O’Leary the front-runner to lead federal Conservative party: poll

Business tycoon Kevin O’Leary – the man dubbed by some as Canada’s Donald Trump – appears to be off to a good start as first polling numbers has him way out front in the federal Conservative leadership race.

However, more than a third of Canadians, or 38 per cent, say “someone else” would be a better candidate to lead the part than any of the eight candidates identified in the poll.

According to the Forum Research poll, 27 per cent of Canadian voters surveyed believe O’Leary is the “preferred candidate” to lead the party – a lead that is more than double that of his closest rival.

Fellow candidate Maxime Bernier came in a distant second at 11 per cent, followed by Lisa Raitt at seven per cent and Michael Chong at six per cent.

“Kevin O’Leary’s entry into the Conservative leadership race has propelled him to the front of the field, with more than double the support of his nearest rival,” Forum Research president Lorne Bozinoff said in a statement.

Voters poll were asked which of the eight candidates would “make the best permanent leader of the federal Conservative Party.” The candidates listed were O’Leary, Bernier, Lisa Raitt, Chris Alexander, Steven Blaney, Michael Chong, Kellie Leitch, and Andrew Scheer.

O’Leary announced last week that he’s running for Conservative leadership. The author and financial guru – who became known to many Canadians as a judge on the CBC-TV show “Dragons’ Den” – will be competing against 13 other candidates.

While O’Leary is the preferred candidates in all provinces, his lead diminishes in Quebec. In that province, 26 per cent believe Bernier would be the better leader following by Blaney with 10 per cent.

O’Leary, who does not speak French but is now taking lessons, was not at the French-language debate that was held in Quebec City last week since he had not officially registered at the time. He announced his candidacy the next morning.

The Forum Research poll surveyed 1,332 voters by telephone from Jan. 19-21 and is considered accurate plus or minus three per cent, 19 times out of 20.

In an interview on CNN on Monday night, O’Leary pointed out that the only similarity between him and President Trump in his candidacy is name recognition from television, and the fact that they are business-minded people as opposed to politicians.

“The body politic has decided that they would like people that have some executional experience, executional excellence as it were, business leaders that make goals, set goals, get things done,” O’Leary said.

“And off the sudden, the traditional politician is not the favoured outcome in many situations, and I think that’s going to happened in Canada too.”