OTTAWA (Reuters) – Less than a week after Canada’s Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the likely end of his marriage, his conservative rival Pierre Poilievre launched an ad commented by his wife, praising him as the leader the country wants to see needs.
The video spot, broadcast on TV and published online, is entitled “Meet Pierre Poilievre”. In it, his wife Anaida briefly summarizes his childhood in the suburbs, mentions that his two young children call him “Dad,” and says she knows him as the man who loves her for who she is, “a Canadian who came to call”. Canada at home – and his wife.”
Anaida, 36, was born in Venezuela and moved to Canada with her family when she was a child. She married Poilievre in 2017.
“It was no coincidence that Conservatives rolled this out practically a week after Justin Trudeau announced his split from his wife,” said Nik Nanos, founder of polling firm Nanos Research.
It portrayed Poilievre, 44, as a family man at a time when Trudeau was experiencing family difficulties, he said.
Sarah Fischer, a Conservative Party spokeswoman, said the ad was arranged weeks in advance of its release and had “no connection to the Aug. 2 breakup announcement.”
Though the timing is coincidental, there’s no doubt that after three elections and nearly eight years in power, Trudeau looks vulnerable. In a poll by Angus Reid earlier this month, the Conservatives led the Liberals by seven percentage points. An election is not scheduled until 2025, but a vote could take place sooner.
Trudeau came to power in 2015 with a campaign that presented him as a fresh face and a family man, though he has been less public with his family in recent years.
“We really haven’t seen Trudeau’s narrative of the loving husband and family man since the 2015 election,” said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute.
As voter support waned, Trudeau carried out a major overhaul of his cabinet in July.
Trudeau, 51, is suffering from voter fatigue that is “probably more pronounced than ever” and the success of Poilievre’s campaign, which blames the Liberal government for the chronic housing crisis and high inflation, Kurl said.
FROM “PITBULL” TO “CONTENDER”
During his nearly two decades in the House of Commons, Poilievre has earned a reputation for being the Conservative attack dog who lashed out at Trudeau during Parliamentary Question Time, promising to sack the central bank governor for acting too slowly to curb inflation.
Kurl said female voters were more likely to be put off by his combative style and his “withdrawal” at Poilievre. Poilievre is viewed positively by 28% of women, compared to 44% of Trudeau, according to Angus Reid’s poll.
Another reason for his new video is to change his reputation as a “pit bull,” Nanos said, adding that Poilievre is trying to “humanize and soften his image” and portray himself as a father and husband in a “traditional way.” family situation.”
The Conservatives are spending well over CA$3 million ($2.2 million) running an advertising campaign that includes the “Meet Pierre Poilievre” video over the next few months.
In another ad, titled “Putting the Pieces Back Together,” Poilievre says Trudeau left Canada “broken” while assembling a jigsaw puzzle cut out of a map of Canada while holding his infant son Cruz.
Trudeau said last week Poilievre was trying to incite people rather than offering solutions to the country’s problems.
The Conservatives would need only slightly increase support from the last two elections in the right geographic areas to win the next election, and voters appear thirsty for change, Nanos said.
“Poilievre will be a contender.”
($1 = 1.3566 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Denny Thomas and Rosalba O’Brien)
Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.