OTTAWA—Kevin O’Leary has dropped out of the Conservative leadership race, the Star has confirmed.O’Leary will instead throw his support behind Maxime Bernier, the populist Quebec MP who had consistently been placing second in leadership polls.Bernier has scheduled an announcement to comment on “developments in the Conservative race” later this afternoon in Toronto.The move is a dramatic shakeup in the hard-to-predict leadership race.It’s unclear when O’Leary made the decision to quit the race. The candidate had fundraisers and media events scheduled in Toronto on Wednesday in advance of the last official debate organized by the Conservative Party.O’Leary was widely seen as the frontrunner in the race, but he doesn’t believe he will be able to win a federal election because of a lack of support in Quebec.A lack of facility with French was always considered one of O’Leary’s greatest liabilities.As for assets, O’Leary had plenty: instant recognition, thanks to years of television exposure; a public image as a savvy financial manager, and a brash, no-nonsense, outsider approach that echoed the unlikely ascent of U.S. President Donald Trump.He promised to talk up the Canadian economy and trade in a way he complained the current Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had failed to do.“This is an opportunity for me to do something I don’t believe any Canadians had an opportunity to do,” O’Leary said in an interview earlier this year with The Canadian Press.“I’ve built a trust over a decade with them on television, and to be able to explain our relationship in a unique way, in a way that they will trust. Trudeau? I’m better known in the U.S. than he is.”The moment O’Leary decided to run came just before Christmas, when the federal Finance Department issued a report predicting budget shortfalls until at least 2 ...
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