New Conservative ads aimed at older men show golfers, Harper but no Poilievre | CBC News (2025)

Ian Froese · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 22, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

The Conservatives are using the final week of the election campaign to run advertisements where older men are telling other older men to vote for the party — a closing argument that would have been unthinkable only months ago, political advertising experts say.

In new television adsthat are airing regularlyduring the heavily watchedNHL playoffs, the Conservatives are playing one spot in which two seniors are golfing anddiscussing how tough life is for their children, and another where former prime minister Stephen Harper endorses Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Neither commercialshowsimages ofPoilievre.

"We're living in an upside-down world this campaign. Voters that were bedrock Conservative voters in the Harperera now need to be won over. And these are the boomers, 50-plus males," said Dennis Matthews,president of Creative Currencyand a former advertising adviser to Harper.

WATCH | New Conservative ads don't feature their leader:

The Conservatives are continuing to trail the Liberals in a majority ofpolls less than a week before election day.

In the 30-second golfingad, two older menare having a conversationat adriving range. One man, while practising his swing,acknowledges his son"can't seem to get ahead," while the other, standing nearby,sayshe had to pay for his daughter's down payment.

The second man triesto convince his golfing buddy thatLiberal LeaderMark Carney won't solve this problem.

"Come on, do you really think that a fourth Liberal term is going to change anything?" he asks.

"You know, I've been thinking the same thing," the first man says.

Matthews said the ad speaks to the Conservatives pushing for changeas the ballot-box question, all while specifically targeting older men.

"It's a literal expression of the discussion that they want these voters to be having," he said.

Dan Arnold, who was director of research and advertising for former prime minister Justin Trudeau, said the ads are unlike anything the Conservatives have run under Poilievre's leadership.

Ads used to feature Poilievre

"All their advertising really for the past two years has been very Poilievre-centric.It has been him as the narrator, him as the star of the ads," Arnold said.

Earlier in thecampaign, one Conservative ad wasvoiced by Poilievre over images of himself and his supporters at rallies, along with scenic viewsof Canada.

ButPoilievre isn't referenced in the golfing spot, and he's mentioned but not seen or heard in theHarper endorsement.

Arnold, now a pollster with Pollara Strategic Insights, said Poilievre's absenceis likely an acknowledgement of his low approval ratings among seniors, as recent polling suggests.

"Youcan't really change opinions about leaders at this stage in the game," he said.

"At this point, older men are very positive towardCarney, so [the Conservatives] have toreach those voters with the one thing that they do have as an advantage,which is those voters are ones who aremaybe still uneasy about the Liberals."

Polling data suggests older Canadiansare the most likely demographicto hold a negative view of Poilievre, so his absence from recent ads isn't surprising, saidDavid Coletto, founder and CEO of Abacus Data.

"I think it speaks directly to a demographic that the Conservatives need to win in order to win this election," he said.

Colettosaid voters still want change, but some of them have been wooed by Carney.

In the first weeks of the campaign, the Conservatives triedto define Carneyasa carbon copy of Trudeau and an out-of-touch elitist, but Coletto said that messaging didn't break through.

The Harperendorsement plays to the Conservatives' past strength with the demographic, Arnold said. Harper was most popular witholder men, many of whom have moved to Carney.

Harper is seated at a table, with the Canadian flag behind him. He echoeshis line from a recent rally in Edmonton, when he said Poilievre's experience as a cabinet minister in his government prevails over thecredentials of Carney, who served as governor of the Bank of Canada during Harper's time in office.

"The two men running to lead us both once worked for me and my choice, unequivocally, is Pierre Poilievre," Harper says in the ad.

OneLiberal ad in heavy rotation during the Stanley Cup playoffs includesa Carney voiceover warning of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and his threats to Canada. The spot briefly featuresa photo of Carney shaking hands with Harper when they were working together.

"We live in this world where both parties are sort of going after the type of voter that voted for Stephen Harper en masse in 2006, '08, '11, and partially in '15," Matthews said.

NDP seeks to shift the conversation

The NDP is runningfourads during the NHL playoffs.

There's a 30-second spot whereleader Jagmeet Singh says NDP MPsgetthings done "even when we're not in power." Othershighlight families, health care and how a Carney-led government could resultin cuts to services.

Matthews said these four different themes show the party hasn't found its central message.

However, Colettoarguedthe NDP must shiftthe election conversation away from Trump and the desire for change in favour of its banner issues such as health care.

Voters are"more naturally inclined to think of the NDP as better able to deal with that issue thana lot of the others," he said.

Federalparties running candidates in all 343 ridings are capped at spending around $35 million, and at the start of the campaign the NDP said it was prepared to hit that cap. A registered third party cannot spend more than $602,700.

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