NotTheGuyYouKill
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http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/13587472
Celebrity businessman Kevin OLeary unofficially launched his bid for the Conservative leadership Monday, promising that the next election will be an ugly fight against Justin Trudeaus Liberals.
2019 is not an election, it is an exorcism, OLeary told approximately 30 Tory MPs who gathered to hear his thoughts at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier.
Its going to be war, its going to be ugly, youre going to hear a lot of bad things, OLeary promised. I have to know you have my back if were going to start this. That is what Im asking for.
OLeary painted Trudeau as a complete incompetent who is mismanaging the Canadian economy and digging it into a dark hole.
He suggested the prime ministers lack of business and negotiating experience is costing the country dearly.
By introducing a carbon price nationally while the United States moves in another direction, OLeary said Canada will miss out on billions of investment dollars.
Why would I invest here when I can invest in U.S. Texas shale and make a 30 per cent higher free cash flow? You dont have to be an idiot to understand that, he said.
But Trudeau alone isnt responsible, the TV businessman declared. The prime ministers principal secretary, Gerald Butts, is really the person setting policy, OLeary said.
The television investor from Shark Tank, a business venture reality show on U.S. network ABC, and the Dragons Den on CBC told the Tories and a handful of media that, under his leadership, the partys next election would focus on: 1) Trudeau, 2) Butts and 3) Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
Im going to make them famous, OLeary said, to laughter from the crowd. I want them to own this. They deserve all the credit for their policies and by chance the downside come 2019 . These are the three riders of the economic apocalypse.
The longer Butts is in place, the more damage is going to be done, OLeary declared.
You have to have my back to do that. I need to have yours. This is the beginning of a journey, he said, likening the group to a board of directors. Im going to be a very, very, very unconventional candidate. Its going to get extremely nasty out there.
OLeary acknowledged that he doesnt speak French and cant speak to the seven million Canadians who claim it as their mother tongue.
I dont speak French. However, I was born in Montreal, he told the small crowd, describing summers picking apples at his grandmothers in Quebec and attending McGill University.
This is a province I know very well. Will I learn French? Youre damn right Im going to try. I have three years to do it.
But OLeary also played down his need to know French, suggesting the provinces 18- to 35-year-olds a group Trudeau successfully courted in 2015 and whom OLeary plans to engage with a jobs-based message are almost all bilingual.
You can speak five languages and still not get anything done. To lead an economy out of a morass, an abyss, you have to be able to execute, regardless of your language skills, he said.
In language somewhat reminiscent of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, OLeary trumpeted his huge social media platform. He told MPs he reaches more people on Facebook Live than the networks reach in Canada. Im going to use it. Its going to be aggressive. It will be challenging sometimes, and it will not be business as usual.
On his Twitter and Facebook accounts on Monday, OLeary posted about his trip to Ottawas Capitol Hill and was mocked online.