O’Leary building a glass mansion

It may be very di cult for the federal Conservatives to throw stones at the Liberals if Kevin O’Leary becomes leader. It would appear the television personality and businessman has been tapped as the David to the Liberals’ Goliath – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

No doubt, Mr. Trudeau has engaged in questionable ethical practices. His Christmas visit with the Agha Khan for one thing – a er all, he and his family along with his Liberal friends were wined and dined in the Bahamas, even taking a private helicopter to the island.

Oh, that was great fodder for days for the Conservatives, until it was revealed that interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose had also spent the Christmas break on a billionaire’s yacht. Suddenly, there was no shade to throw.

Talk about glass houses.

Sure, Mr. Trudeau is vulnerable. His party’s use of cash-for-access fundraisers made for terrible optics, particularly a er Mr. Trudeau rst denied there was anything wrong with these $1,500-per-ticket fundraisers or that they provided special access to politicians. en he claimed he used the events to get support for policies on behalf of the middle class. He has now pledged legislation that will ban them in the future.

Imagine Mr. O’Leary is now Conservative leader. How could he attack the Liberals or Mr. Trudeau on this topic, when Mr. O’Leary himself demands a minimum $50,000 an appearance and won’t show up for anything less? Or that Mr. O’Leary acknowledged in the Globe and Mail that he is backing an Alberta-British Columbia pipeline a er one of its supporters helped raise $100,000 for the O’Leary campaign?

at’s truly bought-and-paid-for access.

Imagine the Conservatives trying to take a shot at Mr. Trudeau’s privileged upbringing and his life as an elite, with Mr. O’Leary’s penchant for private jets, his US$30,000-an-episode salary for Shark Tank and his millionaire lifestyle? Or how about the Conservatives trying to tackle Mr. Trudeau’s lack of experience, when Mr. O’Leary has never run for public o ce and has never worked within government.

In fact, Mr. O’Leary has many targets on his back that Liberal strategists are likely salivating over. Mr. O’Leary has publicly stated he considers Boston his home.

A er a Conservative campaign denouncing former Liberal leader Michael Ignatie as “just visiting” in 2011, those attack ads just write themselves.

His business dealings haven’t been entirely successful either. His company, O’Leary Funds, performed poorly and was sold in 2015 a er losing close to $800 million in assets. He was red by Mattel and was later named as a defendant in a class-action lawsuit by Mattel shareholders accusing him - in part - of insider trading. He denied those claims and Mattel settled with the shareholders in 2003.

ere are other examples.

A great deal of time has been spent comparing Mr. O’Leary to U.S. President Donald Trump. But the rst month of the Trump presidency may make Mr. O’Leary an even tougher sell for those within the Conservative party looking for an opportunity to beat Mr. Trudeau.

Mr. Trump’s declaration that “nobody knew health care could be so complicated” is just one more cringe-worthy quote from someone who had no experience and no understanding of the di erence between business and government.

Canadian politicians should always be careful about building glass houses, but in the case of Mr. O’Leary, it’s more like a glass mansion.