When Pierre Poilievre became the new leader of the Conservative Party of Canada during the party’s convention in Ottawa on Saturday, September 10, 2022, standing next to him was his wife, Anaida Poilievre, who introduced the new Conservative Party leader with an impassioned speech touching on her background as an immigrant raised as part of a working-class family. During the speech, which lasted just under five minutes, Anaida Poilievre switched effortlessly between English, French, and Spanish and touched on her husband’s family history: born to a teenaged mother, he was adopted by a Saskatchewan family. She also spoke of the economic struggles both her and her husband’s family suffered growing up, having to live “from paycheque to paycheque.” Anaida Poilievre’s speech was well received, with CTV Power Play’s Evan Solomon calling her “a very very good speaker” in a tweet. An estimated 20,000 Venezuelans live in Canada. New Canadian Media reached out to members of the Venezuelan-Canadian community to gather reactions to the speech and what, if any, impact it may have on their views of Canadian politics and the Conservative Party. Carlos, who asked NCM to only use his first name, moved to Vancouver 10 years ago with his wife and two-year-old son. In a call with NCM Carlos said that even though he had never heard of Anaida Poilievre and does not align with the views of the Conservative Party, he was moved to tears by the speech. “I felt very identified as an immigrant, I identified 100 hundred percent,” Carlos said when talking about Anaida Poilievre’s section of the speech when she mentioned the story of her father, who she told the audience was a bank manager in Venezuela before coming to Canada and working in the Quebec fields picking fruits and vegetables to support his family. “My father went from wearing business suits and managing a bank, to jumping on the back of a pick-up truck to collect fruits and vegetables because that’s what he had to do to feed his family,” Anaida Poilievre said. For Carlos, the fact that Pierre Poilievre “knows what his partner went through,” may have a positive impact on Poilievre’s and the Conservative Party’s views on immigration. Carlos Vera, an economist based in Calgary who works as a senior portfolio analyst for a major Canadian airline, has a more political perspective of the Conservative Party and Anaida Poilievre’s speech. For him, Anaida Poilievre’s background as an immigrant, and the fact that this featured prominently in her introduction speech, represents “a political asset” for Poilievre and the Conservative Party. Having his wife at his side, “gives [Pierre Poilievre] a plurality to his vision that I think will help him a lot,” Vera said. A father of two who immigrated to Calgary with his wife 13 years ago, Vera already knew about Anaida Poilievre’s heritage as he follows Canadian politics closely and has volunteered with the Conservative Party in Calgary. Vera said that seeing a Venezuelan immigrant in such an important role inspired him to not be afraid to take on a more active role in Canadian politics. He said he is planning to do more volunteer work with the Conservative Party in Calgary in the future. While for Carlos and Vera the speech was positive from an immigrant perspective, for other members of the Venezuelan diaspora, the speech needs to be looked at from a much more nuanced and careful perspective. Toronto-based Venezuelan interpreter Cristina Pulido Vielma was more cautious in her assessment of Anaida Poilievre’s speech. “Poilievre’s marriage to a Venezuelan doesn’t make any difference when I have to give my opinion about his complicated tendency to attract the most radical Conservatives and what we should expect about his leadership,” Pulido Vielma said in an email. Pulido Vielma was a journalist, and later a history professor in Venezuela before moving to Canada. When she moved to Ottawa in 2005, she found it impossible to find work as a journalist. She told New Canadian Media that she then moved to Toronto and reinvented herself as an interpreter and works with refugee applicants. “I don’t think Anaida will be any special asset to Pierre Poilievre, because the Conservative Party has done nothing in the past to reach out to the Latin American community. It’s my bet that only those who were driven out of Venezuela by the radical left wing policies of Hugo Chavez will identify with the brand of radicalism and Trump-style politics that Poilievre stands for. Given that Anaida came here at a young age, had the opportunity to go to school and university in Canada makes her different from those who came here recently.” In 1992, two attempted coup d’etats rocked Venezuela’s long-standing democracy.