minority governments. He had a very moderate agenda and built a reputation as a boring economic conservative with not much opinion on social matters. Strong oil prices and a smooth navigation of the various intl. financial crises led to Harper securing a majority.

Now, with full power, Harper swung more far to the right in terms of military action, science skepticism, social issues related to immigration, and found himself embroiled in a senate spending scandal, coupled with his implementation of a fixed election date, it meant the election happened during the worst possible time, and that he had to campaign for a protracted period.

He's a savvy technical politician, but a poor populist, and three months on the campaign trail made him look like Canada's most overstayed house-guest.

The Liberals should be fine if Trudeau delivers on some of his promises before the next election. He might have to do an electoral reform referendum, and that could harm him if it goes 50%+1 and he chooses to ignore it (and it also could harm him if it goes 50%-1, because it looks like he passed the buck), and marijuana legalisation is something he has to implementing before the election for sure.

 

[kevin1025]

Make a fool of him at one of his likely many upcoming speeches and Q&A's, watch him rage, and you're good to go.

 

[Spiral Insanity]

You really can't compare him to Trump.

 

[cryptosporidium]

he embodies the reform wing, lets see how the PCs take this. split the right again, doubt another stephen harper will come around for a while

 

[Entropia]

The way that Canada operates, I don't even think that he will make it to be the leader, much less PM.

 

[NinjaCoachZ]

Never liked this guy. Always came off as the stereotypical douchey, out-of-touch rich guy, and never struck me as especially charismatic. Hopefully he doesn't get that far but yeah, we should be careful about people like him or Leitch. Never underestimate anything that could happen...

 

[MMarston]

He announced it officially today,

That's what they said about trump and brexit....

If it's gonna be a crazy nutcase at the head, it's Kellie Leitch.

Not only does O'Leary not speak French, he's a globalist. Not exactly favourable to the Québécois and Alt Right demo.

 

[Layell]

He just alienated a ton of Quebec and French speaking Canadians, as well as coming off as a big prude to the rest of us. Right after the French debates wow what a guy.

Ontario and Quebec being so influential too matters, not sure how you win an election without a good portion of both provinces.

 

[KernelPanic]

Successful? Lol. Let's ask Mattel what they think.....

 

[Dishwalla]

There shouldn't be any doubt that this is a very real possibility. You want to stop this man from being your leader? Then I suggest you get out there now and get started.