The image counts enormously in politics, even more in our hypermediatized societies obsessed with the look. This series “Images and Leaders” examines how party leaders in the electoral campaign use their representations to seduce the electorate.
In 2012, Quebecers met a Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois who was still blue, but who, with his rebel charm, would quickly establish himself as an emblematic figure of the red squares. His eloquence and intelligence pierced the screen, but the 22-year-old student leader’s strong ideas were disturbing. His detractors reproached him for his arrogance, his radicalism. Qualifiers which, ten years later, no longer stick so much to the skin of the one who dreams of being the youngest premier in the history of Quebec.
Everyone agrees: the image of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois has softened considerably since his jump into politics in 2017, and even more so since he became parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire. “You shouldn’t think that it happens like in American films where image consultants arrive in a room and completely transform the chef. In truth, it happens much more naturally, ”explains a strategist from Québec solidaire. “The image of moderate that he now has in the population corresponds much more to what he really is in life, contrary to the perception that people had of him during Maple Spring,” according to this same strategist.
All the people to whom The duty spoke in the context of this article — whether they knew Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois (GND) in politics or in the student movement — abound in this direction. Despite what he could project in public opinion, GND was always perceived as a moderate, even when he was the spokesperson for the very assertive CLASSE (Broad Coalition of the Association for Student Union Solidarity) . Within the student movement, we have always seen him as someone accessible, laughing, quick to compromise, a thousand leagues from the image of a spoiled child that we could attach to him at the time. .
However, this perception followed him for a long time, even after he entered active politics in 2017. His first gray hairs marked a break with student activism in the collective unconscious, which suddenly allowed him to display a some wisdom. His BCBG look, required by the function of party leader, also embodies this new maturity. Québec solidaire also acknowledges having benefited from the advice of an expert before the election was called to perfect the looks of the young co-spokesperson.
A good family’s father
Social networks have also allowed Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois to redefine himself. For the past few years, he has spoken extensively about hockey and the Montreal Canadiens. A sincere passion, which is not calculated, but which allows him to present himself “like a guy like the others”, we blow at Quebec solidaire. A simple pastime that is welcome within this party that we have long tried to confine to a vote of intellectuals, even sores, more comfortable in the theater than in the arena.
“To portray him as a son of the rich, it has been greatly exaggerated that he went to private school, that his mother was a judge, that his father was a union leader. But he has a more modest childhood than you think. His parents had him young, he grew up in Villeray. The truth is that Gabriel is a simple guy, who has the same interests as the people, ”underlines a person around him. Shaking hands and taking walks have always been natural for the young politician, unlike others.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who became a father this winter, was less comfortable, however, with the idea of opening up about his family life. To the left of the left, the “peopolization” of politics remains a line not to be crossed. In some more radical fringes of Quebec solidaire, we are annoyed that the strategy is also centered on Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, as in 2018, we deplored the personalization of the campaign around Manon Massé.
Whatever, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois ended up acquiescing and sharing more intimate photos with his daughter and his companion. “We can think that, soon, he will speak publicly about his life as a father and the way in which the policies of Québec solidaire are linked to this life experience. This is called in Englishissue-ownership. We will try to link the life of the leader to the themes that the party is trying to put forward, ”observes Thierry Giasson, professor of political communication at Laval University.
Less divisive
All these efforts by Québec solidaire to refocus the image of its main spokesperson seem to be bearing fruit. According to a poll commissioned by the party last December, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois is much less divided than when he arrived at the National Assembly. Some 48% of Quebecers would have a good opinion of him, against 35% of negative opinions.
A paradigm shift that has been felt on the ground since the start of the campaign. It is said that, commonly, older voters confess candidly to the solidarity candidates in their riding to have hated Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois during the student conflict, before adding that they appreciate today “the little Gabriel”. “The ladies like it very much”, we notice in the entourage of GND. The terrible child of the maple spring would thus have become the ideal son-in-law.
Is this enough for Québec solidaire to go beyond its base and rally the older, wealthier, less Montreal electorate, currently the preserve of the CAQ? “People like him, but it’s not clear that they will vote for him. It is going to be difficult. This election is mainly used to place its pawns for the next time, “sees an organizer.
During the next elections in 2026, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois will be 36 years old. That’s exactly how old Robert Bourassa was when he became the youngest prime minister in history in 1970.