Kamloops MP questions O’Leary’s leadership motives

Apr 26, 2017 | 12:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Conservative MP Cathy McLeod says she’s disappointed for Kevin O’Leary’s supporters.

O’Leary was set to announce Wednesday he is dropping out of the leadership race and throwing his support behind Maxime Bernier.

McLeod says it doesn’t appear O’Leary was ever serious about running for the Conservative leadership.

“I’ve never been really sure why Kevin O’Leary was in this race. He was spending a siginificant amount of time down in the U.S., and was coming into Canada every now and then, not attending debates, unilingual. I can’t speculate in terms of his motivation, that was a puzzle to me,” said McLeod. 

“To some degree I am disappointed that people who put their faith in him and liked his vision, now are seeing that he was not really that serious all along.”

“He was, as recently as this weekend, in Kelowna. There were people from Kamloops that drove all the way down to hear his message because they were trying to make a thoughtful decision around our new leadership. I think that really actually is a little bit troubling.”

McLeod supports Erin O’Toole, and says his campaign is gaining momentum.

“The unfortunate thing is the name will be on the ballots, so it is too late for the name to come off the ballot,” said McLeod. “The ballots are being mailed as we speak, so they are starting to arrive on people’s doorsteps. Really, the time to drop out was a number of weeks ago.”