Calling Mar-a-Lago the “new Davos,” Canadian investor Kevin O’Leary defended the “successful” weekend trip he and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith made to hang out with incoming president Donald Trump.
And the man — known as Mr. Wonderful on TV — also warned Canada that there could be “darkness” ahead if voters choose Gerald Butts-backed Mark Carney as their next prime minister, while extolling the virtues of Alberta’s Smith, who, he says, is doing the job Trudeau and his team haven’t done.
“Trudeau and his team were there for two hours. Premier Smith was there for two days,” the Shark Tank star told The Toronto Sun Monday. “This woman is really smart. She is ahead of the rest of the Canadian politicians when it comes to her relationship with the incoming president and his team.”
And she is putting the interests of Canada and Alberta on the table, so there is no ambiguity about what a 25% Trump-imposed tariff would mean. O’Leary said she told Trump that Canada, Alberta and the United States “are not dating but are married. Sure, there are tiffs that come up in a marriage, but you don’t break up the marriage over them.”
O’Leary said he saw Smith not only meeting Trump, but also making her case to many of his new cabinet members. “There are 1.6-million jobs at stake for Americans with these tariffs, and I guarantee you she told Trump that,” said O’Leary.
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Online criticisms of O’Leary, psychologist Jordan Peterson and Smith — including those calling them traitors — is ridiculous. They are providing leadership. O’Leary teased they are the “three Amigos” trying to find a way to get Canada’s message to Trump.
Smith, as reported by the Edmonton Sun, said Monday, “we need to be prepared that tariffs are coming,” since “I haven’t seen any indication in any of the president’s public commentary or even in the comments that he had with me that he’s inclined to change his approach.”
She added Alberta oil and the $180-billion relationship with the U.S. is the most cost-effective and ethical way to get product to American markets and that it should be exempt from any tariffs. Smith said she was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago at the invitation of O’Leary, who hopes to develop an AI hub in Alberta’s north.
“There is nothing official happening at Mar-a-Lago,” said O’Leary. “It’s just politicians or investors like myself, meeting with the new president at his home.”
It’s forging relationships similar to those made at the World Economic Forum — which happens this month in Switzerland — that leftist politicians, including Carney, love to participate in.
“Mar-a-Lago is the new Davos where you can meet all the key players and talk to them,” said O’Leary.
O’Leary is hoping to bring back “$70-billion in investment” that pulled out of the Canadian and Albertan economies and put a focus back on technology, energy, natural gas and oil. But there was also a cordial, social aspect to going to this picturesque resort and the nearby Trump International Golf Club, where O’Leary wore his special white suit.
“That’s my Miami Vice look,” he teased. “My wife picked it out. Trump liked it.”
O’Leary also liked the famous “Trump Burger” that he ordered for lunch and posted about it to social media.
But there was a serious side to these meetings, as well.
O’Leary said he told Trump “talking to or negotiating with” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ministers is a “waste of time” since they “have done a horrific job,” and will “all soon be erased” from the Canadian political scene.
As for Carney?
“I heard this rumour that Gerald Butts is advising him on his campaign,” said O’Leary, adding he would tell Carney that Butts’ involvement “would be hell on earth” for him, and he could end up spending the “longest and darkest” time in opposition if it’s true.
“Gerald Butts is the anti-Christ of Canada,” O’Leary said of Trudeau’s McGill pal, who was his principal secretary before joining the New York-based Eurasia group as vice chair. “He’s Beelzebub.”
Butts laughed off the name-calling, telling The TorontoSun, “Kevin O’Leary has had a strange obsession with me for years” and while he had “no comment,” he said: “I have no idea what he is talking about, re: provincial energy resources, though, I suspect neither does he.”
As for Carney, Butts said, “I support Mark, as I think he would make an excellent prime minister, but I am very happy in the private sector. I enjoyed my time serving Premier (Dalton) McGuinty and Prime Minister Trudeau — and feel very lucky to have had it. I have no interest or plans to return to politics or government professionally. I believe in public service, so will therefore be happy to give any leader or prospective leader my advice should they solicit it. The young team working with Mark to help him think through his next steps is an excellent group of people and would inject a lot of much-needed fresh energy into the Liberal Party.”
But O’Leary blames Butts for shutting down the autonomy of provinces to capitalize on their energy resources.
“Danielle Smith was smart and went to the Supreme Court to get Alberta’s energy independence back” but he fears what a net-zero proponent like Carney will push for in the future.
“If there is even a smell of Butts being part of that, I think that $70-billion coming back to Canada could go away.”
O’Leary, who has been at Mar-a-Lago at least four times this past week, said, “I am going to do everything in my power to make sure Carney never gets near running Canada” because “he is Trudeau all over again, on steroids.”
And, O’Leary said, he will make that clear at Mar-a-Lago or when he and Smith attend Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.