As an American I can comment from the outside. You say Jews shouldn't put their eggs in one basket. Sure. I agree. In the US that was the theory of AIPAC which is a non partisan lobby for Congressional support for Israel and supported members from both parties. Then Obama decided to make AIPAC the poster child for everything the leftists hate about Israel. Suddenly AIPAC is called a right wing lobby. Then (weirdly) Democrats who had been career supporters of Israel and Jewish issues got wobbly. Then they turned hostile. Now many American Jews don't feel sufficiently
threatened as Canadien Jews do, to make them vote Republican. But nobody could blame them for voting for the party that is not in favor of allowing the world's only Jewish state to be destroyed and it's American constituents to be menaced by red/green alliance lunatics. In Canada where the very streets have become dangerous for Jews, they cannot be expected to vote for a party that has written them off.
Right. Absolutely correct ... but ... political parties in our countries are democratic institutions. Jews and allies can influence them. We are trying of course -- and we shouldn't have to, in some ways, as I wrote. No cultural community should have to fight to have their identity and security recognized and respected. But we need to. Abandoning one of two parties to perpetual hostility without trying to change it is a recipe for certain disaster.
I agree in principle but for God's sake Pat, Democratic JEWS in elective office arent doing this work. Cough cough Schumer. The ONLY influence voters have is their vote. Ideally losing the vote of Jews and their allies would make pathetic creatures like Schumer think differently about what policies to support and when to open their mouths. Much more dangerous in US is that entire states have abandoned even the possibility that the Democratic party (and the opposite where it applies) will lose office. This let's extremely pathetic politicians literally ignore the voters. I don't know if Canada has a similar problem regionally in terms of the provinces and local elections. I realize you have a parliamentary system for the national government.
Regarding the fate of the NDP......they ought to take a serious look at Rachel Notley, the former NDP premier from Alberta. She might be able to return the NDP from a party of extremist cranks, to a serious relevant mainstream party.
Yes! She got isolation rooms banned in special education. Sadly, the new govt after hers reversed the ban. These local and national issues matter the most to Canadians. It's too bad the NDP focuses on weird and hateful ideology like supporting Hamas instead. The people spoke: NDP was not meeting their needs.
Unfortunately, one of the most pro-Palestinian voices in the Liberal caucus is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly. It will be interesting to see whether the PM reappoints her to Cabinet. Also, I'm looking forward to September to see what the PM will say at the UN. I'm not disappointed by the election results, but I wonder if I will regret my vote a year from now.
Appointing Marco Mendicino as Chief of Staff and keeping Rachel Bendayan in cabinet, but upgraded to Minister of Immigration are two positive signs. Hilarious that Jonathan Pedneault thought he could run against Rachel in a riding with a substantial Jewish population, including Sephardi Jews like herself.
Melanie Joly is in an extremely critical position as Foreign Minister, but I think she's more the captive of the demographics in her riding as she confessed to Tom Mulcair than a true believer like Housing minister Nate Erskine-Smith, who endorsed the appalling "Vote Palestine" platform cooked up by the Palestine Youth Movement, Independent Jewish Voices, Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, Canadian Arab Lawyers and Canadian Muslim Public Affairs.
Raphael and Pat. Melanie Joly is a Politician. Pointe Finale!
If you dont believe me, ask Thomas Mulcair. It is not often that one leaves Thomas Gobsmaked, Joly accomplished this feat. When Thomas asked her a question regarding why she supported a resolution on Palestine, her answer was, and I shit you not, have you seen my constituency. My ridings demographics.
On TVA the french language broadcaster Mulcair was incredulous. Literally Gobsmacked that a minister in government would make such a statement.
But now we have a perfect example or a shining example of how Sweden, France, the UK, Australia to name a few countries, have succumbed to this type of thinking.
Yes, the Conversatives did better than expected in Ontario, but mostly in rural or semi-rural ridings, as they tend to. The simple fact is that the LIberals won a clear majority of votes in every province and region except for Alberta and Saskatchewan, where the Conservatives always win easily. It was evident from the results around Ottawa (a clean sweep for the LIberals, including in his own riding) that Poilièvre’s cozying up to the protestors who brutally took over the downtown and made life hell for tens of thousands of residents didn’t win him too many “hearts and minds.”
The debate, for obvious reasons, wasn’t a good forum for discussing Israel’s prosecution of the war or its domestic politics, but when Singh asked Carney with much arm waving in the French debate (I didn’t watch the one in English) if he “agreed there was a genocide” Carney looked pissed off for the first and only time and answered “What is happening there is terrible, but I will NEVER use “that word” to try to obtain electoral advantage” looking straight at Singh. Singh didn’t pursue the matter. Poilièvre, for his part, didn’t say anything.
The Liberals are similar to Labour in Britain in so far as they have for decades supported the American policy of the “two state solution” and an end to settlement-building in the West Bank - policies that on paper at least most Israelis also supported before last year. But one shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the great majority of Israelis also have wanted the war to be stopped and the hostages brought home since last summer. The hostages were betrayed by their government and their army, who utterly failed to protect them, and that means the price to be paid is having to wait to deal with the remnants of Hamas and other jihadists later, AFTER they’re brought home alive.
I don’t agree that Mélanie Joly is pro-Hamas. I haven’t read or heard a single statement of hers that suggests this. She is much better at speaking French than English, and so tends to come across as a bit fuzzy or hesitant in English.
The Conservative’s position on Palestinian terror and Israel’s right to deal with it is unequivocal - although not particularly outspoken, as previously noted, and so kind of wishy washy in its own way. In most other respects, they would provide inferior governance and risk causing real damage to both Canada’s civil institutions and economy. I don’t see how those outcomes would help Jews in the long run. Don’t believe me? Look at provinces run by conservatives versus those by those who are more social democratic. The province where people are the happiest, by a long shot, is Quebec, followed by BC.
Low taxes and low unemployment, good, growing economies, consistently conservative governments, just like they like them in Saskatchewan and Alberta, haven’t produced a contented population, where they gripe constantly and blame all their problems on the federal government. Unfortunately, they weren’t any happier (and didn’t get their pipelines either) the last time the federal Conservatives were in office, for ten years - a period marked by nasty rhetoric and a notable lack of cooperation between levels of government.
Also a bit of an "own goal" to make a policy pledge to make big cuts to the federal civil service and end all contracting out to consultants when your constituency is located in the greater Ottawa area, where doubtless a lot of federal civil servants and consultants doing work for the feds might also live.
What is your concrete evidence for this? I have never heard her speak Arabic, and have never heard her presented as being able to (it would be quite a feat, given she’s never learned in an Arab speaking environment). It is not apparent in either her public statements or the government’s policies. I consider the “pause in arms shipments” to be a bit of non-enforceable smokescreen, as do her pro-Hamas critics.
I agree with you, there is no evidence that Melanie Joly is pro-Hamas. But is she is an Arabist, in the classical sense of the term. As such, she reflexively supports the Palestinians against Israel. This is not even necessarily bad politics for her, there is a large Muslim population in her riding. But it is bad for the Jews in Canada.
Enjoyed reading your analysis. I am pessimistic about the ability to influence someone who is not principled about the issue at a time when Israel hate is so popular. Wrote about this here:
I would love to influence my MP, Chrystia Freeland but she never responds directly to my letters and has refused to meet with me. She had one of her underlings call me on October 7 to offer me condolences on the anniversary of the massacre. Not sure I could get involved with the Liberal party.
How long will this government last is one question that was posed. Judging from canadian political history, anywhere from six months to twenty four months would be a good guess.
Much would depend on the ongoing extortion or blackmail being waged against Canadians from down south.
As the gang on At Issue last night noted, the NDP are broke and broken, so they will probably avoid an election at all cost, so that may give the Libs some breathing room.
What your otherwise thorough piece fails to mention is that of the 362 candidates who signed on to the Vote Palestine platform, 25 were elected of whom 18 are Liberals. That, and Mélanie Joly’s openly avowed negative policy position towards Israel to pander to her constituents, are all I need to know about the Liberal party - not to mention their deeply unlikable leader.
I don't find the leader unlikable, but whatever. You are absolutely correct about Joly and, ys, 18 signed that pledge. 18 out of 169. If "that is all you need to know" about the Liberal party, then you kind of missed my point. If 18 out of 169 are anti-Israel, then that tells me the Liberal party is, frankly, not as bad as I might have thought. I'm not sure how your math works. It seems to me reasonable people should be getting involved in the Liberal party as a counterweight to those 18. Pretty sure writing off the governing party as irredeemably antisemitic (if that's what you are suggesting) is the constructive route.
Personal preference aside, Carney is a proven liar, plagiarist and keeps questionable company with the likes of Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s procuress currently serving a lengthy prison sentence. As for the math, yes the percentage that signed the pledge is low but I also look at past actions to make up my mind about the party as a whole, and I’m not reassured at all. They threw Israel and the Jewish community under the bus time and again for political expediency.
I do get your point: better inside the tent and making a difference than outside simply criticizing. I just don’t think I would be comfortable or welcome in that tent.
First is the CBC. I understand that as a journalist Pat, your pride in the CBC. As a Jew, I find their pro Palestinian antisemitic rants are disgusting. Any suggestions for dealing with them?
As far as Harper’s love of Jews, I never believed that for a second. He loved, loves, Israel because he supports the Evangelicals who need Israel to exist for Christ to return. Not sure f it is the same with Pollievre, I get the impression he hates everyone but himself, please correct me if I am wrong.
Hahaha. I can't comment on the last line. There may have been some evangelical stuff going on there with Harper and some of the others, but does that make their commitment less valuable? I think it's genuine, wherever it comes from. And necessary, valuable and appreciated. We're not really in a position to turn away friends because we don;t like how the reason they're our friends. (As an agnostic non-Jew, I say "we" meaning Jews and allies.)
Seems like yesterday when Justin Trudeau apologized for Canada’s slamming shut the borders to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism, fleeing genocide. But that was November 18, 2018, five years before October 7, 2023. He was young and idealistic. And it was the distant past. Since October 7, Trudeau and the liberals have been turning a blind eye, at best, and at worst cheering the Iranian and Qatari backed Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis, the current generation bent on genocide against the Jews.
Jews should not have to be active members of the Liberal Party in order to demand that a Liberal government act properly and decently with respect to Israel, which they have never done. Far too many Jews voted Liberal from what i can see, even though Jews said they loved Poilievre. Housefather retained his seat in Mount Royal. But Canadians Jews, like their non-Jewish counterparts, are very mealy-mouthed and play defense when it comes to asserting Jewish claims. Muslims do not seem to have that problem. Maybe the latter need to be Canadianised. Mr. Poilievre could have attacked both the NDP and the Liberals on the debate stage when Singh asserted Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and Carney meekly disagreed with him. But he did not, nor did he go on to attack the sorry Liberal record on censorship, harassment of Covid dissenters, both trucker and doctor, and mismanagement of the response to Covid. He could have asked Canadians to step up to the plate and build a country rather than use the Trump comments to indulge in their usual sanctimonious anti-Americanism while they feed at the American trough. As for the future for Canadian Jews, it is pretty sorry. Canada has shown itself to be a strong if snide antisemitic country, characteristics which will help doom it in other areas as well. But the Liberals will preside over all this with indulgence, as usual, from Quebec, which showed itself to be even more ready to embrace pro-Palestinian Liberals than any other province. La difference toujours! And you can keep trying to persuade anti-semites they should be otherwise.
I agree with some of this. "Jews should not have to be active members of the Liberal Party in order to demand that a Liberal government act properly and decently with respect to Israel" -- absolutely. That is (or should be) a core moral principle. But then you add: "which they have never done" and that is a blanket statement that is simply not true. They've been bad and they've been good at times. But, fine ... the bad outweighs the good. OK. I wish PP had gone on the offensive against Singh's despicable genocide libel. Missed opportunity. Then you get into far-right stuff where you lose me entirely. I have absolutely no patience for fake victims like the trucker convoy or people who care so little about their fellow citizens that they won't even get a simple vaccine.
Getting a vaccine did not stop the spread of Covid. That was false information. And the truckers were not fake victims but victims of government policy that was all wrong and insisted on suppressing all scientific dissent. The government continues to prosecute and persecute professionals who have been vindicated by lower courts, taking the matter to appeal. The Liberal government also fueled inflation by keeping people home and writing them cheques, all because they were too dumb to consult the diversity of scientific opinion. By now you should know a little more about Covid, the scientific debates around vaccines and other policies, and the proven erroneous management of the pandemic. That truckers kept goods moving was okay until they ran up against pigheaded government policy. And Canadians, as usual, never even challenged the government's public health policies, unlike their neighbours to the south whom they like to disparage for their electoral choices. As for the Liberal Party's behaviour with respect to Israel over the Gaza war, it is nothing short of despicable. For that alone they deserved to be turfed out. What kind of Canada do we want? One that would arrest Netanyahu while academic goons go full out in antisemitic attacks? We are really going to make Canada strong that way, aren't we?
On the contrary, it would show the Liberals they can't have the Jews in their pocket while they slit their throats. Housefather should have resigned and crossed the floor if he had any integrity. But the Jews like to cozy up to governments and beg them for protection which never comes. Instead they get antisemitic pogroms on university campuses, vandalism and marches in Jewish neighbourhoods, and laments about Islamophobia. Very productive.
It's been observed that a week is a long time in politics and this federal election is a case in point. The NDP are broke, so I can't see the seven survivors voting against the government in a confidence motion any time soon. Rumors have it that two of them might cross the floor, but I hope not. The Liberals have enough new faces to settle in without taking in probable problem children who will likely want a reward for switching parties.
And I'll take Pierre Poilievre at his word when he says he will work with the government, at least until Trump's threat to wreck our economy is blunted and I think the same applies to the Bloc. The Conservatives also have to deal with internal problems. When two of the four Conservative premiers, stay on the sidelines and the fairly new MP for Bowmanville-Oshawa (who turns out to be old Yale law school buddies with J.D. Vance) starts attacking the Conservative premier of the province with the largest numbers of seats live on national television, well, the Tories have "work to do".
Jamil Jivani's screed against Doug Ford was some of the most gripping live TV in ages! Hahahah. I just thought, wow, unscripted drama. Also ... ooooh, gossip! Who are the two NDPers who are rumoured to be toying with crossing? I can't imagine ... Dish!
My "informant" is actually a Brit, though he has other friends here in Canada besides myself. His contact said two, but only named Vancouver East MP Jenny Wong.
As an American I can comment from the outside. You say Jews shouldn't put their eggs in one basket. Sure. I agree. In the US that was the theory of AIPAC which is a non partisan lobby for Congressional support for Israel and supported members from both parties. Then Obama decided to make AIPAC the poster child for everything the leftists hate about Israel. Suddenly AIPAC is called a right wing lobby. Then (weirdly) Democrats who had been career supporters of Israel and Jewish issues got wobbly. Then they turned hostile. Now many American Jews don't feel sufficiently
threatened as Canadien Jews do, to make them vote Republican. But nobody could blame them for voting for the party that is not in favor of allowing the world's only Jewish state to be destroyed and it's American constituents to be menaced by red/green alliance lunatics. In Canada where the very streets have become dangerous for Jews, they cannot be expected to vote for a party that has written them off.
Right. Absolutely correct ... but ... political parties in our countries are democratic institutions. Jews and allies can influence them. We are trying of course -- and we shouldn't have to, in some ways, as I wrote. No cultural community should have to fight to have their identity and security recognized and respected. But we need to. Abandoning one of two parties to perpetual hostility without trying to change it is a recipe for certain disaster.
I agree in principle but for God's sake Pat, Democratic JEWS in elective office arent doing this work. Cough cough Schumer. The ONLY influence voters have is their vote. Ideally losing the vote of Jews and their allies would make pathetic creatures like Schumer think differently about what policies to support and when to open their mouths. Much more dangerous in US is that entire states have abandoned even the possibility that the Democratic party (and the opposite where it applies) will lose office. This let's extremely pathetic politicians literally ignore the voters. I don't know if Canada has a similar problem regionally in terms of the provinces and local elections. I realize you have a parliamentary system for the national government.
Regarding the fate of the NDP......they ought to take a serious look at Rachel Notley, the former NDP premier from Alberta. She might be able to return the NDP from a party of extremist cranks, to a serious relevant mainstream party.
Very good point!
Yes! She got isolation rooms banned in special education. Sadly, the new govt after hers reversed the ban. These local and national issues matter the most to Canadians. It's too bad the NDP focuses on weird and hateful ideology like supporting Hamas instead. The people spoke: NDP was not meeting their needs.
Thx for the low down. It sounds similar to the US.
Thank you, Pat. This American Jew is grateful for your very helpful explanation of the political landscape in Canada.
I'm sure many Canadians would find fault with it, but it's one Canadian's view. Thanks for reading.
Unfortunately, one of the most pro-Palestinian voices in the Liberal caucus is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly. It will be interesting to see whether the PM reappoints her to Cabinet. Also, I'm looking forward to September to see what the PM will say at the UN. I'm not disappointed by the election results, but I wonder if I will regret my vote a year from now.
You are correct. Carney is really an unknown quantity and I hope, as you do, that Joly will be ousted.
Appointing Marco Mendicino as Chief of Staff and keeping Rachel Bendayan in cabinet, but upgraded to Minister of Immigration are two positive signs. Hilarious that Jonathan Pedneault thought he could run against Rachel in a riding with a substantial Jewish population, including Sephardi Jews like herself.
Melanie Joly is in an extremely critical position as Foreign Minister, but I think she's more the captive of the demographics in her riding as she confessed to Tom Mulcair than a true believer like Housing minister Nate Erskine-Smith, who endorsed the appalling "Vote Palestine" platform cooked up by the Palestine Youth Movement, Independent Jewish Voices, Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East, Canadian Arab Lawyers and Canadian Muslim Public Affairs.
You hit several nails on the head here, Lynne.
Raphael and Pat. Melanie Joly is a Politician. Pointe Finale!
If you dont believe me, ask Thomas Mulcair. It is not often that one leaves Thomas Gobsmaked, Joly accomplished this feat. When Thomas asked her a question regarding why she supported a resolution on Palestine, her answer was, and I shit you not, have you seen my constituency. My ridings demographics.
On TVA the french language broadcaster Mulcair was incredulous. Literally Gobsmacked that a minister in government would make such a statement.
But now we have a perfect example or a shining example of how Sweden, France, the UK, Australia to name a few countries, have succumbed to this type of thinking.
Fascinating. Thank you, Pat, for this thoughtful insight into our Northern neighbors.
Yes, the Conversatives did better than expected in Ontario, but mostly in rural or semi-rural ridings, as they tend to. The simple fact is that the LIberals won a clear majority of votes in every province and region except for Alberta and Saskatchewan, where the Conservatives always win easily. It was evident from the results around Ottawa (a clean sweep for the LIberals, including in his own riding) that Poilièvre’s cozying up to the protestors who brutally took over the downtown and made life hell for tens of thousands of residents didn’t win him too many “hearts and minds.”
The debate, for obvious reasons, wasn’t a good forum for discussing Israel’s prosecution of the war or its domestic politics, but when Singh asked Carney with much arm waving in the French debate (I didn’t watch the one in English) if he “agreed there was a genocide” Carney looked pissed off for the first and only time and answered “What is happening there is terrible, but I will NEVER use “that word” to try to obtain electoral advantage” looking straight at Singh. Singh didn’t pursue the matter. Poilièvre, for his part, didn’t say anything.
The Liberals are similar to Labour in Britain in so far as they have for decades supported the American policy of the “two state solution” and an end to settlement-building in the West Bank - policies that on paper at least most Israelis also supported before last year. But one shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the great majority of Israelis also have wanted the war to be stopped and the hostages brought home since last summer. The hostages were betrayed by their government and their army, who utterly failed to protect them, and that means the price to be paid is having to wait to deal with the remnants of Hamas and other jihadists later, AFTER they’re brought home alive.
I don’t agree that Mélanie Joly is pro-Hamas. I haven’t read or heard a single statement of hers that suggests this. She is much better at speaking French than English, and so tends to come across as a bit fuzzy or hesitant in English.
The Conservative’s position on Palestinian terror and Israel’s right to deal with it is unequivocal - although not particularly outspoken, as previously noted, and so kind of wishy washy in its own way. In most other respects, they would provide inferior governance and risk causing real damage to both Canada’s civil institutions and economy. I don’t see how those outcomes would help Jews in the long run. Don’t believe me? Look at provinces run by conservatives versus those by those who are more social democratic. The province where people are the happiest, by a long shot, is Quebec, followed by BC.
Low taxes and low unemployment, good, growing economies, consistently conservative governments, just like they like them in Saskatchewan and Alberta, haven’t produced a contented population, where they gripe constantly and blame all their problems on the federal government. Unfortunately, they weren’t any happier (and didn’t get their pipelines either) the last time the federal Conservatives were in office, for ten years - a period marked by nasty rhetoric and a notable lack of cooperation between levels of government.
Also a bit of an "own goal" to make a policy pledge to make big cuts to the federal civil service and end all contracting out to consultants when your constituency is located in the greater Ottawa area, where doubtless a lot of federal civil servants and consultants doing work for the feds might also live.
Haha. Ain't that the truth! Talk about not reading the room.
What is your concrete evidence for this? I have never heard her speak Arabic, and have never heard her presented as being able to (it would be quite a feat, given she’s never learned in an Arab speaking environment). It is not apparent in either her public statements or the government’s policies. I consider the “pause in arms shipments” to be a bit of non-enforceable smokescreen, as do her pro-Hamas critics.
I agree with you, there is no evidence that Melanie Joly is pro-Hamas. But is she is an Arabist, in the classical sense of the term. As such, she reflexively supports the Palestinians against Israel. This is not even necessarily bad politics for her, there is a large Muslim population in her riding. But it is bad for the Jews in Canada.
Enjoyed reading your analysis. I am pessimistic about the ability to influence someone who is not principled about the issue at a time when Israel hate is so popular. Wrote about this here:
https://oldwildhorses.substack.com/p/what-do-you-give-a-man-who-already
Fair. I guess my point is we can't give up.
I would love to influence my MP, Chrystia Freeland but she never responds directly to my letters and has refused to meet with me. She had one of her underlings call me on October 7 to offer me condolences on the anniversary of the massacre. Not sure I could get involved with the Liberal party.
How long will this government last is one question that was posed. Judging from canadian political history, anywhere from six months to twenty four months would be a good guess.
Much would depend on the ongoing extortion or blackmail being waged against Canadians from down south.
As the gang on At Issue last night noted, the NDP are broke and broken, so they will probably avoid an election at all cost, so that may give the Libs some breathing room.
24 months? Lol
If you read the National Post the War on Carney is already on.
La plus ca change......
What your otherwise thorough piece fails to mention is that of the 362 candidates who signed on to the Vote Palestine platform, 25 were elected of whom 18 are Liberals. That, and Mélanie Joly’s openly avowed negative policy position towards Israel to pander to her constituents, are all I need to know about the Liberal party - not to mention their deeply unlikable leader.
I don't find the leader unlikable, but whatever. You are absolutely correct about Joly and, ys, 18 signed that pledge. 18 out of 169. If "that is all you need to know" about the Liberal party, then you kind of missed my point. If 18 out of 169 are anti-Israel, then that tells me the Liberal party is, frankly, not as bad as I might have thought. I'm not sure how your math works. It seems to me reasonable people should be getting involved in the Liberal party as a counterweight to those 18. Pretty sure writing off the governing party as irredeemably antisemitic (if that's what you are suggesting) is the constructive route.
Personal preference aside, Carney is a proven liar, plagiarist and keeps questionable company with the likes of Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s procuress currently serving a lengthy prison sentence. As for the math, yes the percentage that signed the pledge is low but I also look at past actions to make up my mind about the party as a whole, and I’m not reassured at all. They threw Israel and the Jewish community under the bus time and again for political expediency.
I do get your point: better inside the tent and making a difference than outside simply criticizing. I just don’t think I would be comfortable or welcome in that tent.
I have 2 issues I want to bring up.
First is the CBC. I understand that as a journalist Pat, your pride in the CBC. As a Jew, I find their pro Palestinian antisemitic rants are disgusting. Any suggestions for dealing with them?
As far as Harper’s love of Jews, I never believed that for a second. He loved, loves, Israel because he supports the Evangelicals who need Israel to exist for Christ to return. Not sure f it is the same with Pollievre, I get the impression he hates everyone but himself, please correct me if I am wrong.
Hahaha. I can't comment on the last line. There may have been some evangelical stuff going on there with Harper and some of the others, but does that make their commitment less valuable? I think it's genuine, wherever it comes from. And necessary, valuable and appreciated. We're not really in a position to turn away friends because we don;t like how the reason they're our friends. (As an agnostic non-Jew, I say "we" meaning Jews and allies.)
Seems like yesterday when Justin Trudeau apologized for Canada’s slamming shut the borders to Jewish refugees fleeing Nazism, fleeing genocide. But that was November 18, 2018, five years before October 7, 2023. He was young and idealistic. And it was the distant past. Since October 7, Trudeau and the liberals have been turning a blind eye, at best, and at worst cheering the Iranian and Qatari backed Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthis, the current generation bent on genocide against the Jews.
There has been a lack of moral leadership.
Another thought proviking and insightful Substack. This was encouraging…https://honestreporting.ca/canadians-overwhelmingly-defeat-vote-palestine-candidates-at-the-ballot-box/
I saw that coming. They were losers before the polls closed AND after. LOL
Jews should not have to be active members of the Liberal Party in order to demand that a Liberal government act properly and decently with respect to Israel, which they have never done. Far too many Jews voted Liberal from what i can see, even though Jews said they loved Poilievre. Housefather retained his seat in Mount Royal. But Canadians Jews, like their non-Jewish counterparts, are very mealy-mouthed and play defense when it comes to asserting Jewish claims. Muslims do not seem to have that problem. Maybe the latter need to be Canadianised. Mr. Poilievre could have attacked both the NDP and the Liberals on the debate stage when Singh asserted Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and Carney meekly disagreed with him. But he did not, nor did he go on to attack the sorry Liberal record on censorship, harassment of Covid dissenters, both trucker and doctor, and mismanagement of the response to Covid. He could have asked Canadians to step up to the plate and build a country rather than use the Trump comments to indulge in their usual sanctimonious anti-Americanism while they feed at the American trough. As for the future for Canadian Jews, it is pretty sorry. Canada has shown itself to be a strong if snide antisemitic country, characteristics which will help doom it in other areas as well. But the Liberals will preside over all this with indulgence, as usual, from Quebec, which showed itself to be even more ready to embrace pro-Palestinian Liberals than any other province. La difference toujours! And you can keep trying to persuade anti-semites they should be otherwise.
I agree with some of this. "Jews should not have to be active members of the Liberal Party in order to demand that a Liberal government act properly and decently with respect to Israel" -- absolutely. That is (or should be) a core moral principle. But then you add: "which they have never done" and that is a blanket statement that is simply not true. They've been bad and they've been good at times. But, fine ... the bad outweighs the good. OK. I wish PP had gone on the offensive against Singh's despicable genocide libel. Missed opportunity. Then you get into far-right stuff where you lose me entirely. I have absolutely no patience for fake victims like the trucker convoy or people who care so little about their fellow citizens that they won't even get a simple vaccine.
Getting a vaccine did not stop the spread of Covid. That was false information. And the truckers were not fake victims but victims of government policy that was all wrong and insisted on suppressing all scientific dissent. The government continues to prosecute and persecute professionals who have been vindicated by lower courts, taking the matter to appeal. The Liberal government also fueled inflation by keeping people home and writing them cheques, all because they were too dumb to consult the diversity of scientific opinion. By now you should know a little more about Covid, the scientific debates around vaccines and other policies, and the proven erroneous management of the pandemic. That truckers kept goods moving was okay until they ran up against pigheaded government policy. And Canadians, as usual, never even challenged the government's public health policies, unlike their neighbours to the south whom they like to disparage for their electoral choices. As for the Liberal Party's behaviour with respect to Israel over the Gaza war, it is nothing short of despicable. For that alone they deserved to be turfed out. What kind of Canada do we want? One that would arrest Netanyahu while academic goons go full out in antisemitic attacks? We are really going to make Canada strong that way, aren't we?
Oh my. I had no idea. Bahaha.
Housefather winning bitterly disappointed me.
You would rather the Liberal government lost its foremost Zionist voice? Seems counterproductive.
But, respectfully, his actions speak louder than his words, and he was more or less invisible as his party joined the NDP in excoriating Israel.
On the contrary, it would show the Liberals they can't have the Jews in their pocket while they slit their throats. Housefather should have resigned and crossed the floor if he had any integrity. But the Jews like to cozy up to governments and beg them for protection which never comes. Instead they get antisemitic pogroms on university campuses, vandalism and marches in Jewish neighbourhoods, and laments about Islamophobia. Very productive.
It's been observed that a week is a long time in politics and this federal election is a case in point. The NDP are broke, so I can't see the seven survivors voting against the government in a confidence motion any time soon. Rumors have it that two of them might cross the floor, but I hope not. The Liberals have enough new faces to settle in without taking in probable problem children who will likely want a reward for switching parties.
And I'll take Pierre Poilievre at his word when he says he will work with the government, at least until Trump's threat to wreck our economy is blunted and I think the same applies to the Bloc. The Conservatives also have to deal with internal problems. When two of the four Conservative premiers, stay on the sidelines and the fairly new MP for Bowmanville-Oshawa (who turns out to be old Yale law school buddies with J.D. Vance) starts attacking the Conservative premier of the province with the largest numbers of seats live on national television, well, the Tories have "work to do".
Jamil Jivani's screed against Doug Ford was some of the most gripping live TV in ages! Hahahah. I just thought, wow, unscripted drama. Also ... ooooh, gossip! Who are the two NDPers who are rumoured to be toying with crossing? I can't imagine ... Dish!
My "informant" is actually a Brit, though he has other friends here in Canada besides myself. His contact said two, but only named Vancouver East MP Jenny Wong.