OTTAWA – Business television star Kevin O’Leary says he’s “licking his chops” with Peter MacKay officially out of the Conservative Party leadership race.
“This is really really interesting, this really opens up the candidacy platform in a really dynamic way, I am licking my chops here,” O’Leary told Bell Media National Affairs Specialist Evan Solomon on News Talk Radio 580 CFRA Monday. “My probabilities of success of getting the leadership are much higher now, MacKay was my primary rival and he doesn’t want the job.”
O’Leary is considering running for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, and says he could also back another candidate who has “the royal jelly” to compete against Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the next federal election.
MacKay, the former Minister of National Defence, Justice and Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the last leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, officially announced Monday that he will not be seeking the leadership of the Conservatives.
“After much soul searching, advice from trusted friends, and weighing of the impact on my young family, I have decided not to seek the leadership of the Party,” MacKay wrote in an official statement sent to News Talk Radio 580 CFRA. “ I choose not to run at this time for some of the same reasons I stated when I chose not to seek re-election last year. My family is my number one priority. The love and support of my wife, Nazanin, has been unwavering and we are blessed with two, healthy, vibrant children; Kian, aged 3, and Valentia, 11 months, who need our full attention at this tender age. While the opportunity is exciting and the reward compelling, I feel it would be asking too much of them to jump back into politics right now and the heat of a leadership campaign with all that it entails.”
MacKay, who hails from Nova Scotia but is working for a Toronto law firm, was considered the undeclared frontrunner for the leadership of the Conservatives, often topping national opinion polls.
Conservative Party members vote for their next leader May 27, 2017.
Listen to the interview with Kevin O'Leary here: