Through advertising, Pierre Poilievre courts “extraordinary” workers

Photo: Jacques Boissinot La Presse canadienne Le chef conservateur, Pierre Poilievre, et son épouse, Anaida, en tournée au Québec pour la Fête nationale du Québec.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre pays tribute to early-rising workers in his new ad, but it paints such a bleak picture of the state of the country that it may only speak to the already convinced, one expert says.

Soldiers, waitresses, farmers, nurses and factory workers: the list of occupations mentioned by the narrator, Pierre Poilievre himself, leaves little doubt about the segment of the electorate he is courting. “People who are said to be ordinary, but who are in fact extraordinary,” says the politician, who is seen rising at dawn.

Titled After the night, the day rises, in its French version, the new ad is formatted for television. The Conservative Party of Canada shared in Devoirthe content of its campaign, presented as “positive,” before its launch, which coincides with Labour Day.

It features scenes in dark tones that present a Canada in which workers are overwhelmed by the burden of taxes. A scene shot at night, in an infamous homeless encampment in East Vancouver, on East Hastings Street, illustrates the difficulty of buying a property.

Once again in the negative

“I’m not sure that’s very convincing. “I don't see much hope in this ad,” says Mireille Lalancette, professor of political communication at the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières.

“This is definitely negative advertising,” she says. And this is true even though we can see rays of sunshine appearing for a few seconds behind the face of Pierre Poilievre who promises bigger paychecks, food and affordable homes.

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The researcher at the Groupe de recherche en communication politique notes above all the exaggerations and stereotypes conveyed in the ad on the realities of the Canadian workforce in 2024. “We can clearly sense a Republican-inspired undertone with this ad,” compares Mireille Lalancette, in reference to the flashy messages broadcast by the campaign of former American president and presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Unlike a video posted on the leader’s YouTube page in August, none of the footage appears to have been filmed outside the country this time. Poilievre acknowledged a “mistake” in using footage of Russian fighter jets to illustrate one of his speeches in which he outlined his dream vision for the country.

Workers in the crosshairs

The Conservative Party is openly courting labour and unionized workers. In an attempt to wrest a Winnipeg riding, Elmwood-Transcona, from the New Democratic Party (NDP), where a by-election is taking place, the party has chosen Colin Reynolds, a unionized electrician, as its candidate. The Conservatives are not on the list of favourite parties to win the other by-election, currently underway in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, in Montreal.

The leader also takes every opportunity to visit factories and construction sites. He has met with more than 60 unions from across the country, according to his party. For example, he presented himself as a defender of small-time workers against millionaires during a speech to an association of construction unions gathered in Gatineau this spring.

Pierre Poilievre’s recent speeches have also increased his animosity toward the NDP, a federal party on the left of the political spectrum that also claims the vote of unionized workers. The Conservative leader now calls his NDP political opponent Jagmeet Singh a “sellout” for having reached an agreement with the Liberals to keep Justin Trudeau in power until 2025.

The Conservatives are also airing a second ad, intended for radio and only for the English-speaking market, aimed at denigrating “Sellout Singh” whom they accuse of surrounding himself with luxury goods and of being motivated only by personal gain.

The Conservative leader has been directing his attacks in the language of Molière toward the Bloc Québécois for over a year. Mr. Poilievre goes so far as to say that there is a “coalition” between the Bloc and the Liberal Party of Canada.

However, the new ad campaign, even if aired in French, will not be very convincing to voters who are considering voting for the sovereignist party in Ottawa, believes Mireille Lalancette. “It's their own sympathizers [who form the target audience for the ad], or people who buy into this idea that things are really not going well in the country.”

Showing his face on television could, however, help further increase the notoriety of the Conservative leader, whom 34% of Canadians would not recognize if they passed him on the street, according to an Abacus poll published in July. He would thus be less known than Justin Trudeau (98% of those surveyed could recognize him) and Jagmeet Singh (84%), but more than Bloc Québécois Yves-François Blanchet, whose face is recognized by 49% of Quebecers.