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WASHINGTON — Kevin O’Leary is right — he’s not Donald Trump, Canada’s not the U.S., and should he run for high office there would be huge differences between him and the swirly-haired political phenomenon sweeping the land to the south.

Every ingredient in Trump’s success story is either absent in Canada — or at the very least carries a mildly different flavour north of the 49th parallel.

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Their CVs certainly sound similar. Rich businessman. Reality TV host. Author of multiple financial self-help books. And, now, O’Leary’s musing about seeking high office despite lacking political experience.

He’s quick, however, to stress the differences: “I am certainly not Donald Trump in policy — foreign policy or domestic or social. We are different people,” O’Leary said in an interview.

Consider ingredient No. 1 in Trump’s success: celebrity.

Trump has been a household name in the U.S. since the dying days of disco. His love life was supermarket tabloid fodder back in the grunge era, and he’s not only graced the cover of Time magazine a few times, but Playboy, too.