O’Leary tried to get Bernier to quit race

But ‘reality’ set in for TV star

• Kevin O’Leary may be gone from the Conservative leadership race, but he doesn’t intend to let himself be forgotten.

Instead, the reality TV star and businessman said merger talks were held Thursday between his campaign and Maxime Bernier’s to solidify a plan for the pair to work together between now and May 27, when the new leader is chosen.

O’Leary dropped a bombshell into the leadership race Wednesday when he declared he was giving up his candidacy because he didn’t see a path to victory in Quebec and would instead throw his support behind Bernier, a longtime Quebec MP.

Though, he told The Canadian Press in an interview Thursday morning from New York, he tried to make it happen the other way.

“I certainly said, ‘Max, I’m killing you in the polls everywhere, let’s look at it. You’re not going to win the leadership,’ and he’d say, ‘you’re not going to win 30 seats (in Quebec),’ ” O’Leary said.

Discussions included the idea of Bernier being given a position akin to a deputy prime minister, O’Leary said, but ultimately he accepted Bernier’s argument that such an arrangement wouldn’t persuade Quebec voters to back O’Leary.

“We went around and around and around,” O’Leary said. “The thing is, I deal in reality. He’s right.”

O’Leary, known for his stints on the reality business shows Dragons’ Den and Shark Tank, remains a popular TV personality in the U.S. and dabbles in dozens of companies. None of that mattered in Quebec though, because there they don’t see him on TV, he said, and the fact he was born in the province didn’t count for much.

His decision to drop out wasn’t motivated by a desire to protect his personal brand from being tarnished by a loss, he said.

He said he’ll prove that by campaigning for the Conservatives from now until the next election to fulfil his original promise to unseat the Trudeau Liberals.

“I don’t need a job, I need to finish the task I started,” he said.