OTTAWA — Donald Trump is not the only celebrity businessman with his eye on high political office.

Kevin O’Leary, the chairman of O’Leary Financial Group, probably best known to Canadians as a former investor panelist on the CBC show Dragons’ Den, said he is thinking about joining the Conservative party leadership race.

And while he considers himself “agnostic” as far as partisan politics go — and does not speak French, although he says he knows Quebec because he was born there — O’Leary said he has the one qualification he believes should be the price of admission for any aspiring political leader.

“If you are going to run for leadership in any party, whether municipal as a mayor or provincial as a premier or the prime minister of the country, you shouldn’t be allowed to unless you’ve at least made payroll in a business for at least two years that has $5 million in sales,” O’Leary said in an interview Thursday.

“Otherwise, you are completely oblivious to the challenges that the most important sector has in our country: those business leaders that create private sector jobs. And that’s why our policies are broken, because most of our leaders have never had any experience running a business.”

The announcement that he was considering a bid — on the heels of his promise earlier this week to invest $1 million in the Canadian oil industry on the condition NDP Alberta Premier Rachel Notley resign — drew immediate comparisons to Trump, the unexpected frontrunner for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination.

But the viewing of the world through the lens of business, the reality television show (and, perhaps, the brash personality) is where those comparisons should end, O’Leary said Thursday as he expanded on his desire to save the sinking Canadian dollar.

“I’m not anywhere near the policy direction that Trump is going. I’m a Lebanese-Irish Canadian born in Montreal. I’m very inclusive in the way I look at Canada,” O’Leary said when asked to compare himself to Trump, whose plans for U.S. immigration policy would not be described as inclusive.

O’Leary, who is an investor on the ABC reality television show Shark Tank, where he is known for his tough, show-me-the-money responses to aspiring entrepreneurs, said he is motivated by his experience teaching business and engineering students who plan to leave Canada to begin their careers.

“They don’t want to be paid in ‘dollarettes.’ They don’t want to be taxed at 58 per cent. They perceive their opportunity and career as much higher somewhere else . . . . There’s a big problem, there.” O’Leary said it reminded him of the ‘brain drain’ in the 1990s that first sent him to the U.S. because he had trouble raising capital.

“I don’t like that and that’s not my vision of what Canada can be. It can be a very successful, competitive country, but it’s being misled now at both the provincial and federal level. I congratulate Justin Trudeau in his new mandate as the prime minister, but he spent his first 60 days making commitments all around the globe. He spent about $4.2-billion. He didn’t create one incremental Canadian job. That’s a problem,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary said the economy is “the only theme” of his would-be leadership race, which also includes ideas to let the private sector handle a stimulus program and to make building pipelines a federal mandate.

His thoughts on foreign policy, however, may not be entirely embraced by the Conservative fold.

“The flag you want on the back of your backpack when you travel in the Middle East is a Canadian flag. I don’t see the need for us to be warmongers. We should pick our place as the greatest peacekeepers on earth,” O’Leary said when asked what he would do about the Islamic State if he were prime minister.

The Conservative Party of Canada is expected to hold its leadership convention to find a successor to former prime minister Stephen Harper sometime in 2017.

Rona Ambrose is currently interim party leader.

Potential contenders to lead the Conservatives:

Tony Clement — Currently the MP for Parry Sound-Muskoka, Clement has tried his hand at the Conservative leadership before, finishing third in the 2004 contest won by Stephen Harper. Clement has held cabinet posts at Queen’s Park and Ottawa.

Kellie Leitch — Leitch jumped into politics with an already impressive resumé, as a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and an associate professor of surgery who also held an MBA. She was first elected as MP for the Ontario riding of Simcoe-Grey in 2011.

Lisa Raitt — The Toronto-area MP held several cabinet posts, including transport when the Conservatives were in power, and will be in the spotlight now as the party’s finance critic. She is popular and made friends on both sides of the aisle in the Commons.

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Jason Kenney — Long time party stalwart who was first elected in 1997 for the Reform party. He held high-profile portfolios such as immigration, defence and employment and social development. Kenney is perceived as the front-runner if he decides to enter the race -- and his success at fundraising would give him a leg up on opponents – but there’s speculation he may jump into Alberta provincial politics.

Peter MacKay — Another long-time Tory, MacKay came from the Progressive Conservative side of the party — he is a former leader of the party — and would be seen as a red Tory. However, the Nova Scotia native left politics before the 2015 election, citing a desire to spend more time with family. The question is whether he would want to return.