It’s been said about Kevin O’Leary by the press that he’s not a billionaire, he just plays one on TV. The blunt, brash Shark Tank judge, who says he’s “born for business,” is a well-known investor who’s also behind a growing list of financial self-help books that help perpetuate his image as someone who knows all too well about the art of the deal. Until recently, though — and despite his 2006 book Saving Democracy — few in Canada knew the extent of O’Leary’s political ambitions. That changed when he mused about running for Conservative Party leadership and a survey found him near the top of a race that hadn’t even really begun. A new twist emerged in February, when O’Leary hinted he might run for the Liberal Party instead.

While his office didn’t respond to our interview request, O’Leary has previously balked at comparisons to his neighbor to the south: “I am certainly not Donald Trump in policy — foreign policy or domestic or social,” he told the Canadian Press. “We are different people.” Even so, O’Leary has noted to Business News Network that Trump would drive harder bargains and trade agreements than his Democratic rivals — and that “a Trump presidency is a presidency for capitalism.”