Conservative Party leadership may be on Kevin O'Leary's bucket list

Sharp-tongued business mogul and former Dragon's DenstarKevin O'Leary officially joined the Conservative Party last week and is deciding whether or not to run for its leadership.

In an interview from the Conservative Party convention in Vancouveron Friday with CBC's Power & Politicshost Rosemary Barton, O'Leary said his main goal is to"influence economic and fiscal policy in Canada, which I think is subpar, broken and in some cases moronic [and]stupid."

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"I've used many adjectives," he said. "But basically as a Canadian taxpayer, I'm really pissed off now and I plan to make some changes if I can."

But O'Leary said he doesn't yet know if becoming the federalConservative leader is the best way to make those changes happen.

Leader or 'kingmaker'?

"I have multiple options," he said. "This is almost seven months early. Nobody that is really considering this [party leadership]needs to declare anything 'til probably a time period between October and January."

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O'Leary suggested if he didn't run for the leadership, he could wield hisinfluence "as a kingmaker perhaps for somebody else in this party."

Hesaid he has the "platform" needed to get his message across and that hereaches more than 10 million viewers two million of them Canadian a week. O'Learyis one of the investors onShark Tank,an American reality show that, like Dragon's Den, has entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas in hopes of getting financial backing.

"I understand what those numbers are worth," he said. "I want to speak to those people about the future of Canada and I can do it every single week."

Whether he runs for the Conservative leadership or not, O'Leary said, he wants to be "part of the new branding of this party."

"It's not ever going to get a majority again if it remains in the constitution it's in now. It's just not broad enough. It's not going to appeal to enough Canadians," he said.

When pressed by Barton on whether he has anypublic policy ideas beyond the economy and job creation, O'Leary said he was "an extremely liberal person" and was in favour of assisted suicide and marijuana legalization.

In the past, O'Leary suggested he could run for either the Liberal or Conservative parties, saying he was a member of the "Canadian taxpayer party."

Getting his Conservative membership marks the first time he has been an official member of a political party, he told Barton on Friday.

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