Kenney rules out ‘over-the-top’ O’Leary as federal party leader

New Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney condemned federal leadership candidate Kevin O’Leary’s attacks on Premier Rachel Notley on Tuesday, and said his stance on federalism makes little sense.

And Kenney — the former MP elected PC leader just over a week ago — said O’Leary should be ruled out as the new Conservative leader because of his lack of French.

In a meeting with the Postmedia editorial board in Calgary, Kenney said the next leader of the federal Conservatives must be bilingual in Canada’s official languages, and O’Leary doesn’t qualify.

“I think he speaks American English, if that counts, but I don’t think he speaks French,” Kenney said of O’Leary, who retains his residence in the United States even as he campaigns for Conservative leader.

O’Leary, a bombastic businessman and reality television personality, is viewed as one of the frontrunners in the race to succeed Stephen Harper as the permanent leader of the Conservative party.

He has generated headlines with his rhetoric, which has included describing Notley as a “vicious, poisonous, toxic cocktail of mediocrity (and) incompetence.”

O’Leary has also vowed to “go to war” with Notley and other premiers by cutting equalization or federal transfer payments if he believes their economic policies — such as Alberta’s carbon tax — curb his quest for three per cent annual economic growth.

Kenney said O’Leary’s language isn’t “helpful or useful.”

“There needs to be a consistent standard of rhetorical responsibility across the spectrum and I don’t think Kevin O’Leary is helping in that at all. I think his comments are over the top.”

On O’Leary’s threats to provinces, Kenney said: “I don’t actually understand what it is he’s proposing to do.”

“If he’s trying to tie totally extraneous issues into ... health and social transfers, that doesn’t make much sense to me.”

Kenney, an MP between 1997 and 2016 who was a key player in Harper’s cabinets, said he would not endorse any of the 14 candidates running for the Conservative leadership.

Tuesday is the deadline for holding a party membership to be able to vote in the May contest.