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O'Leary quits Tory race

UPDATE: 11:50 a.m.

Celebrity investor and reality-TV star Kevin O'Leary is quitting the federal Conservative leadership race and throwing his support behind Quebec rival Maxime Bernier.

O'Leary said despite his front-runner status nationally, he doesn't have the kind of support in Quebec he thinks he needs, not just for the leadership but for the next general election.

"This is obviously very disappointing for me. As someone who was born in Montreal, I had hoped I would do much better there," O'Leary said in a statement Wednesday, only hours after informing his campaign team of his decision.

O'Leary said he is supporting Bernier because the longtime Quebec MP's policies mirror his own.

"He is perhaps the first Conservative in a long time that has a chance of winning over 40 seats there, which would materially improve our chances for a majority mandate," O'Leary said.

"So here is what I'm going to do; I'm withdrawing my candidacy from the leadership race and throwing my full support behind Max."

Bernier, for his part, has scheduled a news conference in Toronto for later Wednesday, where the candidates are scheduled to face each other in a final debate showdown before next month's vote.

"If Trudeau isn't beaten in the next election, he will leave the next generation of Canadians, those thousands of millennials I've been talking about, with a mountain of debt and high taxes. This cannot be allowed to happen," O'Leary said Wednesday.


ORIGINAL: 10:55 a.m.

Celebrity investor and reality-TV star Kevin O'Leary is quitting the federal Conservative leadership race and throwing his support behind Quebec rival Maxime Bernier.

The Canadian Press has confirmed O'Leary is making the announcement later today.

Bernier, for his part, has scheduled a news conference in Toronto, where the candidates are scheduled to face each other in a final debate showdown before next month's vote.

O'Leary was widely seen as the front-runner 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.

Kelowna native Larry Gray, who worked on the Team BC portion of O'Leary's campaign, said Wednesday morning he was shocked at the announcement.

Gray, who helped organize O'Leary's campaign visit to Kelowna Saturday morning, said there was no warning, no heads up that O'Leary was even contemplating leaving the race.



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