“I am not a capitalist.” With those five words, Kevin O’Leary just blew all his credibility as a Conservative political candidate.

On AM640 radio in Toronto today, he told me, “I am not a capitalist. I am in favour of jobs. There are three things I’m going to fix in this country. Jobs jobs jobs.”

Excuse me? Isn’t capitalism supposed to, uh, generate jobs? And hasn’t O’Leary been a capitalist for, well, his entire career? And isn’t he running as a Conservative? (By the way, Kevin — Jean Chrétien just called, and he wants his slogan back.)

Just to be perfectly clear, O’Leary is a capitalist. And that is nothing to be ashamed of. Capitalism is the greatest job generating system the world has ever seen. Yes, it has winners and losers. Yes, it has secondary consequences, some of which are ugly. It can result in great cleavages between rich and poor. It can result in environmental degradation. It can undergo great upheavals, as technology displaces industries and workers.

But find an economic system that does better. Communism spawned untold misery for decades in the former Soviet bloc, before its economies finally collapsed in the 1990s. Pollution in the cities of communist China far exceeds that in capitalist countries like the United States. Currently, socialism is laying waste to the economy of Venezuela, where hyperinflation, food shortages and social unrest are the legacy of failed policies of nationalization and state control of the economy.

As Winston Churchill famously said, “Democracy is the worst system, apart from all the others.” The same can be said of capitalism, because it is rooted in the value other systems lack: personal freedom. It’s based on the right to own property, to amass wealth, and to dispose of that wealth. It is dynamic, fluid, and rewards innovation, the type of progress that doesn’t just make money for creators, but improves the lives of the people who use their products.

Perhaps Mr. O’Leary has never been a capitalist after all, but an opportunist. And in the weakness of the current government, as well as the current Conservative field, he sees opportunity. Perhaps Mr. O’Leary has never been a capitalist after all, but an opportunist. And in the weakness of the current government, as well as the current Conservative field, he sees opportunity.

O’Leary turning his back on capitalism represents a repudiation of everything he has stood for in his entire career. He made his mark in business, then as a venture capitalist, then on programs like Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank, where he enabled aspiring entrepreneurs to achieve their capitalist dreams.

Saying he is not a capitalist is like a cow saying it is a horse. It is, in today’s parlance, an ‘alternative fact’.

Beyond insulting our collective intelligence, however, O’Leary’s statement has the unfortunate effect of taking him down to the same level as the politicians he disdains — people who would say anything to get elected. Perhaps he thinks that saying he is not a capitalist is a way to win votes. Perhaps he’s going after NDP voters, by espousing the same energy policy — refining more oil in Canada — without saying how he would do or fund it. (Would he get taxpayers to foot the bill? Or force industry to do it, aping the late Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s National Energy Policy which wanted Alberta to sell its oil at below-market rates to the rest of Canada?)

Hmm. Perhaps Mr. O’Leary has never been a capitalist after all, but an opportunist. And in the weakness of the current government, as well as the current Conservative field, he sees opportunity. It may pay off — the latest Ipsos poll puts him neck and neck with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, at 37 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively. That’s better than any of the other candidates — and to Tories hungry for power, that may sound like a compelling reason to make O’Leary their next leader.

But they should take a pause, and consider the impact of their choice. For that, they need look no further than south of the border. President Donald Trump may wear the Republican label, but it has lost all meaning. Hijacked by a populist president without a philosophical compass to speak of, his party no longer strives to build the ‘shining city on the hill’, but a walled fortress. The wisdom of Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, Russell Kirk and William F. Buckley lies on the ash heap of history, replaced by Trump’s protectionist, isolationist bellow, “America First”.

Mr. O’Leary, I want to believe you are better than that. Show us that you are the straight-shooter you claim to be. Don’t treat the leadership of the Conservative party as a takeover.

Politics is not business. Principles matter. And if you can’t own up to what you are, how can Canadians believe anything you say?

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