Kevin O'Leary drops out of Conservative leadership race, endorses libertarian Maxime Bernier

[SneakyFrenchSpy]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/kevin-oleary-drops-out-endorses-bernier-1.4086583

This is as close as it's getting anywhere in the world to installing a libertarian in charge of a major political party. I can't tell you how excited I am and I received my ballot today! The vote in person is on May 26-27.

Kevin O'Leary is dropping out of the Conservative leadership race and will endorse Maxime Bernier.The businessman and reality TV star is ending his campaign only hours before the last leadership debate in Toronto, and two days before party members can start casting their votes. O'Leary's name will remain on the ballots as they've already been printed and mailed, the party said Wednesday.
O'Leary and Bernier are holding a press conference in Toronto to discuss the developments. CBCNews.ca will carry it live.
O'Leary said Wednesday he was confident he could win the Conservative race, but raised doubts we could defeat Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the next election. He cited his failure to gain traction in Quebec and his poor French-language skills as reasons for dropping out of the leadership race.
"The Liberals politically own Quebec. Without growing the Conservative base in Quebec, beating Trudeau in 2019 would be a huge challenge," he said in a statement sent to reporters.

• Watch tonight's Conservative leadership debate
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Kevin O'Leary, left, is dropping out of the Conservative leadership race and will back Maxime Bernier instead. (Canadian Press)

"I have extremely high likelihood of winning the leadership race, but no way to win the election because of Quebec," he added in an interview with the Globe and Mail. "You have to win 30 seats. So, who can do that? It's Bernier."
"He's a front-runner," O'Leary said. "I like Max. I can work with him."
'Worked like hell'

O'Leary told reporters he has "worked like hell on this campaign."
"This was not an easy decision for me to make but after much thought and deliberation, it is the right one for the Conservative Party and the country," he said. "I want the DNA of my policies and objectives to survive into the general election. The candidate that best mirrors my policies is Maxime Bernier."

 

[phill4paul]

Mr. Wonderful! Liberals are dead to him.

 

[r3volution 3.0]

From what little I know of Canadian politics, Bernier looks pretty good.

 

[NewRightLibertarian]

From what little I know of Canadian politics, Bernier looks pretty good.

I think Bernier is a full-blown Rothbardian.

 

[r3volution 3.0]

I think Bernier is a full-blown Rothbardian.

So why is a fairly conventional conservative dropping out to endorse him?

...I'll have to put on my beaver pelt hat and go do some investigating.

 

[SneakyFrenchSpy]

O'Leary saw the writing on the wall and realized he couldn't do well in Quebec, and it's very hard to win a majority of seats in the general election without it. So he stepped aside and decided to play kingmaker and put Mad Max over the top in the process, probably for an informal promise of a Cabinet post. He could be Finance Minister is my guess.

 

[r3volution 3.0]

I guess I just find it suspiciously rational behavior for a politician...

...must be jaded.

 

[devil21]

I guess I just find it suspiciously rational behavior for a politician...

...must be jaded.

O'Leary isn't really a politician. He's kinda Trumpian and banker imo. More interested in building his brand than governing effectively. Nice of him to endorse the libertarian though!

 

[Lamp]

hooray

 

[thetruthhurtsthefed]

There are quite a few libertarian leaning Conservative candidates in the running. Bernier being the closest to a Libertarian, however there are a few in the bunch (o'leary included) that are closet liberals. Oleary wanted more immigration, carbon tax (which he later took back) and dabbled with the AR15 being evil.
There is a Soros plant named Michael Chong. He is Obama's wet dream. Carbon tax, immigration, loss of gun rights. There is NO reason he should even be in the running as his entire platform is a liberal cut and paste, hence the Soros funded plant assumption.
O'leary did a good thing by dropping out since most of the uninformed Canadians assumed he was the "Canadian Trump" and would have blindly voted him as the media hyped Oleary as such. He was nor is a Trump. Aside from sound business and fiscal sense that is/was it.
Americans DO NOT want to hear the names, Michael Chong (closeted liberal -Soros plant), Deepak Obhrai, Lisa Raitt otherwise it will be another Trudeau -like liberal Hollywood show.
The names Americans want to hear of are; Max Bernier, Brad Trost, Pierre Lemieux, Erin O'Toole, Steven Blaney, Andrew Scheer, Andrew Saxton, Kellie Leitch (very similar to Trump's immigration approach) and to a lesser extent Rick Peterson (has some really good ideas - 15% flat tax up to 100k- but he is already pandering to the special interest groups....and we know what happens then).
Hopefully that gives non-Canadians some limited and brief insight into the Canadian gong show of politics. I am looking forward to vote in a few weeks for the new Conservative leader