As we have seen in the United States, a man with no political background, experience, or qualifications has become the leader of one of the most influential countries in the world. This is exactly what might happen in Canada.
Meet Kevin O’Leary. Or as some like to call him, Canada’s own version of Donald Trump.
O’Leary has entered the race to be the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, which could be compared to the American Republican Party, as Republicans tend to be “conservative” on issues—especially social ones. This includes the view that there should be less government spending on social programs.
On Jan. 18, 2017, O’Leary announced his intentions to run for the Conservative Party of Canada. If he is chosen to lead the party—when the Conservative Party of Canada leadership election is held on May 27, 2017—then he would serve in the House of Commons as the Official Opposition Leader. If the Conservative Party wins the most seats in the House of Commons in the general elections in 2019, then O’Leary would become the new Prime Minister after the current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Along with Trump, O’Leary doesn’t have any political experience or qualifications that would be suitable to lead a political party, much less become the Prime Minister of Canada.
Accompanying no political background, O’Leary is also a reality-TV star and businessman. Just like Trump.
O’Leary relies heavily on his business background to show how he’d lead a country and dismisses his lack of experience in politics because of his experience in the business world. Just like Trump, once again.
While Trump was on The Apprentice (an American game show) and runs The Trump Organization, O’Leary has appeared on the reality TV show Dragon’s Den—along with its American equivalent, Shark Tank (as shown above)—and the reality game show Redemption Inc. He has also appeared in multiple business news programs, and had his own co-founded business titled SoftKey Software Products.
Many of O’Leary’s positions are framed around what Trump and his administration mean for Canada, especially relating to NAFTA, as Canada is the U.S.’s largest trading partner. O’Leary has pledged to work with Trump, which works in favour for the Conservative Party as they share similar views to the Republican Party.
“In 2019 in Canada, we’re not going to have an election, we’re going to have an exorcism. I’m going to unwind everything he [Justin Trudeau] did, he’s a disaster,” said O’Leary. This is reminiscent of Trump discussing what he believed was wrong with Obama’s governing.
Luckily Canada isn’t the United States, and multiple protests have been held against Trump, his administration, and his politics in the country. Hopefully a similar incident will not happen again.
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