Will Kevin O’Leary be treated like Trump by the Canadian media?

WASHINGTON, DC. (NEWS 1130) – Imagine this for a moment — US president-elect Donald Trump meeting with Prime Minister Kevin O’Leary.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we are heavily influenced by American culture.

Look no further than most of the shows we watch. Now, just as Trump is set to be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, a similar TV celebrity in Canada has thrown his hat into the political ring. Dragon’s Den star, Kevin O’Leary announced his candidacy to become leader of the federal Conservative Party. But will he get the same media rub that the Trump does?

“He’s bringing media attention to the party and to the leadership race,” says Bob Hackett, a communications professor at SFU who adds an emerging trend within the American media is beginning to creep up here. “We’re moving toward presidential style politics. A politics of personality and of performance more than policy and alternatives. Part of the reason for that has to do with the narrowing of policy options or real differences between the parties.”

During his bid for the White House last year, Trump made headlines seemingly daily — be it good, bad and ugly. Despite his flaws pointed out by the media regularly, Trump still prevailed. Hackett sees that as a disconnect with the American public.

“In America, the media has fallen into such disfavour with a significant portions of the population. Being too Washington focused [or] too elite oriented. Not covering the full spectrum of views and not really getting out into the field and seeing what was happening to working-class people and their lives. I don’t think we have necessarily the same kind of disdain yet for media in Canada, although arguably given the way print media journalism is going, perhaps we should be more skeptical than we are.”

Hackett feels in Canada there’s a stronger public broadcasting service that helps set standards throughout the country, but sees how celebrity sells in today’s day and age. He also points to while there are similarities between both Trump and O’Leary, the Canadian Conservative has distanced himself from any sort of anti-immigration talk that Trump has pushed.

He also thinks that even with the media fame O’Leary brings to the table, it’s ambitious to think he could ever become prime minister. “He’s somewhat of a longshot if the Conservative Party is looking at the long view,” says Hackett. “I think the Trump victory is already going sour. If you look at the polls a number of people who voted for Trump are already regretting it.”

Meantime, the federal government has announced its delegation for Friday’s inauguration.

Heading to Washington will be the new Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, her parliamentary secretary, the Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr and the Minister of Defence Harjit Sajjan.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself is not going, but traditionally foreign leaders do not attend these events.

A statement from the government says, “Our relationship with the United States is based on integrated economies and close security cooperation, and the inauguration is an important occasion on which to build ties and reaffirm these interests.”

In anticipation of the new administration, Trudeau has not only shuffled his cabinet, but also made some changes behind the scenes to make sure he has the right people in place to deal with Trump, who has talked about re-opening changing our trade agreement as well as the focus for the US military.

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