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He is, after all, an inveterate showman, which is why it’s no surprise to see investor-turned-TV personality Kevin O’Leary doing his best to stretch out the suspense in deciding whether or not to make a bid for the Conservative leadership.

But while it may be standard practice south of the border, there’s no real precedent within the Canadian political sphere for the will-he-or-won’t-he game of political peekaboo that O’Leary has been playing with both the party and the press since last spring.

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By waiting until the last possible moment to decide if he wants to join the race, O’Leary may be unwittingly courting unnecessary administrative hassles for both himself and his putative campaign team down the line – even if he ultimately decides not to join the fray.

As it stands, neither the federal political financing laws or the rules laid out for the Conservative race are designed to accommodate the kind of American presidential nomination-style pre-campaign politicking in which O’Leary has been indulging.