At a recent campaign event in North York, Ont., Pierre Poilievre had just left the podium after answering a media question about an underfunded francophone school when his wife Anaida approached him.
The Conservative leader promptly returned to the podium, saying that his wife had just reminded him to make the point that Liberal Leader Mark Carney does not have an official languages minister.
It wasn’t the first time she’d given her husband some quick advice while still on stage, including reminding him to acknowledge someone in the crowd, for example. But perhaps it’s indicative of the significant role Anaida Poilievre has been playing in the campaign as an effective booster of her husband, a potential softener of his image — but also a key political adviser.
“She certainly is a savvy political operator in her own right,” said Conservative strategist Amanda Galbraith. “She’s not just there for the photo ops.”
‘A pretty powerful speaker’
Carney’s wife Diana Fox Carney and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s wife Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu certainly do not have the campaign exposure of Anaida Poilievre, who has been a regular presence on the campaign trail. She attends events and rallies, giving speeches and appearing with her husband afterward, with the two often sharing public displays of affection.
“She’s actually up there giving major speeches at rallies of thousands of people,” Galbraith said.
But she also “speaks to who he is as a person beyond the politics and the policy, and she’s a pretty powerful speaker,” Galbraith added.
“For the Conservatives to leave that … on the bench, to me would be silly, because I think it is rare,” Galbraith said. “She’s probably better at it than a bunch of politicians that I’ve worked with.”
Poilievre is also very present when her husband is answering reporters’ questions at news conferences. Just recently, she sat beside him in a Global News studio as he was being interviewed by Ben Mulroney.
Typically, political spouses will not be seen full time on the campaign trail, nor at the nightly rallies, Galbraith said.
“But she’s almost certainly his right hand,” she said. “And a strong political figure within sort of his sphere. And I think it’s to his benefit.”
Poilievre’s appearances with her husband certainly softens his image with voters of all stripes, but in particular with women voters, said Andrea Lawlor, an associate professor of political science at McMaster University in Hamilton.
Struggles to gain support among women
Polls show Pierre Poilievre continues to struggle to gain support among women voters. A recent Angus Reid Institute poll found his favourability among women has peaked at one-third among those ages 35 to 54.
“What Pierre Poilievre did not do or was not successful at while he and his party were capitalizing on more women coming over to the Conservatives — he didn’t make much inroads in terms of his own personal favourability among women,” said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute.
Galbraith agreed that Poilievre needs to appeal to female voters, and said his wife is certainly a key to that.
“And I think that picture of him with his wife, who’s an articulate, interesting, powerful woman in her own right, is an important one they want to project to Canadians.”
Anaida Poilievre likely gained most prominence after her speech introducing her husband following his win of the Conservative leadership on Sept. 10, 2022, where she spoke in English, French and Spanish, and included some of her own biographical information.
“She’s taken an outsized role since the leadership,” Galbraith said. “I remember at the leadership convention, it really turned heads among at least the Conservatives watching when she stepped up and introduced him.”
Anaida Poilievre was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and her family immigrated to Montreal in 1995. She later moved to Ottawa in 2006 and eventually landed a job in the Senate where she worked in various senior roles. She also worked for Conservative MP Michael Cooper.
Known as husband’s confidante
On her LinkedIn page, she describes herself as a “communications professional, seasoned entrepreneur-in-the-making, and former political advisor.”
Along with her speeches at rallies she has also worked behind the scenes, spearheading “every facet” of Pierre Poilievre’s “Bring it Home” campaign merchandising, according to its website, which describes her as “the creative mind behind the vision and is the lead of its operational and branding aspects.”
Lawlor said Poilievre is also known for being her husband’s confidante and having fairly good political instincts of her own that are listened to in Conservative strategy quarters.
In the speeches she has given, Poilievre has shown herself “to be an astute political observer,” Lawlor said.
Liberal strategist Stevie O’Brien said the Conservatives need Anaida Polivre because her husband is “so personally unlikable, especially to women.”
“She is being used to signal: look he’s not weird, he’s a normal family man,” O’Brien said.
“I honestly do think that her presence is to soften him and especially make him more palatable to women or say, ‘Look, he’s normal, he even talks to real women.'”
Still, O’Brien said she doesn’t believe that strategy is making many inroads in increasing Pierre Poilievre’s support among female Liberal voters.
‘Only goes so far’
Lawlor echoed that she’s unsure how much Anaida Poilievre’s presence moves the needle when it comes to how people perceive her husband.
“I think in some cases, political spouses can function as a heuristic for voters. I’m not sure in this instance whether that will be enough to dislodge existing perceptions of [Pierre] Poilievre,” she said.
He has had a long runway to cultivate his personality of being a very aggressive political opponent, Lawlor added.
“Seeing his wife introduce him kind of produces this nice alternative narrative of him as husband and father,” she said.
“I don’t think there’s really been any departure in the way that the [average] Canadian is viewing his candidacy. He has been very clear about what he is, and I think that only goes so far.”
