POUR QUEBEC — The Conservatives are spending millions on a national ad campaign meant to soften PIERRE POILIEVRE's rep for angry rants about Trudeau's Canada. Casual viewers of Sportsnet morning highlight shows get to meet a bespectacled Poilievre — clearly, these ads were filmed before the Summer of Pierre — playing with his kids. ANAIDA POILIEVRE, a political operative in her own right with years of Hill experience, narrates a pair of French and English ads. Francophone Quebecers have taken notice. Anaida speaks the same French as them. Parisian French, this is not. Anyone close to the Poilievres already knew that, but the party is now piping Anaida's fluency into households all over the province. Spanish may be her first language, but Anaida grew up in Montreal and absorbed the idiosyncrasies of the people who surrounded her — leaving barely perceptible clues in her syntax and pronunciation that she was born in Venezuela. Neither Poilievre speaks the same learned French of STEPHEN HARPER or ANDREW SCHEER or ERIN O'TOOLE or any other past party leader whose Anglo roots showed in every stump speech, debate and casual interaction with voters. — Les petites choses: In the French-language version of the ad, Anaida describes herself as Québécoise. In the other official language, she drops the Q-word — a tried-and-true two-solitudes distinction. Anaida also deftly observes that the Poilievre children refer to their dad as papa — the same, she notes, in "français, español and English." One word, two official languages (plus a third). Inteligente. Intelligente. Clever. — A difference-maker: MICHAEL FORIAN-ZYTYNSKY, a Conservative candidate in Montreal in 2019, tells Playbook about the power of fluency. "When I was running, I think it would have made a huge difference in terms of just relating to Quebecers. Not to say that Erin and Andrew didn't make an effort. But when you speak like Quebecers, that's when you truly tap into their hearts," Forian-Zytynsky says. "And that's what I think is going to make the difference." — A Blue wave? Will the Poilievres' linguistic duality sweep a swooning province off its feet? Don't count on it. Or, as political analyst and former party adviser RUDY HUSNY put it, don't plan for it. Husny says the Tories would be smart to manage expectations in Quebec. The party currently holds nine seats out of 78 in the province. Husny pegs a realistic target at 10-12, which would mean picking up the riding now held by Independent MP ALAIN RAYES, as well as a pair of seats once held by former MPs ALUPA CLARKE and SYLVIE BOUCHER. Husny said it was a mistake for O'Toole to shoot for 30 Quebec seats in 2021, and for then-Tory MP Rayes to float the idea of a federal Conservative wave in 2019 to match Premier FRANÇOIS LEGAULT's landslide win in 2018. — Never stop never stopping: Forian-Zytynsky sees the wisdom in Husny's realism. But he doesn't count out a breakthrough — in part to keep party activists motivated all over the province. Poilievre's team is "looking at that few-hundred-kilometer corridor north and south of Quebec City as the sweet spot that may make or break a Conservative government,"he says. Reminder: Conservatives are gathering in Quebec City next month for a biennial convention. Save the date for Sept. 7-9. Forian-Zytynsky laments the Conservative habit of granting too much autonomy to the campaign team in the province: "They've had their own strategy. They've had their own budget. They've had their own mini-campaign. And I think that's a mistake." A confident French speaker in the leader's office, with a fluent spouse on the hustings, could revamp the way the party runs Quebec campaigns by communicating more seamlessly with operatives, voters and stakeholders, he adds. — Side benefit: Husny says a strong campaign in the second-largest province, aided by a fluent leader with a focused message, would be a morale booster for the party elsewhere. "It's good for the MPs, it's good for the volunteers. It's good for people who believe in the Conservative Party," he says. The not-so-secret weapon in the Poilievre household is on a screen near you. Canadians should expect to hear from her a lot more.
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