Kevin O’Leary doesn’t worry too much about his fellow Conservative party leadership candidates attacking him for living in the United States, or for being too ‘liberal’ to lead the Conservative Party of Canada.

His only worry, he said, is bringing young people to the CPC — and keeping his 24-year-old daughter from actively trying to cross up her old man’s political ambitions.

“My daughter … told me flat-out that if she doesn’t get what she wants out of my policy, she will actually rally the troops against me of her age. So she doesn’t fool around,” said O’Leary over Merlot at the Metropolitain Brasserie in Ottawa Thursday evening.

(Fun fact: O’Leary enjoyed his wine so much that after paying for his bottle and a salad, he topped up his glass and carried it with him, down the street and tucked into his jacket, to his hospitality suite at Sidedoor restaurant following our interview.)

O’Leary said his daughter, who works for The Huffington Post, told him that she’s not willing to pander to another politician who doesn’t understand what her generation wants.

“Reproductive rights, she wants that — and I guarantee it to her because that’s what I believe anyway. I’ve got very strong women in my family, including my daughter and my wife, and that is a baseline for her that she has no compromise on.”

When asked about critics who accuse him of being a dabbler, a Conservative in name only, O’Leary said that they’re wasting time trying to draw hard boundaries around the Conservative brand, “as if counting fairies dancing on the head of a pin.

“I’m telling you, if I don’t win my daughter’s vote, the whole party’s screwed. We have to get her and millions of her of that age.

“She has been very, very vocal to me and she watches all the debates, every piece of press you publish, and if I go offside … she’s all over me. She’s my bar, she’s my standard. If I don’t get her, we’re not going to win.”

O’Leary said he’s standing up for LGBTQI rights because everyone has the right to be “happy.” He also would legalize and regulate marijuana, even though he doesn’t smoke the stuff himself anymore.

“I don’t smoke marijuana anymore because it gives me the munchies and I’m trying to stay lean,” he says.

O’Leary also said he isn’t troubled by leadership rivals who vaguely threaten him with the campaign slogan that devastated the ambitions of Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff back in 2011 — the one that claimed he was “just visiting.”

“As I recall that, he came back to run. I live here,” said O’Leary. He moved with his wife and kids to Toronto in December, 2010, and both of his children went to school in Toronto. He added that while he spends time in the United States, anyone glancing at his schedule also would see that he spends two or three days at a time in Geneva, London, Shanghai and Thailand.

But while he insists on living in Toronto, he doesn’t promise to give up his spot on TV’s Shark Tank if his leadership bid is successful.

He said he doesn’t have to make that decision for a year. And besides, he credits the show with boosting his profile with that critical 18-35 year-old demographic.

“Shark Tank is a platform that reaches that demographic. That’s why they know me, that’s why you see what’s happening in colleges, universities, technical schools and institutions in Canada I go to,” he said.

“My plan is very simple and I’ve talked to caucus about this. We’re debating it. Assume I win the leadership. What’s the best strategy to get back 60 per cent of those votes?

“Shark Tank … it’s a year from now. We’ll worry about it together with caucus when the time comes.”

If that time comes — if O’Leary wins the leadership and the 2019 election — he said he’ll roll back all of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s policies, beginning with his plan to price carbon.

“Carbon tax, gone. Cap-and-trade, gone,” he said. But maintaining Canada’s commitment to supporting the Paris Accord? That stays, because it’s one of his daughter’s standards.

But O’Leary is painfully aware that he’s a lot more politically exposed than Ignatieff was in 2011 — because Ignatieff hadn’t done years of reality TV before taking on the Liberal party leadership. He knows the Liberals will be mining those tapes for attack ad material.

“I’ve got ten thousand hours of tape on seven networks around the world. I know the Liberals are going to chop that up and do soundbites during the general election. Canadians aren’t stupid. Some of it’s so old I have hair.”

He insisted he’s not worried, though. Canadians, he said, know the difference between making television and making policy.

O’Leary also vowed to fold his companies into a trust that will be managed by one of his current employees — someone O’Leary calls describes as a lifetime Liberal.

“Get this — I have a card-carrying liberal, Alex, running my venture companies. I’ve got 30 plus portfolio companies. He runs them all,” he said. “Imagine the crap I have to listen to from him everyday.”

He said he’s trying to convert Alex to the Conservative cause, but it’s a struggle. O’Leary said he plans to sell his stocks for cash and indexes if he wins the leadership.

“We have to wrap this up … we’re looking at a lot of people waiting,” said one of O’Leary’s staffers, herding him over to the Sidedoor where a hundred people were waiting to meet him.

Over at Sidedoor, the room was a mixed bag of O’Leary supporters, Maxime Bernier supporters, undecided curious Conservative members and people who showed up for the free drinks and snacks.

After making the rounds and snapping selfies, O’Leary ducked out of the side door of Sidedoor.

In his downtime, O’Leary plays the guitar. He’s an avid photographer and he makes wine. He said he’ll continue his hobbies when he becomes prime minister.

“In fact, at 24 Sussex we’ll be serving my O’Leary wines from Niagara. My Chardonnay is to die for.”