We’re starting to see the effects of the several waves of migrations that the Lebanese people took part of over the past century. Last year, we had a Lebanese-Brazil become the president of Brazil.
Now, the next Canadian prime minister could be someone with a Lebanese background as well.
Who is Kevin O’Leary?
Kevin O’Leary, who’s born in Canada to Lebanese and Irish parents, is running for the leadership of the Conservative party. The Conservative party is set to win the next Canadian Federal election in just under 3 years.
Kevin‘s father was Irish and his mother was Lebanese. Following the death of his father, his mother remarried to a Lebanese guy.
Kevin is a very successful businessman and main co-host on Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den. Both shows involve business owners pitching their idea to the angel investors, who will then decide whether or not to invest their own money in that company.
Kevin, also known as “Mr. Wonderful”, has a net worth of $400 million (USD). He started his company SoftKey Software Products in the basement of his Toronto home, thanks to a $10,000 investment from his mother. After just a few years, SoftKey bought out almost every one of its competitors.
In 1999, Kevin sold the company to Mattel for $3.7 billion dollars. This deal is one of the largest ever accomplished in the consumer software world.
He founded a mutual fund company called O’Leary Funds. He raises hundreds of millions of dollars from investors and aims to make investments that are not only financially profitable but also environmentally friendly.
Why is he entering politics?
Kevin O’Leary has joined the race for the Canadian Conservative Party. According to him, and the others running, this is due to current prime minister, Justin Trudeau’s lack of competence that is negatively affecting Canada.
Kevin O’Leary claims that Trudeau, who doesn’t have any experience and never even had to prepare payroll, is destroying the economy for generations to come.
On top of that, O’Leary believes that Trudeau won’t stand a chance against Trump or dealing with the planned economic policies. Trump has said he will either scrap or renegotiate the NAFTA (North American Free-Trade Agreement). Trudeau won’t be able to properly negotiate and defend Canada’s interested.
Also, Trump’s tax plans to significantly reduce the income-tax will pose a great threat to our economy as it will be more lucrative for companies to move to the United States.
Trudeau has no plan to tackle any of these issues due to his lack of (read nonexistent) experience.
Who is Justin Trudeau?
Justin Trudeau, a drama teacher with no business or political experience, ran and won to become the prime minister of Canada, under the Liberal Party.
His victory can be credited to him being young, having a good publicity team, having good looks (according to many young female voters) as well as the fact that his father was prime minister of Canada in the past. Yes, the passing on of leadership from father to son doesn’t only happen in Lebanon.
In just a year from taking leadership, Trudeau managed to turn a government surplus in the billions to a deficit of over $16 billion dollars. It’s predicted to more than double this coming year to over $34 billion, according to economists and a major bank.
His support is quickly dwindling as people are realising he was all talk and no action.
This growing deficit has become a major worry for millennials, who will be burdened with this debt. This is why Kevin O’Leary has strong support from the 18-24 age group. A group that the Conservative party tends to fall behind with.
Follow Kevin O’Leary‘s road to becoming the next Canadian prime minister on Facebook as he often broadcasts live videos. You can follow his campaign here.
Read the feature on Kevin O’Leary where he credits his Lebanese/Phoenician heritage for his success.
