Kevin O’Leary finds a new premier to target

HALIFAX — Kevin O’Leary — who drummed up headlines last month when he targeted Ontario’s Kathleen Wynne — has launched an aggressive attack on another Liberal premier.

In an “open letter” to Nova Scotia’s Stephen McNeil on Facebook Wednesday, O’Leary said the province’s economy is being strangled by high taxes and policies that discourage natural gas and oil exploration.

The reality TV show host and Conservative leadership candidate said he spoke to many people about the poor economy when he was in Halifax last weekend for a debate.

He said Nova Scotia has some of Canada’s highest tax rates and one of the lowest economic outputs, and said that is not a coincidence.

The Facebook post had been liked 2,600 times within eight hours.

A spokesman for McNeil said the premier would not be commenting at this time.

O’Leary is an entrepreneur and a star of the U.S.-based “Shark Tank” reality show who spends much of the year in Boston.

His Conservative leadership campaign has been likened to President Donald Trump’s for his no-holds-barred speaking style that often dominates media coverage of the race.

“I reach millions of Canadians each week through the media, and I have promised all of them that I will shine the light on mediocrity and incompetence in government when I see it,” O’Leary said in his open letter to McNeil.

“So, I am putting you on notice. It’s time you start doing a better job for the people in Nova Scotia.

“If you don’t? Well you can ask your friend Kathleen Wynne what happened to her poll numbers when I started writing letters.”

O’Leary called Wynne “incompetent” after she criticized his comments on Ontario’s auto sector.